SEWING CAFS JANUARY 2009

K
APRIL 2011

PRINT & TEACH LESSON

BURQA BAN
Language Function:

discussing issues

Vocabulary / Topic:

burqa ban in France; freedom; civil rights; controversies; discrimination;

religion; tolerance; Islam & the West

advanced
upper-intermediate
intermediate
pre-intermediate

issue introduction
Activity 1. Read the text below. What else do you
know about the problem? Have there been any
recent developments?
In April 2011 France took a controversial
move and instated a burqa ban, aimed at the
traditional religious covering worn by
conservative Muslim women. The ban does
not say anything about the burqa explicitly,
and it is called the law forbidding the
covering of the face in public space.
However, in effect it is all about Muslims and
Islam.
The ban will potentially affect up to 2,000
women who wear a full-face veil in public,
though it is unclear how the enforcement will
work as police cannot remove the veil.
Women who refuse to lift the burqa or niqab
may be taken to a police station for an
identity check, face a 150 fine or a
compulsory citizenship course.
Men who force women to wear the veil are
threatened with 30,000 fine and up to a year
in jail.
www.english-4u.com

page 1

SEWING CAFS JANUARY 2009

BURQA BAN

discussion ammo: vocabulary

Activity 2. Study the words and expressions below. You will find them useful when
discussing the burqa ban. Use a dictionary to look up unknown words and phrases.
to ban the burqa in public
places
to go into effect (about a
ban / a law, etc.)
to enforce (a ban / a law, etc.)
to instate a burqa ban
to impose a ban
to pass a law banning wearing veils that cover
faces
to enact laws banning the burqa
to impose legal sanction on someone
to force women to expose their faces in public
to forbid people from covering their faces in
public
to comply with the law
to refuse to comply with the new law
to obey the laws
to disobey the new law
to violate the law
to break the law
to defy the law
to uphold the liberties of people
to ensure the dignity of the person
to be pro-choice
to set a precedent

www.english-4u.com

to campaign against the law

to show a public show of defiance
to ensure equality between sexes
to promote racial hatred
to approve of the ban
to back the ban
to infringe on another persons individual
choice and freedom
to restrict the practicing of religion
to preserve the right to wear what one wants
to spark a debate over religious freedom
to create tension between the West and the
Muslim world
niqab / veil / burqa
a ban on the burqa
a six-month warning period
conservative Muslim women
harsh consequences
multiculturalism
the fundamentals of secularism
the free exercise of religion
an egregious abuse of a fundamental right
infringement of religious freedoms
outraged religious groups
racist law
religious discrimination
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SEWING CAFS JANUARY 2009

BURQA BAN

debate:
Does the burqa ban protect Muslim womens
rights or tramples their freedoms?
Activity 3. Divide into two teams. Your team will support the ban, the other will
attack it. Study arguments below, think of other points you can make to prove that
the ban is a good idea. Discuss the issue with the critics of the ban.

PROPONENTS OF THE BAN

discussion ammo: arguments supporting the ban

Jacques Myard, a member of the National Assemby of

France: The face is a dignity of a person. The face is your
passport. So when you refuse me to see you, I am a
victim.
The ban protects womens rights. The state should act
when many women are forced to wear a niqab or burqa.
This coercion is a new form of enslavement that the
republic cannot accept on its soil. The aim of the the ban is
the emancipation of oppressed Islamic women.
The ban conforms to the French Constitution as the
law did not impose disproportionate punishments
or prevent the free exercise of religion in a place
of worship.
Majority of French people back the ban. Some
82 percent of French people polled approved
of a ban, while 17 percent disapproved.
The ban does not target the wearing of a
headscarf, head-gear, scarf or glasses, as
long as the accessories do not prevent the
person from being identified. The hijab, which
covers the hair and neck but not the face, and
the chador, which covers the body but not the
face, are not banned by the law.
www.english-4u.com

SEWING CAFS JANUARY 2009

BURQA BAN

debate:
Does the burqa ban protect Muslim womens
rights or tramples their freedoms?
Activity 3. Divide into two teams. Your team will oppose the ban, the other will
support it. Study arguments below, think of other points you can make to prove
that the ban is a bad idea. Discuss the issue with the supporters of the ban.

CRITICS OF THE BAN

discussion ammo: arguments against the ban

The French President is forcing women not to wear
the burqa just like Osama Bin Laden and his ilk force
women to wear it. Women are just a play thing for
these men.
Burqa ban is trampling peoples freedoms. Women
have the right to wear what they choose.
The ban may act as a stepping-stone toward harsher
laws. You start with the burqas, who knows where its
going to stop.
Amnesty International had repeatedly urged France
not to impose the ban, saying it violates European
human rights law.
Many Muslim women are not forced to wear the veil
against their will but choose to wear it as an important
symbol of their cultural and religious identity.
The ban might aggravate the situation and
restrict womens freedom by tying them to
their private homes.
The law, viewed by many as islamophobic,
could be counterproductive and provoke
terrorist retaliation.

www.english-4u.com