Like most things I read in the news, I'm not really sure what to do with this one. To recap the news article , a woman was denied citizenship in France because it was determined that "her 'radical' practice of Islam is incompatible with basic French values such as equality of the sexes." It's also noted in the article that the French constitution grants freedom of religion. This ruling actually occurred a month ago but is just now being confirmed and reported.
The grounds for this ruling are just scary.
According to the Council of State, who ruled on this, "She has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes"
To be fair, I know very little about both French politics & culture and the Muslim religion. But, I have lots of concerns here, though I'll just bring up a couple. 1) who really gets to determine the "essential values of the French community"? It seems really dangerous to me when differences are no longer tolerated. And 2) I'm excited that equality of the sexes is being talked about and valued, but I really feel like feminism or "equality of the sexes" is just being used here as an excuse or cover for a larger issue about religion.
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hey there. French notions of "equality" sometimes mean "not being standing out." i would recommend Joan Scott's work on this issue "The Politics of the Veil"(Princeton, 2007)and "Parité: Sexual Difference and the Crisis of French Universalism" (Chicago 2005).
brooklynn18 posted on July 11, 2008, at 06:59PM: "Like most things I read in the news, I'm not really sure what to do with this one..."
Me neither.
brooklynn18 posted on July 11, 2008, at 06:59PM: "...The grounds for this ruling are just scary..."
Yeah. I mean, I could almost understand if the grounds were "one citizen, one vote" instead, the government didn't want to give her husband two votes, and she gave the impression that any vote of hers would essentially be her husband voting via her if she did get to vote in French elections.
I don't understand how they think denying her citizenship will fix what they see as a problem with equality. They are denying her equality!
This is definitely not about their "concern" for her equality as a woman in the muslim religion. This is about xenophobia and hate.
Hmm. Maybe this is a backlash against the view of France as being taken over by Muslim immigrants from former colonies?
Alternately, they're just douchebags.
It's not the first case in which Frnce has treated a woman unfairly. I have a post up on the topic with an interesting link to Mona Eltahawy.
http://jemimaaslana.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/france-and-the-women/