The Politics of the Veil

3. How does the author come to the conclusion that “rather than resolving the problem of integrating Muslims into French society, the law banning headscarves has exacerbated it”? (179)

            The law passed by the French government that bans the wearing of religious affiliated signs is aimed towards larger, more noticeable displays of religion.  This law is to make sure the state and religion remain separated.  The Politics of the Veil discusses that small, discreet religious signs like small crosses or small Korans are acceptable, but more noticeable signs like large crosses or turbans are banned.  This regulation is believed to mainly target Muslim girls wearing headscarves.

            This law is supposed to unite the entire French community.  The headscarf, known more commonly as a veil, is abrasive to French customs.  For this reason, the society is attempting to eliminate the differences to unite the people.

Artwork on a building in France showing the integration of Muslim women and their headscarves by painting them the colors of the French flag.
susiesbigadventure.blogspot.com

            Joan Wallach Scott uses examples of women being rejected from jobs or service, in general, for wearing headscarves.  Scott quoted a woman, “The veil is a 100 percent handicap in French society.”  Employers will not hire a Muslim woman who wears a veil.  Many employees will not serve a woman wearing a veil.  An example in the text talked about the teller of a bank rejecting service to a Muslim woman wearing a veil because of the fear of being robbed.  This was the really the only example that had any reason to reject service because of a veil, and the other instances just damaged the human rights of these women.  Other examples included teachers refusing to interact with parents wearing the veils just because it was “forbidden.”  Even thought the Muslim woman in the example was a mother of five and elected to the position of the delegate of the parents’ association at the school, the teachers still refused to listen to what the woman had to say.  Reasons like this are discriminating and, no matter the law, uncalled for in any society.

            The French society is attempting to integrate the Muslim community by minimizing the differences between the two cultures.  Joan Wallach Scott has come to this conclusion through the analysis of the confrontations the law is causing.  Without this law in place, the Muslim woman wearing the scarf who wanted to speak with her child’s teacher would have had little difficulty expressing ideas to that teacher.  But now that people, like the teacher, have grounds for the discrimination they aren’t afraid to be outspoken about it.  Wearing headscarves would typically just be a part of the normal Muslim culture that the French society would grow to respect but with this law in place, the French citizens are able to single out the differences between the cultures.

            The law itself does make sense.  Separating the state and religion would be helpful in integrating all French people with different cultural backgrounds without religion interfering.  This law is just not being implemented correctly.  Banning such a large part of the Muslim culture takes away from the human rights these people deserve.

Muslim women in France protesting for their human rights.
www.barenakedislam.com

            Joan Wallach Scott makes a great point when arriving at the conclusion that this law has done the exact opposite of integrating Muslims into the French society.  If the society is encouraged to shun the Muslim women for being different, the society will only become more separated.  Turning the headscarves into a “handicap” for Muslim women makes their lives in France much more difficult. 

Politics of the Veil

1. Despite reservations about the headscarf, the political scientist Mossuz-Lavau argues against the law to ban headscarves. What is at the crux of her argument? Is it valid? (162)
Mossuz-Lavau’s argument against headscarves is certainly one of empathy. When she passes by a woman wearing a headscarf, her initial feeling is a “pang of emotion.” This response is onset by her personal experience, as she was once deprived of sexual liberation. In her mind, this gives her a connection to the woman with scarves, while it also evokes emotion based on the principles of sexual freedom. I understand where Mossuz-Lavau is coming from, and she clearly feels very strongly about this matter for the right reasons. However, regardless of the emotional ties she feels to these women, her opinion is still simply her own opinion.
2. What are the implications when we talk about bringing Muslim women up to the standard of their French sisters (or western sisters)? (172)
The idea of “bringing Muslim women up to the standard of their French sisters” lies within the culture of these two groups. It is quite evident from the readings that the French and the Muslims hold very different standards of identity in regards to gender and sexuality. The French believe that “the individual is the essential human, regardless of religion, ethnicity, social position, or occupation. When they are abstracted from these traits, individuals are considered to be the same, that is, equal”. On the other hand, the Islamic belief is that “sex and sexuality pose problems that must be addressed and managed… Modest dress, represented by the headscarf or veil for women and loose clothing for men, is a way of recognizing the potentially volatile and disruptive effects of sexual relations between women and men” (Scott).
These implications are urging the Muslims to be open to more westernized views about women roles, sexuality and gender equality. In my opinion, comparing these two cultures and attempting to change one to be like the other only creates tension and causes further problems. The Islam culture may be extremely modest and unfair to women, but I cannot imagine that encouragement to copy another culture will be taken anything but offensively by them.

3. How does the author come to the conclusion that “rather than resolving the problem of integrating Muslims into French society, the law banning headscarves has exacerbated it”? (179)
The author’s conclusion is put into the context of discrimination of veiled women in France. There is extensive confusion when it comes to these laws, and questions are raised regarding the regions in which headscarf laws are allocated. It is this misinformation of the scarf that causes confusion of the two cultures. Essentially, the French culture is oppressing scarf-wearing Muslim women. It seems to me that if both groups were more educated on the other group and the situation, these issues could be solved.
https://youtu.be/SLVbjrPYsLM

Politics of the Veil: Integrating Muslims into French Society

This photo is the cover of Politics of The Veil

Throughout the years France has show their opposition to immigration in their country and it has been clear through many of their attempts to remove the headscarf from the Muslim culture. There have been 3 instances in French Society where the government has tried to remove the veil, in 1989,1994, and 2003, all for different reasons. Politics of the Veil discusses the right of Muslim women to wear the veil (or headscarf) in France. There are sections of the book that talk about sexuality, veils in the public school system, possible oppression of women through wearing the veil, and much more regarding the idea of the veil and its implications on women living in France.

Joan Wallach Scott comes to the conclusion that "rather than resolving the problem of integrating Muslims into French society, the law banning headscarves has exacerbated it." (179) Some think that in order to better integrate Muslims into French society they should abide by the "universal" ways in order to be a united, singular entity. By doing this some French think that women should not be allowed to wear the headscarf. Some that oppose the veil assume that it is a way of oppressing women. While others believe that the veil is a symbol of Islam's resistance to modernity. By bringing so much attention to the controversy of the veil, ultimately the French people have created more of a divergence between the Muslims living there and the French.

Many of those who oppose the veil assume that they are doing the right thing because wearing the veil would oppress the woman who is wearing it. It is discussed that Islam is seen by many to oppress women and that French Republicanism is seen to liberate them. This gives the illusion that by allowing women to wear less clothing, the French are giving them more equality.

Some more of the fears of veil that the French have are that by letting the Islamic community express their culture at school and throughout the country of France, that the French culture and history will diminish. Many French view their country as a "timeless superiority" and do not want to come to terms that the world is changing into an integrated society. Joan Wallach Scott brings to the audience's attention that by bringing so much attention to the differences between the Muslim and the French culture, people have inherently created a huge racist divide between the people. It is interesting that the French consider themselves a universal society and accepting when their enforcement of homogeniety has in fact divided those that live there.

Another point brought up in the reading that children that are forced to remove their veil when they enter the classroom feel as if they are reminded everyday they are not welcome and that they do not fit the mold. Many have said that wearing a headscarf in the French society has been an extreme handicap for them. According to the reading, veiled women have been turned away from employers, being witnesses for the courts, marriage ceremonies, and much more. To me, one of the most interesting things that Scott said in Politics of The Veil is that the "oneness" that is instilled in the French culture is providing exclusiveness rather than inclusiveness. So by bringing so much attention to the fact that Muslims are different by trying to get them to be the same, racism has been created in the French society.

The following video is of Joan Wallach Scott discussing her book and her opinion of the veil in French society. It also discusses the issues of French gender inequality. To learn more about the book and about modern Islamic society please watch this video to be informed.

Sex Trafficking: Taiwan

Sex Slaves in Taiwan 

In my region of Far East Asia human trafficking has been a major issue for years.  In places like Thailand dubbed by humantrafficking.com as the “source, transit and destination for prostitution.” Victims after being kidnapped from their homes start there and are then transported internationally to places like China, Malaysia, UAE and even in some cases the United States. Upwards to 600-800,000 people mostly women are forced into sexual labor for their trafficker(s). As far as Taiwan is concerned, In the mid to late 1990’s the Taiwanese government implemented many different statues and laws, in ’93 the Child Welfare law enables juvenile welfare bodies, prosecutors, and victims to apply to courts for termination of guardianship  if they have been forced into prostitution by their parents. This eventually led to prostitution being abolished by the Legislative Yuan. In the small island off the coast of China there have been tons of NGO efforts being made to combat this problem. Organizations like Garden for Hope and Taipei’s women’s rescue foundation work to rescue women who have been abused. They provide counseling services to children affected by trafficking and domestic violence as well. I think the next step we as a society should take on to prevent this from continuing is to further educate our women and keep them in school. Making sure everyone has the right and ability to go to school shouldn’t be an issue. Just making sure that women get their education and work to contribute to society increases any country’s GDP to 9% and in some cases it could be even higher. This is a challenge that I think can and should be taken on and organizations like the TWRF are trying to find ways to ensure that one day this does in fact become a reality. More recently Michelle Obama has been a major advocate for educating women across the world. Her latest campaign Let Girls learn is a government-wide effort that will leverage the investments we’ve made in primary education in America to help expand the education of adolescent girls in impoverished situations. Keeping women in school will prevent the opportunity for more of them to be kidnapped, sold and used in the human trafficking world; things like this can be prevented. The SDGs suggest that the use of social media is the best thing the average person can do to aware others and combat sex trafficking.  The SDGs stress that people use of the hashtag “#Action2015” to raise awareness. 

Sex trafficking is the new age slave trade and something must be done to get rid of it. I believe if everyone becomes conscious of this situation and do things to help the many NGO’s out there like increasing school retention rates for adolescent women change will eventually happen.  

Sex Trafficking in Thailand

With many migrants and refugees populating the country, Thailand does face the issue of sex trafficking.  Many victims come to Thailand seeking work from neighboring countries.  The “2014 Trafficking in Persons Report” on the U.S. Department of State Diplomacy in Action estimated “two to three million migrant works in Thailand” hail from Burma.  The number of migrants from nearby countries, including Burma, that become victims of sex trafficking while in Thailand is estimated to be tens of thousands.

            Thailand is a transit country.  This means that many times victims are taken from Thailand to a different country, and Thailand acts as the middleman.  In the other countries, the victims are traded between larger trafficking groups.  An article on www.humantrafficking.org listed that victims from Thailand include citizens from “North Korea, China, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Burma” and are taken to countries such as “Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Russia, Western Europe, South Korea, and the United States.” 

            Migrants, minorities, and stateless people are at a higher risk of being trafficked because many times these people are less skilled and become indebted to agencies.  Through this debt, the victims are forced into sexual exploitation for repayment. 

This graph shows the number of females out of primary school that end up in human trafficking.  Thailand is over 300,000
en.wikipedia.org

            Throughout the entire region of Asia, sex trafficking is an issue.  Some countries are transit, like Thailand, and some are destination.  Destination countries are where the exploitation takes place.  The humantrafficking.org article described destination countries as the countries that have the connections.  The article explained that organizations abroad are “often collaborating with employers and, at times, with law enforcement officials.”  Most of the countries that seem to be destination countries are in Western Europe but it happens throughout Asia as well.  With power and connections like many of these organizations have it’s very difficult to get out once the victim has been enslaved.

            The fight against human trafficking doesn’t seem to be as prominent as many other issues in the world today.  Born Free by Sarah E. Mendelson talks about the cash cow that sex trafficking really is.  The huge number of people involved raises the question of why this issue isn’t being addressed the same way other issues are like racial discrimination.

            Mendelson proposes seventeen goals in Born Free.  Goal five sticks out to me as we discuss sex trafficking because many times females are the victims being trafficked.  Goal five is to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”  This goal is very important because it seems in many countries the respect given to women in so minimal that trafficking is an option.  Some women use trafficking to get out of abusive home lives and with gender equality this issue could be less intense.  But gender equality wouldn’t cover all bases of sex trafficking because men are trafficked as well.

            Goal sixteen is to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”  This goal is so important because creating a peaceful society could help build up a conscience of the individuals in charge of the trafficking.  All people are people whether they’re in debt to someone or not.  Selling them into sex slavery is not the way to get back what you’re owed and maybe with a more peaceful environment these people would realize that.  Also, having a sustainable development in the country may lead people to taking on other occupations to make money.  Promoting a positive environment and the opportunity for success would help with the people who are trafficked as well because then they may have more opportunity to not gain so much debt that they are forced to be sold.  Overall, goal sixteen would have a great impact of ay society.

            In the country of Thailand, sex trafficking is a large issue.  For a few years now the Thai government has been working to lessen the amount of trafficking done in the country but it still happens today.  Worldwide, the issue is growing but the ideas discussed in Sarah E. Mendelson’s goals could help the world in the right direction.

Diane Giron, student, protests against the sex trafficking in Thailand.
http://dateline.ucdavis.edu

Sex Slavery and North Korea

Sex trafficking/sex slavery has been a huge issue for North Korean women. The problem does not seem to be relevant inside North Korea. However it has been said that 90 percent of women who escape North Korea through the Chinese border, are trafficked. Men in China know that refugees are looking for a place to live and have never been out of their home country and are desperate for any kind of work. These men then trick the North Korean women into thinking they will have a job as a maid or something of that sort when they are taken and sold to other men or prostitution rings. 

A woman named Mun Yun-Hee was sold into sex slavery at 26 after she crossed the Duman river into China. She was found there by a trafficker eagerly looking for desperate women to pick up and bring in. After being asked why she escaped North Korea she replied, "My father starved to death in the late 1990s and my mother is blind from hunger." After being sold she was captured by the Chinese police and deported back to North Korea. As punishment she was sent to a prison camp where she talks about men being beaten with clubs and women pregnant from sex trafficking in China were forced to have abortions on grounds that the baby would have had a Chinese father. After months in prison camps she was released and was asked by a refugee organization if she would like to be sent to South Korea. She replied that she would rather be sold back to the man in China because she was able to eat and send money back for her family to help them buy food and pay their debt. Mun would have rather sold her body for money than go hungry. No one should ever have to make that call.

The reason there is so much sex trafficking is because people are desperately trying to get out of North Korea. They are desperately trying to get out because of the conditions there and major lack of food. The way to end sex trafficking is to end the cause and effect relationship between escaping hunger and between being sold into sex slavery. Something that Sarah Mendelson talks about in Born Free as a Sustainable Development Goals says this “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.” as well as “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all." To ensure that sex trafficking stops, in North Korea specifically, then the hunger issue needs to be addressed. In order to have a sustainable economy and environment that ensures decent work for all women should not have to choose between selling their bodies and eating a meal. 

Here is a story of another woman who was forced into sex slavery after escaping North Korea:

Escape from North Korea: 'I was sold into slavery and forced to have an abortion'

Ji Hiyunah escaped from North Korea and was sold into sex slavery. She was captured and deported back to North Korea twice. After becoming pregnant with a Chinese mans baby from her sex slavery, she was forced to have an abortion in a prison camp without anaesthetic. She said that she would rather go back to China where she would not have to eat frogs and insects to survive. After 9 years of sex slavery and being deported back to North Korea she finally made it to safety in South Korea. 

Sources:

http://www.northkoreanow.org/those-who-flee-the-bride-trafficking-of-north-korean-refugee-women/

http://reliefweb.int/report/china/north-korea-human-trafficking-thrives-across-nkorea-china-border

China and Trafficking

China has many problems facing it as a nation.  It appears sex trafficking is certainly one of them.  Humantrafficking.org dedicates a whole page to how the country is a source country, a transit country and a destination country for slaves.

China is a destination for many human traffickers, especially those from
Southeast Asia.  image courtesy rfa.org

The website explains that roughly 600,000 workers emigrate from the country and even more do so without official papers.  These workers are lured by false promises of economic prosperity and are coerced into prostitution once outside the country.  The majority of these workers are currently men but the website explains that slavery statistics for women ages 17-25 are on the rise.  Additionally, some 20,000 children each year are kidnapped for illegal adoption. 

All this is done by highly sophisticated crime syndicates.  They take

the unsuspecting workers and ship them predominantly to Thailand and Malaysia.  Slaves are imported from countries such as Mongolia, Russia, North Korea and various Southeast Asia countries.  Various NGOs, the website explains, cite the one child policy as a driver of international trafficking.  The skewed sex ratio has created a demand for women in the country. 

Internally, an estimated 150 million people are trafficked throughout China.  This can be accomplished due to China’s poor labor oversight and weak child labor laws.  The Chinese government recently created hotlines to report trafficking cases and has taken steps to enforce its trafficking laws.  Teaming up with INTERPOL and other international organizations, China has been able to increase its prosecution rate for human traffickers significantly since 2009. 

The Sustainable Development Goals include trafficking by name.  Under “Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”, the SDGs state a sub goal of “Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.”  Additionally, the sub goal of “Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilation.” 

The SDGs suggest that social media posting is the best that the average joe can do in terms of combat sex trafficking.  The SDGs webpage encourages the use of the hash tag “#action2015” to accompany these posts.

Finally, the website suggests that familiarizing yourself with the international calendar of days will help you keep up with key events, including those that work to combat trafficking. 

Personally, while I believe that the expansion of awareness is important, more must be done if the UN wants to see real change.  I would encourage the UN to fund workshops that inform those who work in the transportation community about the signs of trafficking, as explained in the reading Born Free (Mendelson, 2014). 

I would also encourage the UN to establish centers in countries that are especially affected by trafficking.  These centers could aid victims and also organize NGOs.  Additionally, these centers would provide pressure on national governments to work to combat trafficking in their borders.  I would not, however, impose economic sanctions.  This would harm the people and thus create the desperation that many traffickers prey on.