Madam, – It is inexplicable that your Editorial (July 12th), should condemn the French government for banning the burqa. In fact, the burqa alienates women from society, and is an insult to their dignity as persons.
It is a symbol of their subjugation. In many ways, it is worse than apartheid.
As a woman, it is abhorrent to me to see a woman enshrouded in a burqa. It is never a free choice but the result of conditioning and coercive social pressure in those communities where it is practised.
It is an extreme manifestation of misogyny. I applaud the action of the French government for striving to uphold the civil rights and status of women as equal French citizens. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Have I not the right to see the face of someone, male or female, who is speaking to me whether on a bus or in a shop or school? Do not basic human respect and courtesy require it? – Yours, etc,