hijab and women's sports
Walking home from a vegan meal at one of my favourite restaurants this evening, I had a heated debate with my friend T about recent activity surrounding a girls' soccer league in Quebec. The issue is the league has a rule that players are not allowed to wear anything on their heads, and a Muslim girl who wears hijab wants to play in the league, wearing her veil. The league, on the basis of the rule, has told her she must remove her hijab. The debate, as I'm sure you can understand, rages on.
I have strong feelings on the subject, although I'm not entirely sure what they are.
T strongly feels that if you want to join a group, you are signing up to abide by the group's rules. In his opinion, making an exception to a rule so that a Muslim girl can wear hijab, is the same as allowing a fundamentalist Christian to be excepted from a college curriculum for music which includes music by homosexual authors with homosexual themes.
The North American society is flawed in many, many ways, however I think the intent of the American Constitution is a good one (I'm not too familiar with Canadian founding principles). The idea that we can all live and function together, separating religion from the governance of the country yet still allowing religious freedom, is a pretty good one. That a Muslim girl can learn and succeed alongside an atheist and a Jew is pretty amazing. I also think that Democracy, in its true state, is pretty amazing. Today's blurred definitions of Democracy aside, the principle is sound.
However, Muslim women are immigrating to this continent for the first time from places which are not so privileged. I do NOT believe that it is the place of our governing bodies, be it the Police, the Army, or a soccer league board, to decide how people can and can't practice their religions. Unless the practice of a religion is harmful to another human, is derogatory to another human, or impedes on another in any way, I do not think it is the place of a ruling group to determine this. I think that racists, homophobes, and people with religious prejudices have a right to their opinion and their beliefs, and a right to gather and demonstrate. I think they are WRONG, but that is my opinion. However, I think that gay bashing, shouting racial slurs, and religious persecution are all reprehensible hate crimes and should be punished accordingly.
That being said, I take the example of a Muslim woman who asked to be exempted from a nude drawing class at her university, which was a mandatory part of the curriculum, for her religious beliefs. I do not think she should be exempted. University is voluntary education, and the university cannot ethically sign off on a degree stating that she has completed the requisite coursework of the arts program without the nude drawing component. As a counterpoint, I do think that a Muslim parent should be allowed to remove their child from classes in high school covering nudist art. High school is mandated by the state, where university is strictly voluntary.
Many recent Muslim immigrants are trying to find a way to make their home culture and our North American culture work together. Unless it is a bonafide question of safety, I do not think it impedes a girl's ability to play soccer on her team if she is wearing a veil. How is fair for a soccer league to decide who does and does not have access to team sports?
I think the beauty of our system lies in our ability to question it. Once we lose the forum to question the ruling bodies that we, as an electoral population, have put in place, we lose everything.
Thoughts?
I have strong feelings on the subject, although I'm not entirely sure what they are.
T strongly feels that if you want to join a group, you are signing up to abide by the group's rules. In his opinion, making an exception to a rule so that a Muslim girl can wear hijab, is the same as allowing a fundamentalist Christian to be excepted from a college curriculum for music which includes music by homosexual authors with homosexual themes.
The North American society is flawed in many, many ways, however I think the intent of the American Constitution is a good one (I'm not too familiar with Canadian founding principles). The idea that we can all live and function together, separating religion from the governance of the country yet still allowing religious freedom, is a pretty good one. That a Muslim girl can learn and succeed alongside an atheist and a Jew is pretty amazing. I also think that Democracy, in its true state, is pretty amazing. Today's blurred definitions of Democracy aside, the principle is sound.
However, Muslim women are immigrating to this continent for the first time from places which are not so privileged. I do NOT believe that it is the place of our governing bodies, be it the Police, the Army, or a soccer league board, to decide how people can and can't practice their religions. Unless the practice of a religion is harmful to another human, is derogatory to another human, or impedes on another in any way, I do not think it is the place of a ruling group to determine this. I think that racists, homophobes, and people with religious prejudices have a right to their opinion and their beliefs, and a right to gather and demonstrate. I think they are WRONG, but that is my opinion. However, I think that gay bashing, shouting racial slurs, and religious persecution are all reprehensible hate crimes and should be punished accordingly.
That being said, I take the example of a Muslim woman who asked to be exempted from a nude drawing class at her university, which was a mandatory part of the curriculum, for her religious beliefs. I do not think she should be exempted. University is voluntary education, and the university cannot ethically sign off on a degree stating that she has completed the requisite coursework of the arts program without the nude drawing component. As a counterpoint, I do think that a Muslim parent should be allowed to remove their child from classes in high school covering nudist art. High school is mandated by the state, where university is strictly voluntary.
Many recent Muslim immigrants are trying to find a way to make their home culture and our North American culture work together. Unless it is a bonafide question of safety, I do not think it impedes a girl's ability to play soccer on her team if she is wearing a veil. How is fair for a soccer league to decide who does and does not have access to team sports?
I think the beauty of our system lies in our ability to question it. Once we lose the forum to question the ruling bodies that we, as an electoral population, have put in place, we lose everything.
Thoughts?
posted by M at 8:25 PM
1 comments
