I've got a lot of respect for @pollytoynbee, but her article on the veil (where, annoyingly, niqab and burqa are referenced interchangeably) embodies so much of the intellectual incuriousity surrounding this discussion. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Why not include or reference interviews with women who veil?
And as for this part ("But the few women who are educated, liberated and free to choose the niqab as a religious symbol of an extreme fundamentalist creed are almost certainly a minority")...
And as for this part ("But the few women who are educated, liberated and free to choose the niqab as a religious symbol of an extreme fundamentalist creed are almost certainly a minority")...
it's irresponsible journalism to present your assumption ("almost certainly") as fact, when there's not even enough data available to tell us how many women wear the veil in the UK. The most recent data (9 years old, from France) suggests it's less than 0.01% of Muslim women.
I've spoken to women who wear niqab who've been articulate and forthright. I've met Muslim women, who don't wear hijab, who are trapped in abusive relationships where faith is still leveraged as a means of control.
What I learned from those interactions is that there's nothing inherent to specific garments in how clothing and women's looks are used to control and abuse. It's down to patriarchal family and relationship structures, which you also find in households of other faiths/no faith.
