Wherever Islam clashes with the West, women's bodies are the fiercest battleground. In Iran, women shrouded against their will in black are the greatest proof of the regime's oppression. Their courage and defiance are inspiring. Now they even have a martyr - Neda Agha-Soltan, a beautiful young woman who secretly took singing lessons in a land where women are forbidden to sing in public. Last week, she was shot dead during an election protest. Some have suggested she was an obvious target, because she wore her hijab too loose on her head.
Only religious dictatorships tell women what to wear. But should liberal democracies tell them what not to wear? That's the question of the day in France, where Nicolas Sarkozy devoted most of a speech this week to denouncing the burka. He called it “a sign of subjugation, of degradation of women” that has no place in a liberal democracy. “We cannot accept in our country that women are prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social contact, deprived of all identity,” he declared. He has thrown his weight behind an inquiry to determine whether the burka and its more common companion, the niqab (the face veil with an eye slit), should be banned.
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