Sarkozy war against garment has merit

• Women across the world must join fight for gender equality

Like in any other religion, interpretations of the original texts exist and traditions evolve. Islam and its traditions define the roles of males and females, especially in public. Believers accept some and reject others. Hence, sects exist.

What rubs Westerners the wrong way is that the roles are more complimentary than equal. Moreover, extreme enthusiasts have gone to limits some Muslim scholars question.

For example, what is Islamic in honour killing, punishing a rape victim, denying women education or confining them at home, as if all Muslim women are potentially unfaithful? Add all measures that deny Muslim women benefits of modernity.

Male chauvinists

Iran, and educated women are a plenty, is a recent example of this deprivation. One of the things Ayatollah Khomeini did was abolish laws that gave women benefits of modernity. Yet women hadn’t ceased to be Muslims. They in fact supported Khomeini’s revolution.

Westerners forget the battles their women fought to win the rights they now enjoy. This came about by throwing away impractical Christian, Judaic et cetera traditions. These faiths haven’t died. Yet male chauvinists, disguised even as religious, abound.

Muslim women will follow their counterparts in the West and elsewhere and break the male-imposed yoke. Tactical models are available. Iranian and Saudi authorities maintain the moral police to stymie this trend.

The fundamental question remains: Is force or delusion necessary to instil and sustain a faith and its traditions? Basically, that’s what President Sarkozy et al are saying and their position has merit.

Incidentally, Muslim women voluntarily wear the burqa.

Mr Mbitiru is a freelance journalist (cmbitiru@hotmail.com)