If the Burka's Banned, What Comes Next? August 27, 2009

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/07/15/Should_the_Burka_Be_Banned

Journalists Virginia Haussegger and Julie Posetti debate the ethics of banning the burka in Australia.

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Muslim women's dress codes have come into the political spotlight in both Muslim-majority and non-Muslim societies. At one end of the spectrum the state has sought to enforce Islamic dress codes while at the opposite end the state has sought to ban certain items of women's religious dress.

Under the Taliban, Afghan women were forbidden to appear in public unless they were wearing the all-enveloping burka. Now, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proclaimed that the burka and other forms of face-covering are not welcome in France.

In Australia, too, Muslim women's dress has been at the center of a heated political and social debate.

This public debate brought together three leading figures to discuss questions such as whether we should ban the burka or respect the right to wear it, if the burka is a form of male oppression, what would be the effect of banning a piece of women's clothing and does the state have a place in a woman's wardrobe? - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Virginia Haussegger is a journalist, author, media commentator and TV news presenter. Her recent article in The Canberra Times said the burka subjugated women, and called for it to be banned in Australia.

Julie Posetti is a journalist and journalism academic from the University of Canberra. She is currently undertaking a PhD on the way the media portrays Muslim women and has published academically and journalistically on this theme.