Friday 6 February 2009

Driving yourself Burqa.

Couldn't resist.

A random question I've gotta figure out not really a part of the course but at the course is how do Muslim women who wear the full Burqa get up go about getting a drivers licence.

...my question is, if they do how do they drive safely?.

Anyway, it turns out that there is only one nation and one ex-regime that doesn't/didn't allow women to drive. The Saudi's, and the Taliban.

The idea behind the Burqa (without judgement) is modesty. Only women - other the husband - can view these women. 'Licencing' clearly states that NO head wear can be worn in your licence photo. In order for a Burqa wearer to acquire a licence would be that the photo be taken and seen by a female from Licencing and that if pulled over by the police the wearer could only be ID'd by a female officer.

Without knowing anyone (or have EVER had known) who submits to this sort of faith I couldn't judge with confidence the husband in this senario, but generally, you'd think, they wouldn't really be permitted the freedom of a licence if it wasn't OBSOLUTELY necessary anyway.

Anyone disagree?.

14 comments:

  1. No idea what they do. Ditto passports. I guess if they join the army we'll save a bit on cam paint

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  2. Cam Burqs..LMFAO Lerm, NICE.

    Well, its simple. Rules be rules and if you don't want to abide by them ya cannot hav's ya Ticket. Simple.

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  3. I think you might be right about the full burqa - the males wouldn't allow them to drive (or go into a bank).
    However with the headgear, i'm thinking that only relates to something that you may or may not drive in. eg if you wear glasses driving you need to be photographed in them. If you have a turban, you need to be photographed in it. If you grow a beard, you need to change your photo.
    I have yet to see a full burqa lady (as opposed to a headscarf lady) who wasn't obviously a tourist around these parts, but you can be processed by customs in private, so they would do that to get in here. And there are a number of Islam friendly airlines around that would have procedures in place.

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  4. Yeah, well, I read this twice and I can't come up with a comment. Meds are making me... loopy so.. um..

    Hi, P :)

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  5. Mate!. What meds?.

    U ~ You see a few of them around the South Bank areas doing the touristy thingo occasionally.

    H ~ Seems like how it works.

    Lerm ~ lol

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  6. A couple of years ago I worked for an auto insurance company. We had some issues with Middle Eastern clients--the men had driver's licenses and got the vehicles insured. Their wives simply drove without a legal license. We had some situations where one wife crashed a car and another wife hit a man while driving her kids to school. All kinds of issues involving coverage and liability since the wives were not legally supposed to be driving.

    Those are just two instances but I suspect that happens a lot--the women drive illegally and hope to not get caught.

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  7. Yeah, makes sense. Cheers.

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  8. wait until they get to the 20th century..only about 4 more centuries to go! ;)

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  9. Reality is what the majority believe.

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  10. I couldn't even imagine wearing something like that. Or being a woman in that culture.

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  11. About the treatment of these women: I can imagine husband of the century trying any of that crap with me, I can also imagine him suffering a very high fever, therefore delusional and being concussed at the same time. That is the only way he would not require an emergency room and a divorce lawyer at the same time.
    Fortunately, he really IS husband of the century. Eat your hearts out girls. ;)

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  12. Just to throw in a new angle on this, remember that this is more a cultural issue than a religious one. Of course their culture sounds strange, even incomprehensible to us. But consider all the aspects of Western culture over the ages: we have had, and still do have, things we hold to be eminently reasonable which don’t seem so to others, even other Westerners in some cases.

    Just to pick out one example of our own types of modesty, consider Hollywood prudery. We have films that teenagers can see which portray all kinds of horrific violence, torture and death, yet look how nudity – or even bare breasts – are regarded. Consider the controversy over breast-feeding babies in public; many people are appalled or even outraged at the idea. Why? I’m sure that to an outside observer (and many inside ones) this would seem quite ridiculous, and, who knows, perhaps one day people will be saying “Can you believe that in the 21st century they wouldn’t allow women’s breasts to be seen in public, even when feeding babies? How backward!”

    I’m not saying burqas are a Good Thing. I won’t even attempt to address the problem presented by ID documents. I’m just saying that this type of behaviour is human, and we do equally odd things: it’s just that because we’re used to them, we don’t regard them as odd.

    Sorry about the length of that!

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  13. Mate, you can write a book here if you like. Always happy to read.

    I think it's all fairly relative. I've got an email that runs down Christianity that's probably fairly relevant to what you're saying.

    I'll post it.

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  14. I would imagine, in response to Jen, that in Dearborn Michigan that happens a LOT.

    And I would agree, anyone who is under that much restriction, as far as having to wear burqas, is not likely to be allowed to drive. No other country is as controlling about women's fashion as Saudi Arabia. Iraq, Jordan, Turkey are all much more progressive. Even Iran is liberal by comparison.

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