This poem is a scathing criticism of the practice of hiding women’s faces and bodies in a head-to-foot burqa which disables them physically, and socially. The culture which promotes this garb reflects the inability of its practitioners to join the common life-streams of the rest of humanity. It segregates women from men in a stifling way, and disables them educationally as well as stopping them from taking a healthy and active part in the normal activities of life. You will not find intellectuals, educationists, musicians, painters, sculptors, pilots, scientists, builders and architects etc., among burqa-clad women. Performing arts and the enjoyment of song, dance and music are taboo for individuals coming from this background. Women who wear burqas segregate themselves from the rest of humanity, and disable themselves in all the ways expressed above. Worse is the case where the pervading culture of a community or a country forces them to wear a veil, burqa or hijab, such as is happening in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, parts of Pakistan and Iran. Even if they do not wish to do so, the society in which they live offers them no choice but to conform to the expectations. They deserve our full sympathy and support.

burqa