David Edgar (The Guardian, 11 October, Sorry, but we can't just pick and choose what we tolerate) makes a point that we as women strongly agree with: that our society starts to selectively withdraw the right to - and respect for - freedom of expression at our peril. Today one man, Jack Straw, may decide he is uncomfortable with Muslim women wearing the veil. Tomorrow, what will the next man decide he is uncomfortable with or is a barrier to his communication? As we write, a government education minister has said it might be right to deny education to women wearing the veil.
We believe the bedrock of communication between people is mutual respect, including respect for the choices they make in relation to their clothing and other personal matters. Women have fought for hundreds of years to win the right to freedom of personal choice, including the right to wear what we choose. It is no small matter to start eroding the gains that we have won - today for one particular group of women, tomorrow for whom?
Moreover, women should be able to seek advice from their political representatives without facing what may easily appear as a precondition that they dress in a particular way. Inequality, racism, poverty and uneven power relations between men and women are the real reasons for divisions in our society, not what women wear.
Signed
Tania Pouwhare, Women's Resource Centre
Ruqayyah Collector, NUS Black Students
Officer
Kirsten Hearne, Chair Equal
Opportunities and Diversity Board, Metropolitan Police Authority
Kat Stark, NUS National Women’s Officer
Hannah Tweddell, Bradford University
SU Women's Officer
Farzana, IMAAN Muslim
LGBT Support Organisation
Linda Bellos
Caroline Gooding
Cllr Salma Yaqoob, Birmingham City Council
Milena Buyum,
National Assembly Against Racism