According to many Europeans, no woman is self-loathing enough to veil herself by her own choice unless pressured or conditioned into doing so. She might believe or claim to have made such a choice consciously (and many outright challenge this idea), but this is nothing but an illusion and the consequence of religious indoctrination.
Here is a litmus test that can be performed to support this rationale:
If a woman, who claims to wear the veil by her own volition, cannot remove said veil without facing significant backlash from her peers and without being pressured by her family and society as a whole into renouncing her “promiscuous ways”, then she is not free but rationalizing her situation. After all, instilling superstitious fears into young girls in order to have them grow compliant is hardly free choice but the illusion of choice. The rationale behind the veil, which, by the way, is not explicitly prescribed anywhere in Islamic holy scriptures, is pure sexism. It projects the so-called sinful deeds of men onto women by blaming women for the lustful and sometimes perverted thoughts of men. Women are, thus, deemed to be responsible for the sins of their husbands, male friends, sons, and brothers. The veil, especially the Niqab, is the symptom of religiously-induced misogyny that is contrary to the European values of equal rights and treatment for both genders.
European countries are attempting to ban it or, should I say, inhibit its growth in an effort to neutralize the misogynistic rationale behind its prevalence. It is an attempt at shielding the core Classical Liberal principles governing European societies from corruption and an attempt at tackling the lack of integration of newcomers amidst the migrant crisis, which has caused havoc throughout Europe and put the long-term survival of the European project in jeopardy by empowering nationalistic movements. Islam, just as much as Christianity and Judaism, has been impacted by centuries of social progress, social inertia, and social decline. As a result, Islam has adopted many facets over the centuries. Not all of the aforementioned manifestations of Islam have held such views. In fact, there was once a time, not too long ago, when veiling was quite rare in Islam and confined to the lowest stratum of society. Back in the 60s, Egypt, Iran (forcefully eradicated by the Shah), Lebanon, Jordan, Algeria, and most, if not all, remaining countries in North Africa and the Levant resembled Europe in accoutrement. At best, you would find lightweight pieces of colorful cloth akin to those found in Europe at the time (still found in some East European countries) serving as proto-veils. The modern Islamic veil, especially the niqab, only began its journey toward normalization after thousands upon thousands of Arab men traveled as expatriates to fast-developing oil-rich Gulf countries and later brought a set of Wahhabi-derived views back with them.
Cairo University
Europeans are simply attempting to safeguard over a millennium of social progress without burdening themselves with the opinions of those who use such progressivism to justify reactionary ideals, such as the veil.
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