Gulf | Bahrain
Steering into controversy over veiled women drivers
Traffic authorities and an Islamist society have steered into controversy over the identification procedures of women drivers who have their faces covered.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 01:06 May 29, 2008
Manama: Traffic authorities and an Islamist society have steered into controversy over the identification procedures of women drivers who have their faces covered.
Al Asala, the Salafi society with seven MPs in the 40-member lower house, has vehemently rejected an article in the proposed traffic law that allows male police officers to ask women drivers to uncover their faces to allow them to check their identity. According to the society, female officers must be present when a car driven by a fully-veiled woman is stopped by the police for a traffic violation or identity verification.
"Male officers cannot look at the faces of fully-covered women drivers, and the presence of women to carry out the verification procedures is a necessity," Al Asala representatives on the parliamentary security committee said during the discussion of the traffic law draft.
Al Asala suggested that male policemen should instead use fingerprint scanners to establish the identity of the driver. However, traffic authorities rejected the suggestion as "impossible," saying that they had no mobile electronic device that could read drivers' data or establish identities.
"The scanner process means that all driving licences should be linked through an electronic system with personal identification cards and with traffic patrols," the traffic authorities said at the meeting.
They added that the fact that most traffic policewomen do not work late in the evening would make Al Asala's insistence on the presence of women during an identification procedure "difficult to turn into reality."
The ban on allowing fully-covered women to drive was lifted in 2003 after relentless pressure from Islamists who lobbied for "helping them to lead normal lives." Many argued the semi-transparent cover on the face did not restrict vision and acted like sunglasses. However, several activists warned that it could lead to serious traffic problems and to abuses by criminals or young people who would cover their faces either to escape or to go on joyrides.
Do you think that female officers should be used to monitor women drivers? Would it be feasible for the officers to have late night patrols to catch offenders? Tell us at letter2editor@gulfnews.com or fill in the form below to send your comments.
Your comments
What happens if the policewomen want to cover their faces?
Ehsan
East Riffa,Bahrain
Posted: May 29, 2008, 11:58
I am not against their tradition, however, criminals can also do the trick from covering their faces, so I suggest they must update their technology to easily verify the identities of their people by electronic devices.With this, the rights of their women will still be sacred.
Clarry
Dubai,UAE
Posted: May 29, 2008, 11:58
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