The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy has recently proposed a ban on the burka in France.
Sarkozy equates the burka with opression of woman and claims t

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hat the garment deprives women of identity.
This morning, NPR aired a show segment which interviewed Muslims living in France and their reaction to the president's announcement.
Some women said that they prefered to wear the garment because it protected them from innapropriate comments from the opposite side. Men said that they prefered their wives to wear them because the face and beauty of a woman should be reserved only for their husband's eyes.
Although I do not oposse women wearing garments that cover their arms and legs and wear a traditional hair scarf, I do think that the Burka takes things to unnecessary extreme.
I mean, I don't think women should be forced to flaunt their bodies in a manner that is considered immoral. But I do think that the psycological repercussions of social isolation can have a negative effect of women living in Western countries.
Sarkozy has been widely critized for his stand on the matter: he wants to imposse dress restrictions in the country he leads. Yet countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have decreed the Abaya as their national dress for all women. And this isn't a suggestion, it's a strict law enforced by the religious police (whether or not you are Muslim)
So why is the French President being critized for his stance?