The French government decided about a week ago, after a debate lasting most of the summer, that they would not ban the wearing of burqas, but would rather "discourage" their use. The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, said in a major address to both houses of the French parliament that France cannot have "women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity. … The burqa is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience."

This is not the first time the French government has attempted to ban religious symbols, nor is it the first time other European countries have broached this issue. A law passed in 2004 that banned Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps, and Christian crosses in French public schools sparked a similar debate. In 2008 the Dutch government attempted to ban burqas, but stopped short of doing so over fears that it would limit religious expression.

The people of France have seemingly little to say about the controversy, perhaps because only a very small number of women-less than a thousand-wear full burqas, though this number is said to be increasing. Even so, France is home to over 5 million Muslims, the largest population in Western Europe, and some French leaders have worried that a full ban could lead to tensions between the Muslim community and the rest of France.

A sizable portion of France's Muslims come from North Africa, so the tensions are not only religious, but also racial. Many of these North African immigrants live in poor areas and are subject to police harassment and brutality. These racial/religious tensions have flared up before: in 2005, French youth incited riots in response to the deaths of two young men who were being chased by police. The riots led to a state of emergency that lasted nearly three months.

It's clear that Sarkozy thinks the ban on burqas will alleviate these tensions. He noted in his address to parliament that immigrants face particular economic challenges, and that France's "integration model isn't working anymore … Instead of producing equality, it produces inequality. Instead of producing cohesion, it creates resentment."

While Sarkozy's efforts to improve the economic situation for North African/Muslim immigrants are admirable, the implications of his remarks are troubling. Does he believe that banning burqas will stamp out their use entirely? Does he think that drawing attention to burqas and calling them moving prisons will improve relations between Muslims and the rest of France, or will it lead to further stigma? Most puzzlingly, he seems to think that denying women the choice to wear burqas will somehow increase their agency. There are also ethnocentric assumptions at work-besides his patronizing assumptions about the psychology of wearing burqas, Sarkozy thinks the old "integration model" has stopped working, so his best solution is to force all women to dress as non-Muslim women do.

At its root, the burqa is only a symbol of Islam's rules regarding appropriate female behavior, and Sarkozy's attempts to improve France's race relations by banning a garment worn by an extremely tiny fraction of the minority will hardly be effective. However one feels about Islam and its attitudes toward women, punishing them for what they wear is not a practical solution.