I am aware of all of that thanks.
Have you ever talked to someone wearing one about why they do? As in you, yourself, in person, speaking words out loud to a woman wearing a burka?
I have a few times, but not for very long, and not to ask about the burka.
I've read the standard stuff on the internet about how crappy life is for some of these women in Afghanistan etc, and I've read a bit about what it is like in Canada for them too. I know it isn't as bad here as it is there, and can infer that they live under a very male-dominated rule even here.
However, this probably isn't miles beyond some ultra religious christian families here though. Ones where the woman's place is at home with the kids, where she's not allowed to work, where she does all the cooking and cleaning and sewing. She doesn't have to wear a burka, but it's a floral print dress down to mid-calf, with a collar that comes up to her neck and bare arms only in the summer.
But I still don't know enough about the similarities and differences to say we should ban one and not the other. Or both?