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Caelapes wrote:

Yes, and here is where I think the situation matters. No one needs to be fighting for the right of women to wear a hijab in Saudi Arabia, for example, but the fight for the right of women not to wear a hijab in such societies is a progressive one.

At the same time, in the West, Muslim women come under fire (due to racism, bigotry, Islamophobia, etc.) for choosing to wear the hijab, and defending their right to wear it is similarly progressive.

That's true - but for women in the West the pressure being applied comes not from the state but from social/familial structures. Our respect for cultural traditions doesn't extend to permitting FGM and we do insist on girls attending school in a way that wouldn't happen in some Islamic societies. So where is the line between those examples on the one hand and the niqab and arranged marriages on the other? Is it a simple question of the age of majority or is there more to it? I can't help thinking that it is progressive to hope for the equal participation of women in society, even if time and education may be better tools than simply banning things. Religion can be a cypher for race and culture, but it is also frequently a force for social conservatism. I don't dispute that for some wearers of the niqab it is a liberating form of self-expression but I'm confident that for many it is not.