Whore of Babylon.

"Niqab's predate Islam and stretch back to Babylon where they were worn by Arab women of ruling class as a symbol of wealth to rub it in the noses of poor Arab women".

Western culture involves a degree of openness and honesty, and it is generally considered unacceptable to mask your face whilst interacting with another person 'face to face'. The clue is in the name. By showing your face you display to another person that you can be trusted you show willingness to be recognised such that if you ever did them wrong, they could identify you in the future. A smile on a friendly face by a stranger makes people feel happy. If we cannot see the faces of others in public then it is a cause for concern.

Religion equals ignorance and oppression and is never benign. The evidence for that is

easily seen in the infighting around Western women who may want a spot on an executive committee in that brand. Ultimately the women who wear such items of clothing are doing so to proclaim to the rest of society that they have absolutely no desire to integrate or take advantage of the freedoms that women have in western society (in comparison to say Saudi Arabia). Either that, or they are being forced to wear the Burka because their husband doesn't want them to integrate or take part in wider society. Which ever way, I find the whole matter pretty disrespectful and quite sad really.

Most of us if honest will admit that in the very recent past our ancestors were poor, illiterate and unsophisticated. They existed in theocratic tyrannies and were bullied by vile control freaks. That is hopefully a thing of the past. Our decent cultures have bent over backwards, regressing us in order to not cause those coming from the developing world insult.

When you ask what values are being protected? Can I submit that our culture and society holds dear that facial expressions and facial contact between humans is one of the key components of human interaction. We also believe that men are capable of looking at women's faces without turning into lustful rapists, equally women can reveal their own faces to men who are not their husbands without automatically becoming the "whore of Babylon".