I have begun reading a variety of articles and books on women in Islam, focusing particularly on the the wearing of the veil.The article I am reading today describes the rise of "Islamism"--a political form of Islam-- and how educated, well-travelled women who are part of this movement decide to wear the veil as a symbol of pride and distinction. The author, Nilüfer Göle, (a prominent Muslim Turkish scholar) admits that it is a "puzzling issue, because they have become assertive by adopting a symbol of gender subservience and stigmatization." She describes the veil as a "stigma," but how it is now being used as a 'positive' stigma by many women:
"veiling as a sign that is seen as debasing women's identity - as inferior to men, passive and secluded in the interior family space -- is voluntarily adopted by women as a stigma sign, but struggling to become a new prestige symbol. In short, the meanings of the veil are undergoing a radical transformation by women who have had access to secular education and agency and claim their difference in spaces of modernity. The headscarf, symbol of backwardness, ignorance, and subservience for Muslim women in modern contexts, fights back to bcome, once again, as it has thought to be in the Islamic past, a symbol of distinction and prestige for urban Muslim women."
(Nilufer Gole, "The Voluntary Adoption of Islamic Stigma Symbols," 70 Social Research 810, 820-1 (2003)).
4 comments:
I was happy to find your blog. I was born in Egypt, and of course, have my own blog...thought we might exchange links. I've already put yours on mine...
I find it deeply disturbing that educated, supposedly free thinking, emancipated women choose to cover their hair. It seems to be a serious case of double think. I think it shows how deeply entrenched the self-hate imposed on women by these patriarchal societies is. I do not actually think that organised religions that condemn half of the human population to subjugation deserve our respect. I will not ever cover my head, and will ask women who do from refraining from removing it in front of me unless they would show the same respect to my brother or my father. Anything less is not only insulting to them, but to me and every decent male I know.
Here's another insulting, sexist tradition that people in Turkey are forced to respect. Although this is a 'secular' country, in order to be buried, you have to state a religion. No option of being agnostic, let alone atheist. Most people just 'end up' having a Muslim funeral. Oh, and you can't be cremated either. Holy ground is the only way to go...
As if that wasn't enough, you then have the ludicrous pressure of having to cover your hair during the service. AND THEN, women stand at the back of the courtyard, behind the men and away from the casket. The irony is that the only time a woman stands next to the men in a mosque is at her funeral! Her sister, mother, daughter, and female friends stand at the back while COMPLETE STRANGERS who have been praying at the mosque - JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE MEN - stand up at the front by the casket.
It makes me furious...
Thank you for your comments. I am deeply interested in this issue and would love to hear as many views as I can on the topic. I am attempting to formulate my own opinion in as informed a manner as possible. I'm aware that, as a British, non-Muslim woman, it is hard for me to fully understand why women choose to wear the veil. But I know many intelligent, well-eduated women who do make this decision.
But I can also fully empathise with the anger you must feel at being put at the back of a funeral of a family member - or segregated in general... I can't see why any religion would ordain this. To me, it looks like pure oppression and sexism.
I will continue my reading...
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