The Higher Education Division of University of Toronto Press is pleased to offer the following excerpt from its recent book, Global Issues: A Cross-Cultural Perspective. The author, Shirley A. Fedorak, also provides her thoughts on recent events and contextualizes the chapter and the issues it covers. We hope that this excerpt will help answer some of the questions of those who are trying to navigate their way through current public discourse. We also hope that it will provide instructors with ideas for how to approach these issues in their classrooms.
By Shirley A. Fedorak
Why do some Muslim women wear a head scarf or veil and is veiling* a symbol of oppression and gender stratification? Opponents of this age-old custom argue that being forced to veil devalues and marginalizes women and has no place in a modern society such as Canada. Those who support veiling argue that taking away a woman’s right to wear one of the various forms of hijab is an infringement on her rights and freedoms, and furthermore, is promoting the values, beliefs, and behaviours of one group of people over another. In other words, if we ban veils we are condoning a modern-day form of cultural imperialism.
This issue rose to the forefront in Canada when members of the former Canadian government banned women from wearing niqab, which is a face veil, to their citizenship ceremonies. Although predicated on a political and/or electoral agenda, this measure created hurtful divisions between Canadian people, disrespected the Muslim religion, and threatened the personal freedom and human rights of Muslim women. It also played on some voters’ resistance to further immigration from Muslim countries. Muslim women found themselves the target of attacks against their religion and their person, not only from individuals, but from politicians who were leading the country. The real danger is that actions such as this may lead to institutionalized Islamophobia and make it more acceptable to discriminate against Muslim women in areas such as the workplace and educational institutions. We need to question whether the Western so-called concern for the oppression of Muslim women is legitimate or merely a disguise for anti-Muslim sentiments.
I have lived in two Muslim countries in the Middle East for almost seven years and have become friends with Muslim women who veil and others who do not veil. Their reasons for veiling are deeply personal but fall into three broad categories: religious and gendered significance, and cultural symbolism. A friend of mine in Beirut told me his wife faced risky surgery a few years ago. She decided to rededicate her life to Allah if she survived. After the surgery she began wearing hijab and continues to do so today. Her husband did not force her to cover, nor did anyone else; this was her choice. Her reason for veiling was obviously religious, and this is true of many Muslim women who use the veil to publicly announce their religious beliefs and piety.
Veiling also proclaims the personal virtue and dignity of a Muslim woman and may offer some protection from unwanted advances in countries like Egypt where sexual harassment is an ongoing problem. Veiling has become politicized in many countries as a backlash to Western interference in Muslim customs and beliefs, and has led some women to veil as a symbol of their cultural identity and solidarity with other Muslim women. Although some outsiders view the veil as a symbol of oppression, many Muslim women, especially those living in non-Muslim countries, have found that veiling frees them from the Western tendency to objectify women and allows them more control over their bodies.
Regardless of their reasons for veiling, I have never encountered a woman who was forced to cover or who felt more oppressed and subordinated than non-Muslim women feel.Whether veiling is a form of gender stratification and oppression is addressed in more detail in “Purdah: Is the Practice of Female Seclusion and Wearing Hijab Oppressive to Women or an Expression of Their Identity?” This chapter attempts to dispel misconceptions regarding the status of Muslim women, here in Canada and around the world. However, the reality for many Muslim women differs markedly from one country to the next, and illustrates the volatile nature of gender stratification. The historical, religious, and socio-cultural implications of veiling and the way veiling is viewed and practiced are explored in three of the most conservative Muslim countries: Palestine, Iran, and Afghanistan. The personal narratives of Muslim women give voice to their reasons for veiling or for rejecting the veil.
Download the full chapter here.
“Purdah” is the first chapter in Global Issues: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, which critically examines difficult and sometimes controversial issues that have a direct impact on our global society. This book supplements courses in international relations and development, human geography, political studies, and socio-cultural anthropology. Global Issues can prepare students for their future roles as global citizens and help them realize they belong to an extensive global community where other ways of living and viewing the world are as valid as their way. Global Issues encourages students to address critical issues of a global nature, to look beyond mass and social media hype, and to think outside and beyond the box.
* Veiling is the term Muslims use when referring to wearing head scarves (hijab) or face coverings (niqab).
Note: If you teach a course that you feel would benefit by having Global Issues on the syllabus, please email requests@utphighereducation.com to request an examination copy. Other topics include female circumcision, body image, same-sex marriage, social media, food security, and human migration.