Thoughts On The Veil

Well, seeing as how it's everywhere, I figured it might be an apt time to provide my bit on the veil. First, I want to make a distinction. There is a lot of diversity to what is referred to as "the veil," and it often gets convoluted. What you see the most is the hijab, that being the headscarf that has a lot of diversity in way of design and color and can be worn with most anything. For the purpose of ease, I won't be including the burqa, which is more of a South Asian phenomenon that you never see in Egypt. So with that taken into account, the only other thing I'll be looking at is the niqab, which is the facial covering that is quite common in more conservative families here.

This past weekend I went to Fayoum, a town about two hours south of Cairo that has a large salt water lake where you can actually swim without getting parasites (!). Besides the Hawara Pyramid and Lake Qarun, Fayoum is known for producing about half of the terrorists involved in the mass slaughter of 63 tourists in Luxor in 1997. I had a police escort the entire time I was there, and many who stay overnight are not allowed to leave their rooms without police (for the record I had no trouble there, because it was a weekend and Fayoum is a favored weekend destination for Cairenes). Personally I found the whole thing excessive and merely a means to protect Egypt's hugely important tourist industry, but the point is that Fayoum's highly religious population has a reputation.

At Lake Qarun, I was shocked by the number of niqabs I saw. Modesty is certainly valued there (I swam with my t-shirt on), but I never expected to see women swimming in full niqab. This admittedly made me feel a little uncomfortable. I live in a country where I can walk down the street with no fear of harassment (which is disgustingly common here), wearing nearly whatever I want, with no repercussions. In contrast, on a day at the beach that was easily 95 degrees Fahrenheit, women were outside in all black cloaks with their faces covered - swimming. It was funny on one level insofar as women have not let this restrict them in any way.

However, I find myself agreeing entirely with Blake Hounshell's recent piece on France's so-called "burqa ban." While it may be uncomfortable, it cannot be banned. It's important to keep two things in mind here: women do have an element of choice in wearing the veil. It is not compulsory, and while you might get more stares walking down the street, people will likely assume you are a Copt or a foreigner and not give it a second thought. In fact, one of Egypt's most treasured national icons, Hoda Shaarawy, is famous for spurning the veil in a dramatic display as early as 1919. And while there is a social expectation that women will dress modestly, there is a similar expectation for men. At the beach, many men wore pants while swimming, and I am yet to see an Egyptian wearing shorts. It just isn't as apparent because men have more choice with what they wear as a means of expressing conservative values (jeans, t-shirts, etc., all of which women can wear).

Just as my experience at the beach made me feel, Hounshell points out that he is a little uncomfortable when he sees a man walking down the street wearing an Armani Exchange t-shirt and Diesel jeans with a woman in full niqab in tow. The niqab is increasingly popular in a country that strives to prove its religious devotion and does not seem to be going away any time soon. I can't say I would be mourning the loss of the niqab if globalization destroyed the trend.

All this being said, I vehemently disagree with France's ban on principle. I resent the notion that one can restrict something so simple as what someone wears. France has assigned a meaning to the veil (backwardness) that may have nothing to do with the reasons why a woman may chose to do so. Many women choose to do so independently of outside forces other than their religion. For these reasons, it is not the place of the state to decide the meaning of religious objects of this sort, especially ones with as complicated a history and range of purposes as the veil. Society and the free market can do this well enough, and they don't need state influence to do it for them. Women do have voices, and it is demeaning and flat-out untrue to tell them that they cannot speak for themselves. Women here can vote, which is more than African Americans in the 1960s could say. If the veil and niqab become such oppressive institutions that they need to be repealed, let those wearing it to stop doing so. It doesn't take an act of the French government to end it.