Veiling...the Egyptian Standard for Women
Luly was talking in her last posting about how the girls on Alexandria Univeristy campus have been evolving over the last years from not being veiled, to basic veiling to more advanced veiling and then now to the most advanced stage of veiling...face veiling...
Something that we miss thinking about when we talk about veiling is the fact that most of the girls we know are the ones who should be classified as a minority or different...Luly is part of a minority in Egypt but then we talk about veiling as being a phenomenon when its more of a phenomenon that people like Luly and most of my friends are not getting veiled in the year 2005...
Tom and I were talking about this a couple of days back and then he went out to observe women on the subway (usually from the lower socioceconomic classes) and he came back with one big observation: the grand majority of the unveiled women were wearing crosses.
It is common knowledge in Egypt that there are certain professions which veiled women can not do. This is not because they wouldnt but because they would not be accepted in jobs in those professions...examples: the foreign service (where male diplomats are not allowed to have veiled wives or daughters...not to mention the female diplomats), airlines, TV and the practice of Public Relations...
I was in PR class when a veiled girl asked our Francophone Christian Egyptian professor, who was in a tight leather suit, high heels and a mask of make up, whether she would be "allowed" to become a PR practitioner. The professor was silent for a couple of moments and was probably thinking of the most diplomatic way of putting it but then I guess she decided to lie...She told her that it wouldnt be a problem since veiling is the norm now and that PR practitioners need not to stand out as being very different so as that they would get accepted easily...
Was true what she said about veiling being the norm but then its not true that a veiled woman would get accepted easily in the business, academic, scientific world as much as a non-veiled woman would...
I think we are still in denial...the veil has become over the last 2 decades the standard attire for Egypt...so will the face veil be part of that in another 2 decades?!
Something that we miss thinking about when we talk about veiling is the fact that most of the girls we know are the ones who should be classified as a minority or different...Luly is part of a minority in Egypt but then we talk about veiling as being a phenomenon when its more of a phenomenon that people like Luly and most of my friends are not getting veiled in the year 2005...
Tom and I were talking about this a couple of days back and then he went out to observe women on the subway (usually from the lower socioceconomic classes) and he came back with one big observation: the grand majority of the unveiled women were wearing crosses.
It is common knowledge in Egypt that there are certain professions which veiled women can not do. This is not because they wouldnt but because they would not be accepted in jobs in those professions...examples: the foreign service (where male diplomats are not allowed to have veiled wives or daughters...not to mention the female diplomats), airlines, TV and the practice of Public Relations...
I was in PR class when a veiled girl asked our Francophone Christian Egyptian professor, who was in a tight leather suit, high heels and a mask of make up, whether she would be "allowed" to become a PR practitioner. The professor was silent for a couple of moments and was probably thinking of the most diplomatic way of putting it but then I guess she decided to lie...She told her that it wouldnt be a problem since veiling is the norm now and that PR practitioners need not to stand out as being very different so as that they would get accepted easily...
Was true what she said about veiling being the norm but then its not true that a veiled woman would get accepted easily in the business, academic, scientific world as much as a non-veiled woman would...
I think we are still in denial...the veil has become over the last 2 decades the standard attire for Egypt...so will the face veil be part of that in another 2 decades?!
posted by Tamer at
1:54 PM
4 Comments:
Man, that is a frightening proposition.
my 2 cents: http://assem.nomadlife.org/2005/03/veil-egypt.aspx
Veiled and face-veiled women were the norm in the 1800s and then came along Hoda Shaarawy who urged women to shed off their veils and they did. The colonial role did also affect the aristocracy and then the trickle-down effect started taking place...then lately we had an increase in veiling too so the question is, will there be another Hoda Shaarawy? or will we descend further into more veiling and face veiling?
I think the second seems more probable...yes it is kind of frightening...
I don't find it frightening. I like wearing the veil.
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