Western feminists veil race, gender oppression

by Afra Jalabi

MONTREAL (CUP)—Fouryearsago I came to Canada from the Middle East toattend McGill. Imovedin with a Canadian woman who called her- self a strong feminist. I also identify with feminism, and I was happy to live with a woman who wasconcerned about such issues.

But things did not go too well. Although we got along, she was of- fended by ny way of dressing. In particular, she objected to the scarf I wear over my hair. She wanted me to comply to Western standards of dressing. For her the problem was clear: I was afraid to show my body.

This argument shocked me be- cause all my life I had considered ve ilingthe harderchoice. When veiled, a woman cannot use her body as an advantage. I also learned that as women we should resist the sexualization of ourbodiesand instead develop our intellectual] capacities. I learned to be seen through my intel- lectual personal capacities and not my looks.

She did not consider my argu- mentsvalid because they came froma Muslim woman. She replied that if Muslim men dressed like Muslim women she couldacceptit. Myanswer tothat was that ifher fellow men wore lipstick, high heels, and mini skirts then I too could accept the difference. Later, she decided that she did not want me there any longer, because I was a threat to her image as a femi- nist. 3

I wondered*why the differences between Western men and women were acceptable to her, but not those between Muslim men and women. She seemed to have the idea that Western women had gone through some kind of enlightenment, and it was now their business to help Mus- lim women become “liberated”.

Itis sad that many women in the West donot realize that their statusis not better than that of other women, and that their superior position only comes from the domination of the Western patriarchy over other patri- archies.

When I started looking-for an- other apartment, I asked if my veil was offensive. Here, in a supposedly “liberal” society I wasin the position of having to gain approval on my style of clothing.

But the issue ran deeper. I had been oppressed by a Western “femi- nist” whose main purpose was to re- move oppression from women’s lives. She feit no solidarity with me or with women like me. She could notidentify with our struggle.

Western stereotypes of Muslim women

From my own experience and the experience of other Muslim women, I realized how rigid and ste- reotypical Western ideas about Mus- lim women are.

Weare differentiated from West- ern women, and considered inferior. Many Western women believe they have the most liberated status in the world as women. Such women equate Westernization with moiernity and liberation. +

Non-Western peoples’ cultural

‘practices, no matter how symbolic

and harmless, are seen as oppressive elements which mustbe replaced with Western alternatives.

Veilingis one of the most obvious problematic and symbolic practices that is politicized by the West. Many people draw spurious causal links between veiling and oppression. If a woman is veiled, she is certainly na- ive, dependent and oppressed. The fact that a woman is working or get- ting her education in a foreign coun- try is overlooked—if she is veiled, she is “oppressed.”

Ironically, many Muslim women have the same belief that Muslim women enjoy the best status in the world. As women, they are not ex- ploited sexually, they are not used as advertisement ploys, they have had marriage and divorce rights for cen- turies, andthey donotlose their names when they marry.

Moreover, women in Islam have the right to refuse their mother role and household tasks for which they either will be paid or receive hired help. In addition, women in Islam have had the right to pre-condition their marriage on any aspects they choose.

The themes most frequently dis- cussed to represent Muslim women are total veiling and clitoridectomy (female circumcision), sensitive and horrifying issues not only to Western viewers but also to Muslim women themselves.

Unfortunately, the practices se- lected to represent “insightful” ac- countsintothe lives ofMuslim women are also. spurious and unrepresentative of the lives and concerns of women in Islamic coun- tries. The main emphasis placed on these exotic and very limited prac- tices divert the attention of many women from their common struggle and their common goals. It keeps women in different societies from rec- ognizing the potential in the diversity of approaches for resisting the con- straints on their lives.

By becoming preoccupied with minor symbolicissues, looking onl)y'st the surface of society and its symbolic expression, we are blinded to many

common issues. Limits in all societies

When Muslim women choose to veil, they have the right to do so, and it has to be respected as an option chosen to neutralize their sexuality. This option is just as valid as other women’s choice to expose their sexu- ality. Both cases are expressions of female identity.

Both approaches can be sym- bolicof freedom andindependence, as well as of oppression. Both these op- tions can be oppressive if they are enforced on women formally. For ex- ample, veiling is not intrinsically op- pressive. It isa contextual symbol and hasbeen used for variety ofreasonsat different times.

Likewise, Western standards of dressing are not intrinsically liberat- ing and emancipating. Some Islamic countries enforced legal unveiling as a measure of modernizing their “tra- ditional” societies. This shows how unveiling is perceived to be intrinsi- cally liberating even when it is done coercively by the state.

The Western media did not give any attention on compulsory unveil- ing as they did with compulsory veil- ing, because for them Western stan- dards are essentially liberating.

The point here tobe consideredis women’schoicesand freedom toselect the ways in which they want torepre- sent themselves. The similarities present in both contexts are usually overlooked. Itisculturally determined values and judgements that took the lead in representing and portraying what was ing to women.

Many Western women will argue that even when the state is not in- volved, veiling is oppressive because women fall under the dominant val- uesof society. But these women forget that any society has codes of modesty and dressing. Western women can’t go around topless, for example.

We must keep in mind that ali societies have limits, and all people who live in them are free to the extent of being able to use the _ lable choices.

Of course, we always break the lines but also have to know the ben- efits and costs. Is it really worth breaking some symbolic practices rather than reworking the roles and meaning behind them? That is what modern Muslim women are doing when they re-veil. Their struggle should be seen more in the economic, political andlegal spheres, rather than in light of culturally specific practices and symboiic institutions.

The problems facing Western and Muslim women are similar, no matter how different they appear on the surface. But cultural hegemony

continued on page 12...