Veil or no veil, working women are just as productive Wednesday, 05 January 2011 01:36

Some writers have advocated the illegality of the face veil (niqab), while some have described it as a fad or merely a social custom rather than a religious practice. Allow me to challenge their views. The niqab, no matter how it is described, is a personal freedom for women to wear or not. It functions as a means for protecting women, which is something that its attackers have failed to understand. I agree with challengers of the niqab in that a veil that covers women’s faces creates a psychological barrier between women and others who are communicating with them, especially if the woman wearing it is a student or employee. In such situations, the niqab hides a woman’s identity, making it difficult to recognize women whose faces are veiled when seeing them in the supermarket or hospital, except for their voices and children accompanying them revealing their identities. However, by wearing the niqab, a woman’s capabilities are not hindered as it becomes an integral part of her and she hardly notices that it is there, unlike those who are vehemently against the sight of it.

So it is my personal point of view that the niqab is essential for women in places that they find it preferable to wear in order to protect them from harm, such as when dealing with maintenance or construction workers or other men that housewives must face when they are the primary caretakers of their homes. Another situation where niqab is useful for women to wear is in the industrial area if they need to take their cars to garages to repair them or go to other public areas that are crowded with men. In any of those places where the proportion of men suffocates that of women, niqab secures women from the violation of wandering eyes.

The difference between the hair veil (hijab) and the niqab can be demonstrated in the following instance which I once observed. A man was accompanied by his daughters, adorned in cosmetics, to a major shopping center. Sitting on the doorstep was a tired, middle-aged Asian laborer who was enchanted upon setting eyes on the girls as if he had just seen cinema stars. Immediately, he was rebuked and humiliated by their father, while I thought to myself, “instead of venting your anger on a man with two eyes who saw your daughters in a public street, if they didn’t want any attention, why didn’t your daughters cover their faces, which they applied make-up to beautify?”

The fact of the matter is that everyone can’t always get what they want, such as women who wear make-up but don’t want men to look at them. If a woman wants to adorn herself, put of perfume, and wear fitted abayas with attractive designs showing off her figure, she must bear the consequences which may lead men to look on or reach unjust interpretations.

There is another point of view worthy of noting from those who have called for rejecting the veil, and that is that some women who wear niqab actually attract attention much more than those with unveiled faces. Some wear the niqab in a way that highlights their eyes rimmed with eyeliner, and wear seductive abayas that waft with the smell of perfume. Rather than wearing the niqab for the purpose of modesty, the opposite can hold true.

Therefore, there are different kinds of veils there are places where women are more comfortable when wearing them.

I believe that the hijab alone is sufficient enough for women to impose respect as long as they are in a balanced environment. The manner in which they carry themselves publicly demands reverence and draws the line, so I think the hijab is suitable for universities and the workplace rather than the niqab.

The environment a woman is in plays a major role in setting limits beyond her clothing such as in coeducational universities at home and abroad where veiled and unveiled women share friendships with all walks of life. Even if they don’t cover their hair and wear western style clothing, women can live safely in those environments which as are as healthy and pure as they are. Such a culture permeates and is imposed even on their colleagues who come from environments where such clothing and interaction is unacceptable to them, and they learn to respect and intermingle in a healthy manner. However, once they all graduate, exit that protective environment, and enter the workplace, there is no room for such instinctive behaviour in a new atmosphere with hidden intentions and misconceptions. They must readjust to the outside world where actions and clothing can be misinterpreted in a suspicious, often repulsive manner. This is how the place, people, and surroundings can determine what is acceptable and normal in one place and a cause for disgust in another.

One cannot overlook the relationship between men and women or ignore religious laws and concepts that are passed down generations. There are men that are envious of others seeing their women, and there are also women who are as protective of themselves from exposure to the eyes of passers-bys. It is this notion that caught the West by surprise when it thought that it would save Muslim women by banning the veil and criminalizing it in their countries. Much to its shock, women wore it by choice and desire, not for fear of their husbands and fathers.

As for those women who have decided to wear the niqab publicly at all times, they should be respected and admired because they are choosing a difficult thing for a woman, especially in our challenging and tempting present, and under the scrutiny and potential punishment of recent European laws.

Whether veiling or unveiling, it is a personal freedom and choice. Above all, it is a mindset that is embraced by the women who choose it or not. So do not prosecute a woman, punish an employee, or holder her back from promotion simply because she wears a niqab.

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