The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore and Politics (review)

Women’s veiling has become the subject of intense scrutiny in recent years, particularly in the Islamic context. When it became clear that not all Muslim women who veiled were being forced to do so by their societies, their families and especially their men, sociologists and anthropologists began to ask women themselves about the veil. Jennifer Heath’s volume continues in that vein by bringing together articles about veiling by women from a wide variety of backgrounds, but it goes one step further in challenging our preconceptions. Many of the articles in this collection address Muslim veiling, of course, but others relate to Christian and Jewish practices, as well as to the veil in India and male veiling. Thus, veiling is seen not as a “Muslim problem” but as a somewhat universal phenomenon. Historical material on veiling in the ancient Middle East, and in medieval Europe and the church, contributes to a nuanced view of the Muslim veil.

The contributions to this volume range from personal reports to participant observer studies to more distant scholarly articles. While this may be problematic in academic discourse, it creates an interesting mélange in which, as the editor states, “Whether the women writing in this book are ‘for’ or ‘against’ veiling is not the point. What is germane is that none are ideologists and all are concerned about women’s choice and their well-being and rights to full humanity worldwide” (p. 19) .

One of the common themes that emerges from reading these articles is the degree to which women’s attitudes toward veiling differ within closed societies, such as the Amish or the Bobover hasidic communities, or most dramatically in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and as compared with open societies, where there is a larger measure of freedom of choice. Jana M. Hawley reveals the differing levels of orthodoxy among the Amish, which are reflected in varying rules of dress, from “lower,” more orthodox, to “higher,” less orthodox communities. The more orthodox Amish elders were concerned when young girls began sewing snaps onto their dresses after visiting a less orthodox community. If the girls continued to use snaps, they would have to move. Barbara Goldman Carrel also refers to “meaningful hierarchies of religiosity” among hasidic women. One hasidic woman, however, explained the fashionable clothing of the Bobover women by saying: “[The Jewish laws] say we have to be modest. That does not mean we have to be backwards” (p. 45). Laurene M. LaFontaine reveals the challenges faced by feminist Catholic nuns within the Church, even after Vatican II directed nuns to update their manners of living and dress. Some nuns who chose to be unveiled opted to form non-canonical communities, freeing themselves from Rome’s control while still considering themselves Catholic. Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis—excerpted in the book—tells the dramatic story of the imposition of veiling on Iranian women.

By contrast, women in open societies have to decide in principle how they feel about veiling, taking the consequences into account. Pamela K. Taylor, an American Muslim, chooses to wear a headscarf and regards it as “the most dramatic, proactive, feminist statement” that she could make in her personal life. But she has suffered objectification by other Americans and is aware that the American Muslim community exploits the image of successful, veiled women. Pakistani-American Maliha Masood does not wear the veil, but she prays five times a day in a country where “the azan or call to prayer does not blare from a neighborhood minaret but echoes inside the heart” (p. 225). When in Cairo, she adopted the veil and found that it made her invisible and hid her American-ness. Michelle Auerbach was drawn to Judaism but initially rejected the idea of woman’s requirement to be modest. She eventually decided to cover her head in prayer when she realized that it was not about gender but about respect.

The articles in this volume reveal a range of...