By Gina Fazio
According to BBC, clerics in Egypt recently backed a ban of the conservative women's dress, the niqab, in classrooms and dormitories.
Female students in Cairo have been protesting this ban, one women asserting that she wears this complete head coverage because she feels: "more relaxed in [the niqab] this. Men aren't looking at me. I feel closer to God."
The niqab comes from a more extreme orthodox form of dress in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. It has been gaining popularity with women in Egypt who feel that western influences are gaining an unfavored foothold in their fashion. The Egyptian government feels that such extreme religion is not appropriate in it's secular institutions.
This covering up is no forced agenda of the Koran or some patriarchal law system. Actually the Koran says very little about the dress of women other than to "cover up" which is open to interpretation. It is in fact women who have been the driving force behind this inititative altohugh some sources say that the opression of women in countries such as this has driven them to believe that further opression is nessecary.
However stories like this and of women protesting the hijab ban in Turkey seem to be seaking louder than any government decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment