Download Gender and Globalization

S.U.N.Y. Global Workforce Project
Gender and Globalization
The “Headscarf Affair”
Dr. Carl Davila
The College at Brockport
Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims
Key points
Gender segregation: A complex
social form that involves both
feminine and masculine values at
many levels.
Most basic: Men and women
traditionally prefer to socialize
separately
Predates Islam: Was practiced by
the Greeks and Romans, as well
as the early Hebrews and
Christians.
For Muslims: Privacy is sacred, as is women’s reproductive
capacity. Segregation is meant to protect both.
Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims
Key points
Gender segregation: A complex
social form that involves both
feminine and masculine values
at many levels.
For women, this leads to a kind of
empowerment: Social
networking.
A downside: ♀♀ often seen as bearers of family honor
through their reproductive capacity.
Thus: Segregation often is used to limit a woman’s potential
to “dishonor” the family through contact with men not
related to her.
Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims
Key points
Gender segregation: A complex
social form that involves both
feminine and masculine values at
many levels.
Not at all uniform across the Islamic
world:
some societies are more strongly
segregated than others
Women in Yemen
some social classes (mostly middle
and upper) are more strongly
segregated than others
likewise, there are generational differences, as well
Young Syrians in a cafe
Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims
Key points
The “veil”: Also a very
complex symbol with many
social meanings.
Predates Islam: Was practiced
in Mesopotamia, Christian
Byzantium and pre-Islamic
Persia.
Full face veil does not
appear in the Qur’an.
It probably was adopted by early Muslim community copying
wealthy Christian families in cities conquered by Muslims.
Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims
Key points
The “veil”: Also a very complex symbol
with many social meanings.
Most veiling practices are tied to local
traditions, as well as to sayings of the
Prophet Muhammad.
There are many forms: BBC on the veil
Veiled woman and son in Mali
Veiled woman and son in Morocco
Veiled woman in India
Veiling, Segregation and Gender
Among Muslims
Key points
The “veil”: Also a very complex symbol with many social
meanings.
May be understood as any combination of …
a way to distinguish male from female
a way to discourage unwanted sexual attention from men
piety
social class
communal or ethnic identity/belonging
tradition
All of these are linked to some degree of religious identity/belief
Veiling, Segregation and Gender
Among Muslims
The “take-away” points:
Veiling and segregation have many, many social dimensions.
For many (not all) Muslims, the veil has become a marker
of piety and of social identity.
Piety, identity and sexual propriety (family honor) are
culturally linked in many societies influenced by Islam
It can be difficult to separate the various meanings that veiling
and segregation represent ... all at the same time.
Case Study: The “Headscarf Affair”
"Meanings of all kinds flow though the figures of
women, and they often do not include who she herself
is. Women attest the identity and value of someone or
something else, and the beholder's reaction is
necessary to complete their meaning."
~ Marina Warner, Monuments and Maidens (New York: Atheneum, 1985)
Case Study: The “Headscarf Affair”
Major themes to keep in mind:
French concept of national
identity = secularism and
integration (“melting pot” vs.
“salad”)
N. African (“Maghribin”) identity
bound up to a large extent with
religious beliefs and practices.
Migration: a very significant impact of globalization
The “special relationship” former colonies often
have with former conlonizers (neo-colonialism)
Case Study: The “Headscarf Affair”
Questions to consider:
Q: What’s at stake for each side in this affair?
Q: Why women’s clothing? Why is that such
a loaded matter?
Case Study: The “Headscarf Affair”
Scenario:
“What does the Frenchman say,
What does the Algerian migrant woman do?”