The Meaning of Hijab: Voices of Muslim Women in Egypt and Yemen

Journal of International Women's Studies Volume 16 | Issue 2 Article 3 Jan-2015 The Meaning of Hijab: Voices of Muslim Women in Egypt and Yemen Kenneth E. Jackson Elizabeth Monk-Turner Follow this and additional works at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws Part of the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Jackson, Kenneth E. and Monk-Turner, Elizabeth (2015). The Meaning of Hijab: Voices of Muslim Women in Egypt and Yemen. Journal of International Women's Studies, 16(2), 30-48. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/jiws/vol16/iss2/3 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. This journal and its contents may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. ©2015 Journal of International Women’s Studies. The Meaning of Hijab: Voices of Muslim Women in Egypt and Yemen By Kenneth E. Jackson1 and Elizabeth Monk-Turner2 Abstract This work explores how Muslim women in Egypt and Yemen understand the hijab, or head scarf. Based on data (N = 100) from a self-administered questionnaire written in Arabic, differences about the meaning of hijab are examined from the perspective of women who wear or are expected to wear the head scarf. When asked what the hijab means, Egyptian women focus on religious reasons and Yemeni women emphasize a cultural (or modesty) understanding. When probed further about their understanding of hijab, Egyptian women split between religious and gendered explanations. Significant numbers of women in our Egyptian sample report the hijab to be a symbol of oppression. On the other hand, Yemeni women rarely offer a gendered understanding of the hijab; instead, they focus on religious, domestic, and psychological reasons for wearing the head scarf. Key Words: Hijab, Qualitative Methods, Islamic Dress Introduction This work examines perceptions associated with Islamic dress among a sample of Muslim women in Sanaʻa, Yemen and Cairo, Egypt. The majority of women in Sanaʻa wear the niqab in combination with a one-piece balto or abaya, or two-piece sharshaf. The niqab itself is the part that covers the face, with holes or a slit to see through, and is secured by tying or pinning the fabric (which is usually black) in the back of the head (Vogelsang-Eastwood and Vogelsang 2008). The one-piece balto and two-piece sharsharf are loose-falling, full-length garments that serve as overcoats. The abaya is also full-length, but is more form-fitting and is made of a slightly thinner material. These garments are typically black in Yemen (Moors 2007). There are many variations of Islamic dress, from the way the garments are tied, pinned, wrapped or draped to their color arrangements, patterns and sizes. The specific nature of the dress involved can vary considerably among different schools of legal interpretation, sects, and cultural backgrounds (Young 2008). Some interpret the religious texts to mean the entire body is to be concealed with one or more pieces of cloth from head to toe; however, others interpret the Qur’an and Hadith to mean that a woman is only required to dress modestly (Young 2008). 1 Kenneth E. Jackson is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His research interests include the sociology of culture, identity, criminology, deviance, immigration and Middle Eastern studies. He received his BA in Sociology with a concentration in African Area Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, MA in Applied Sociology from Old Dominion University and has also studied at the American University in Cairo and Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies. Email: 2 Elizabeth Monk-Turner is Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at Old Dominion University. Her early research focuses on gender inequalities as well as higher education. This work appears in The American Sociological Review, Feminist Economics, The Sociological Quarterly, Justice Quarterly, and Social Indicators Research among others. Current research explores health and subjective wellbeing. E-mail: 30 Journal of International Women’s Studies Vol. 16, No. 2 January 2015 Varieties of Islamic Dress There are a variety of different clothes Muslim women wear that can be classified as Islamic dress. The two most focused pieces of clothing under the Islamic dress umbrella with which this study is concerned are the hijab and the niqab. The majority of Muslim women in Cairo wear the hijab and most women in Sanaʻa almost exclusively wear the niqab. For this study the niqab refers to not only the piece covering the face, but the entire ensemble worn along with the face covering. It is also important to keep in mind that the concept of hijab involves more than covering just the head and hair. Some of the women in this study assert that the hijab means more than simply the attire worn; it is the act of modesty in terms of behavior that goes along with wearing the hijab. Some also consider the hijab to represent all forms of dress. Therefore, one is constantly wearing more or less hijab or displaying more or less modesty (Ruby 2004). Thus, Wher (1994) defines the Arabic word for hijab with the following in English: cover, wrap, drape; curtain; woman’s veil; screen, partition, folding screen; barrier. Despite the hijab being tied to Islam, there are few references to it in the Qur’an. Stillman (2007:141) explains how the use or lack thereof of hijab or veiling of any specific type is unclear in both the Qur’an and the Hadith, writing that it was not clear “how important a social and moral issue was veiling in the early Islamic centuries.” There are two Qur’anic verses typically used to describe the women’s dress code for Muslims (Fernea and Fernea 1979; Hoffman-Ladd 1987; Zenie-Ziegler 1988; Zuhur 1992; Read and Bartkowski 2000; Parshall and Parshall 2003; Ruby 2004; Stillman 2007; Heath 2008). The following quotes are from AL-QUR’AN (Ali 2001): Tell the believing women to lower their eyes, guard their private parts, and not display their charms except what is apparent outwardly, and cover their bosoms with their veils and not to show their finery except to their husbands or their fathers or fathers-in-law, their sons or step-sons, brothers, or their brothers’ and sisters’ sons, or their women attendants or captives, or male attendants who do not have any need (for women), or boys not yet aware of sex. They should not walk stamping their feet lest they make known what they hide or their ornaments, O believers, turn to God, every one of you, so that you may be successful (24:31) O Prophet, tell your wives and daughters, and the women of the faithful, to draw their wraps a little over them. They will thus be recognized and no harm will come to them. God is forgiving and (...truncated)