The Veil in Egyptian Culture
Today in Egypt, veil became so widespread among upper, lower and middle class girls and women. However, during the fifties, sixties and seventies very few women were veiled and women used to dress in short dresses and the society was accepting that and they were not harassed by men. Nowadays, the widespread of veil could be described as a phenomenom especially among low and middle low classes. This raises several questions :
why did the veil became so widespread and why do women get veiled in the first place and what does this tell us about the Egyptian culture?
First of all, due to the increase in sexual harassement, lower and low middle class girls and women wear the veil to protect themselves from daily harresment in streets if they go to college, school or work or just go shopping. Secondly, starting from year 2000, media through local channels and other satellite channels increased the religious programs that emphasized on the veil and there message was that the veil is a pillar in Islam, one of the Egyptian presenters of those programs was Amr Khaled who affected alot and a lot of women got veiled after his program. Thirdly, there are women who are veiled and they are very religious and work in respectable jobs as University professeurs, doctors, engineers, writers and many other jobs, those women represent well cultivated, successful and representable veiled women, even though they are a minority.
The veil opens an interseting parallel issue in Egyptian culture which is judging people according to their appearance. Some Egyptians say that a women or girl who wears veil is a good and religous women. However,, their are several possibilities, some veiled women are religious, others just wear it as a part of mainstream culture, some women who are not veiled are very successful, religious. The veil issue is too big and it integrates different aspects as economic, cultural and religious issues.
Written by: Marwa Samaha
A Sophmore majoring in Economics at AUC