Issue paper. Final version

 

VEIL AS PROTECTIVE SHIELD BETWEEN EGYPTIAN WOMEN

Jessica Villasenor 

100409908

Society is a sensible issue when it comes to describe it. It is the result of centuries of history and redefinitions.  In countries like Egypt it is necessary to add a deep knowledge in religion to the store of learning in order to understand the problems the society is passing through.

The starting point for this research can be traced since the penetration of western values into the Egyptian youth. It is important to mention that 90% of the total population in Egypt professes Islam; therefore most of the social customs come from this religion. One of the most characteristic customs in Egypt nowadays is the use of veil between women. Through this research I will demonstrate that it was not always like that. Actually the real reason for the preeminence of that way of dressing has to do with inappropriate males’ behavior.

When facing harsh situation, the society in a country suffers the inevitable consequences of it, such as unemployment or increase in the cost of life. However, when other external factors came into play no prediction can be done. When talking about exposure to external factors, I mean to the influence of television and the foreign values shown on its programs, ¿how can we  combine harmoniously the external influence and our own customs in our lives?

 

By the one hand, it seemed to be an impossible exploit because of the incompatibility of the Muslim principles with what they were watching on Television. By the other hand, that young generation was unable to separate the fiction and the reality, as well as to differentiate what is correct to do and what is not.

This generation of men with no job or hope of an improvement in their life watching programs with inappropriate content for them, such as premarital sex or dating, tried to imitate actor’s behavior. Cases of harassment and rapes increased all over the country.  However, women did change their behavior as well. They reacted to new men’s behavior. Women came back to the scarf that had fell out of favor between them many decades before. 

Religious thinkers encouraged women to use veil as a form of protective shield and not as a signal of status or devotion as it was in the beginning of this custom. Women, with no more apparent choice embraced it and incorporated it in their everyday life. This means that women in Egypt are turning back to the past and history in the pursuit for their integrity and as protection from men’s instincts.