I read an article that discussed France being against permitting full face veils (with only small slits for eyes) and burquas (like rural Afghanistan). Some commenters argued that society should accept anything the individual chooses to wear.
Interestingingly, this argument sounds a lot like the arguments students used to make in the 1960’s in America, when dress codes were finally “thrown out” of most public schools. But it seems that now dress codes and even uniforms (in private schools) have come back in some locations.
Even when there is no dress code per se, there is a “normal” standard that people go by, in any society. When that standard is violated, people normally judge your “social acceptability” by how far, and in what way, you violate that code. The same thing is true in every society.
Readers might think that in a Muslim country that everyone would be in favor of supporting women who choose conservative Islamic dress for themselves. But this is far from true. Those women in favor of this tend to be either younger women who are joining Wahabi-like sects of Islam, or new foreign converts to Islam (in some cases), or women who have had social or emotional problems in their lives which they feel are “solved” by an extreme form of dress (according to Middle Eastern women). These opinions are NOT MINE, but the opinions of numerous middle-aged Middle Eastern women who have shared them with me.
As Muslim women here have pointed out to me, many of them are against the full face veil and even more so against a costume like the Burqua BECAUSE of the potential for abuse of trust. They say, “How do you know it is not a man under the costume? How do you know it is not a terrorist? How do you know who is actually taking an examination?”
All of these abuses can be avoided when the FACE is EXPOSED. Even when doing the pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia (a requirement of Islam for those who can afford to do it) the face is forbidden to be covered, even if one normally wears such a costume. Conservative Islamic dress covers everything except the face and hands, but it does NOT need to cover the face, and it does NOT need to be black.
Nor are black socks and gloves required by Islam. The Wahabi sect does promote those things, but the Koran does not say that the face, hands, and feet have to be covered in this manner. These are all cultural and personal choices made by societies, or individuals.
Moderate but conservative MUSLIM women have pointed these reasons out to me why THEY THEMSELVES object strongly to such extreme costumes, even though these are also seen on the streets of modern Muslim countries.
–Expat 21
Tags: Algeria, burquas, Dubai, Egypt, France, full face veils, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Morocco, Muslim dress codes for women, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey
October 11, 2009 at 4:52 am
I don’t want to sound rude, but I guess Islam is in serious need of reform, at least in the way it treats women. And it’s not just Islam – shamefully, all religions inevitably tend to treat one half of humanity as “lesser” beings
Hinduism was (and actually still is) notorious for its barbaric practices against women like sati – where women were burned alive on the funeral pyre of their husbands 
This filthy practice was eradicated by reformers who received modern education intoduced by the Brits. Sadly, old habits die hard 
Primitive sections of Hindu society still abuse and ill-treat widows, like ostracising them, preventing their re-marriage, forcing them to dress in white etc. 
October 17, 2009 at 12:07 am
I did not know there could have been any reasons behind it other than deplorable fashion sense.