Muslim women may wear veil 'to allow them to integrate more'

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Muslim women may wear veil 'to allow them to integrate more'

Study finds that religious women may choose to wear veil
to mix with non-Muslims while keeping reputation for piety

Amelia Hill
Thursday 1 September 2016 17.29 BST

Young, highly educated Muslim women who live in modern, urban environments may be choosing to wear the veil because it enables them to mix with non-Muslim friends, work outside the home and interact with strangers, according to the first empirical study into why wearing the veil increases alongside modernisation.

Attempts to force Muslim women to stop wearing the veil might, therefore, be counterproductive by depriving them of the choice and opportunity to integrate: if women cannot signal their piety through wearing a veil, they might choose or be forced to stay at home, concludes the study, published in the Oxford University Press’s European Social Review.

“For highly religious women, we found the modernising forces of education, occupation and higher income, urban living, and contacts with non-Muslims actually increase veiling,” said Ozan Aksoy, co-author of the report, Behind the Veil: The Strategic Use of Religious Garb.

“We conjecture that for highly religious women modernising factors raise the risk and temptation in women’s environments that imperil their reputation for modesty: veiling would then be a strategic response, a form either of commitment to prevent the breach of religious norms or of signalling women’s piety to their communities.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/01/muslim-women-veil-integrate-study

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Related: Behind the Veil: The Strategic Use of Religious Garb (European Sociological Review)

[mwrguy]

1. The key word is "choosing"

They choose to wear it, though many want to force them to disrobe.

[Skittles]

2. why only the women?

[Warren Stupidity]

5. Their "choice" is to stay home or go out veiled.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. The coercion behind that is clear.

Strict muslim communities forbid women from appearing in public unveiled.

Can we stop pretending that this is a free choice?

[rug]

6. Only to those who adhere to the crudest of stereotypes.

https://mic.com/articles/91761/7-lies-we-need-to-stop-telling-about-muslim-women-wearing-headscarves#.vsGJ6Jr8w

But it's very thoughtful of you, warren, to speak for these women. Although, frankly, they don't need you to. They're more than capable.

[mwrguy]

7. Thank you

well put

[msongs]

4. choosing to do what men tell them. one notices men never wear them eh? nt

[Squinch]

8. No one cares about a head scarf or any garb whose goal is NOT the obliteration of identity. The

burka is garment whose goal IS the obliteration of identity. It has no religious basis and is simply a cultural expression of hatred for women.

It is offensive.

[edhopper]

9. Like when women choose

to stay with an abusive partner. Got it.

[Igel]

10. Not apparently, from the OP.

More like "if I mix with you I might be mistaken for being like you. I'm not like you and need a marker to make this clear. I'm not like you and don't want to be like you. I want to emphasize the difference, thank you."

Divisions make for good fences. As long as the minority groups build the fence, that's apparently good. But only they get to build fences.