Post-Colonial Feminism and the Veil: Thinking the Difference
Author(s): Lama Abu Odeh
Source: Feminist Review, No. 43, Issues for Feminism (Spring, 1993), pp. 26-37
Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals
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POST-COLONIALFEMINISMAND THE
VEIL:Thinking the Difference
Lama Abu Odeh
Sincethe IranianRevolutionof 1979,the issue of the veil has been the
topic of heated debatein Arabcountries,particularlythose that witnessed strong fundamentalist movements. The fact that Iranian
Islamicistswho took powerin Iran sanctionedthe veil and penalized
thosewomenwhochosenotto wearit was eithera seductiveor,alternatively, a terrifyingreminderto womenin other Muslimcountriesof
what it mightbe like forwomenunderIslamicistrule.In countrieslike
Jordan,Algeria and Egypt, where fundamentalistmovementshave
mobilizedmany followersincludinglarge numbersof women whose
adoptionof the veil signifiedtheir initiation into the movement,the
questionof the legal sanctionof the veil has arousedintense reactions
fromsupportersand opponentsalike. In this paperI try to explorethe
questionof the veil fromthe complicatedperspectiveof an Arabfeminist, whobothrejectsthe veil as a personalchoicebut also recognizesits
empoweringandseductiveeffectonArabwomen.Mydiscussionwill be
limitedto the veil as it plays itself out in an Arabcontext,since this is
what I am mostfamiliarwith.Theanalysismight,ormightnot be true
in othernon-ArabMuslimcountries.Also,my'analysis'willbe moreofa
personaljourneyof explorationand reflection than a traditionalacademicanalysisora strictlyscientificone.
Forthe purposesofthis paperI shalluse the term'veil'to meanthe
currentdressadoptedby Muslimwomenin the Arabworld,as followers
of the contemporaryfundamentalistmovements.In its most common
expressionthe veil entails coveringthe woman'shair with a scarfthat
is ordinarilywhite, leaving the face to be exposed.All of the bodyis
usuallycoveredwith a loosedressin darkcolours,withbuttonsfromtop
to bottom.Womentypicallywear Westernclothesbeneaththis dress,
which they take-off,along with the scarf, when they are in the sole
companyofwomen.Thesewomendonot usuallycovertheirhandswith
gloves nordothey wearmake-up.
FeministReview No 43, Spring 1993
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Post-ColonialFeminismand the Veil 27
From non-veil to veil
In orderto makesense of the veil as a socialphenomenonone needs to
inspectothertypes of women'sdressthat are distinguishablefromthe
veil. This I will do, by noting the transitionalstep that these women
have madein theirdress,historically,fromnon-veilto veil.
I wouldlikefirst,howeverto locatethe womenwhoadoptthe veil in
termsof class.Thiswill be ratherdifficultdueto the complexityof class
structurein postcolonialsocieties. In general, these women tend to
belongto the urbanlowerandmiddleclasses.Professionally,they work
as civilservants,schoolteachers,secretariesin privateenterprise,bank
employees,nursesanduniversitystudents.Theyare usuallyyoung,in
theirtwentiesandearlythirties.
In the seventies these womenwalked the streets of Arab cities
wearingWesternattire:skirts and dressesbelowthe knee, high heels,
sleeves that coveredthe upper arm in the summer;their hair was
usually exposed, and they wore make-up.They differedfrom their
motherswho prettymuchdressedin the same way, in that they were
morefashionconscious,moreliberalin the colouringof their clothing
and more generousin their make-up.Their mothersusually covered
their hair with a scarfwhen they were in public,but only in a liberal
rather than a rigid way (a good proportionof their hair showed
underneaththe scarfin contrastto the scarfofthe fundamentalistdress
whichshowednothing).
If onewereto freezethat 'moment'in the seventies in an attemptto
understandthese womensrelationshipto theirbodies,onewouldfindit
multilayeredandhighlycomplex.In a way their bodiesseemedto be a
battlefieldwhere the culturalstrugglesof postcolonialsocieties were
waged.Onthe onehand the Westernattirewhichcoveredtheirbodies
carriedwithit the 'capitalist'constructionofthe femalebody:onethat is
sexualized objectified,thingifiedetc.... But becausecapitalismnever
reallywonthe dayin postcolonialsocieties,whereit managedto cohabit
these
successfullywithpre-capitalistsocialformations(traditionalism),
women'sbodies were also simultaneouslyconstructed'traditionally':
'chattelized','propertized'terrorizedas trustees of family (sexual)
honour.Thecohabitationin the femalebodyof this doubleconstruction
(the capitalistandthe traditional)was experiencedby these womenas
highlyconflictual.Theformerseemedto pushthemto be seductive,sexy
andsexual,the latterto be prudish,conservativeand asexual.Whereas
the formerwas supportedby the attractionof the market(consumption
of Westerncommodities),the latter was supportedby the threat of
violence(the womanis severelysanctioned,frequentlyby death,if she
risksthe familysexualhonour).
Notinfrequently,Arabicnewspaperscarrya storystructuredalong
the followinglines: 'S.M.stabbedhis sister K. in a coffeeshop across
fromthe universitycampus.The policeare investigatingthe crime.'A
possible scenario for the crime: the woman, a university student
belonging to the middle or lower classes is hanng coffee with a
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28
Feminist Reuiew
It is not unusual to find the length of a girl's dress the object of family
debate:
Father/brother: This dress is too short. No respectable girl
would wear it. Ask your daughter (addressing the mother) to take it
off.
Mother: Come on, let her be. Girls these days wear things like that.
Brother: Let her take it off. My friends follow girls on the streets who
wear dresses that short. Iwon't have my sister going around dressed
like that!
Girl: But it's so pretty. All my friends wear dresses that short.
Father/Brother: May be they do, but I won't have my daughter/
sister walk in the streets with a dress like that.
The girl takes it off.
colleague.Somebody'tips'her brotherthat she is involvedin sexual
relations with this man. Provokedby his sister's friendly public
behaviourwith anotherman, and shamedby other people'sthinking
that this publicbehaviourhas in factledto illicitsexualcontactbetween
them,the brotherkills his sisterin defenceoffamilysexualhonour.The
time betweenthe 'tip'andthe actualmurderis usuallyverybrief.More
concernedwith the publicperceptionthan with the actual fact of the
sister's conduct,the brother rushes to protect the family honour,
promptlyand unequivocally.Aftertrial, the brotheris imprisonedfor
one year only.His extenuatingcircumstanceis committinga 'crimeof
honour',sanctionedin mostArabpenalcodes.
Theabovetwostoriesarepointerson a continuum.Thewaythe girl
dresses and how she behaveshave heavy sexual significations.She is
continuouslysubjectto the test of'honour'and reputation,that she
never really passes once and for all. Her sense of disempowerment
stems from the terror exercisedover her body, death being its not
infrequentextreme.
The ambivalencethat these womenfelt abouttheir bodiesin the
seventieswas resolvedby adoptingthe Islamicfundamentalistdressin
the eighties. The length of her dress was no morethe objectof family
debate,norwouldshe be caughthavingcoffeewith a colleaguein public,
therebyriskingher own death.Ratherthan being engagedin keeping
the impossible balance of the 'attractive prude' or the 'seductive
asexual',these womenchoseto 'complete'the coveringof their bodies,
and 'consummate'their separationfrom men. I deliberatelyuse the
words 'complete'and 'consummate'because the veil was only the
concealmentof an alreadyambivalentlycoveredbody,ratherthan the
radical transition from 'revealment'to 'concealment'.Likewise, the
segregationofthe veil was onlythe completionof an alreadyambivalent
separationbetweenthe sexes.
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breasts you have', or 'howbeautiful f you mustbe', or something
Post-ColonialFeminismand the Veil 29
The veil as empowerment
I had earlieridentifiedthe womenwhoadoptthe veil as mostlyworking
womenor students,and young.Arlimportantpart of their dailylife is
walkingthe streetsandusingpublictransportto go to workorto school
anduniversity.Publicexposureofthis kindhas neverbeencomfortable
forwomenin Arabcities.Unfailinglysubjectto attentionon the streets
and on buses by virtueof beingwomen,they are staredat, whistledat,
rubbedagainst, pinched.... Commentsby men such as, 'what nice
moresubtlein tone suchas, 'whata blesseddaythis is that I have seen
you', are not infrequent.Ordinarily,womenavoid any kind of direct
verbalexchangewith men when they are so approached.They either
give the man a lookof disapproval,or simplylookaheaddismayed,and
continuetheirway.Whatevertheirreaction,they are alwaysconscious
of being lookedat. Exceptionally,a womanmight engage in a verbal
exchangewith the man, such as whenhe is insistent in his approaches
(he continuesto rub his thigh against hers on the bus despite her
attempts at keeping a distance away from him). She might retort
angrily,'Keepaway fromme you pig; don'tyou have sisters of your
own?'.A dramaticpublicsceneusuallyensues,wherebythe manjumps
to his self-defenceby denyingthe allegation,and the men on the bus
condemningsuch kind of behaviouras, 'unworthyof a man who has
sisters,anda signofthe corruptionofyouththese days'.Thepassengers
might also chidethe womanfor not dressingmoreproperly,implying
that if she did, such kind of harassmentmight not have occurred.The
bus drivermighteven gallantlyask the manto leave the bus.
A woman'swillingnessto raiseobjectionsto suchmaleintrusionsis
of
notablydifferentwhenshe is veiled.Hersense ofthe 'untouchability'
her bodyis usually very strongin contrastto the womanwho is not
veiled. Whereasthe latter wouldswallowthe intrusionsas inevitable
andpartofher dailylife,tryingto bypassthemin all the subtlewaysshe
canmuster(bylookingat the man angrilyandmovingawayfromhim),
the veiledwomanon the otherhandis morelikely to confrontthe man
with self-righteousness,'haveyouno fearofAllahtreatinghis believers
in such a shamelessfashion?'Publicreactionis usuallymoresympathetic to her, the men on the bus making commentssuch as, 'Muslim
womenshouldnot be treatedlike that. Youngmen shouldpraymore
andreadthe Quran.'It is alsotrue to say that veiledwomen'sexposure
to maleintrusionsin the firstplaceis considerablyless than the others.
The importanceof these daily experiencesand their 'existential'
effect on women,both veiled and non-veiled,is best understoodwhen
put in the contextofArabwomen'srelationshipto theirbodiesas I have
tried to exploreit above.Publicsexual harassmentseems to reinforce
the non-veiled woman's ambivalenceabout her body making her
powerlessin the face of unwelcomeintrusions.The problemdoesn't
seem to exist for veiled women, since adoptingthe veil was meant
amongotherthingsto shieldthemfromsuchsexualapproaches,so that
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30 FeministReview
when they are actuallymade, they are lookedupon as being simply
outrageous,bothbythe veiledwomenandthe public.
The weil as disempowerment
As I wrotedownthe title of this section,I thoughtto myselfthat there
are surelya hundredmillionwaysin whichthe veil is disempowering
to
women.But as I searchedin my mindfor such examples,I discovered
that thoseinstancesofdisempowerment
that I was thinkingofreflected
my own normativeassumptionsof how the worldshouldbe. In other
words,they reflectedmy positionas a feminist.Paradoxicallyenough,
and feministas I am, instancesof the disempowermentof the veil did
not presentthemselvesto me as self-evident.Whereasit was obviousto
me that the veil remediedthe situationof sexual harassmenton the
street,by discouragingmenfrominvadingveiledwomens spaceandby
empoweringthemto raiseobjectionswhensuchinvasionstookplace,it
wasn'tequallyobviousto me that the veil actuallyweakenedwomen
anddisabledthemfromconfrontingan uncomfortable
dailyexperience.
Even when I activatedmy own normativeassumptionsabouthow the
worldshouldbe,instancesof disempowerment
didnotbecomeanymore
self-evident.For instance, my normative assumptions,as an Arab
feminist,are basedon the premisethat Arabwomenshouldbe able to
expressthemselvessexually,so that they canlove,play,tease, flirtand
excite. In a social context such as the one in the Arabworld,where
womencan incurviolentsanctionsif they expressthemselvessexually,
such acts carryimportantnormativeweight to me as a feminist. In
them,I see acts of subversionandliberation.
But loving,teasing flirtingand seducingwas not the way these
women normativelysaw their sexuality. If in all these acts I saw
pleasureandjoy, they saw only evil. For them, a societyin whichthe
sexes interactedthus was undoubtedlycorrupt.Theythereforeexperienced the veil as normativelynecessary:precisely because women
shouldnot go aroundseducingmen (exceptthe ones they are married
to) then they shouldbe veiled(fromothermen).The disempowerment
of the veil that I reflectedon seemedto express merelymy panicked
feministself, onethat sawthe veil as threateningto its normativeworld
andsexuality.
Unless I engagedin intellectualelitismby accusingthese womenof
false consciousnessand not knowingtheir owngood,therewas no way
that I couldpointto instancesofthe disempowerment
ofthe veil. Whatit
all soundslike so faris a hopelessclashof normativevisions.
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Post-ColonialFeminismand the Veil 31
In a conversation with a veiled fundamentalist woman in her late
twenties, who is single, Iask, 'Butdon't you have sexual needs?'
She: Sure Ido.
1: Whatdo you do with them?
She: Sure I have sexual needs, but nothing that is absolutely
overwhelming and impossible to deal with. I occupy myself all the
time. I read books. I love to read books on Islam. To be 'pure' as a
single woman is my absolute priority. I do not let these things
preoccupymy thinking.Itis simply not an issue for me.
In my late twenties and single myself, that was nothing my confused
postcolonial feminist self could identify with.
As I wrote the above paragraph about my own normative vision of
sexuality, I was fearfully conscious of my father's reaction.
Father: Whatis this you're writing?Women going aroundseducing
and teasing??!!
1:
.........
Father: Wipe it off. Do you want to shame me?? That's all I need !!
Myown daughterdeclaringto the worldthat she wants women to go
aroundseducing and teasing ! Howcan Ishow my face to the world??
1:
.........
Father: So this is what you want??This is what your feminism is all
about??Women going aroundwhoring??
1,desperately searching for words that might fit into his conceptual
scheme and finding none, remainsilent.
Preaching to the unconverted
What aboutthose who are unconverted,neither feminist nor veiled?
Thosewhosebodiesand sexualityhave not beenconstructedby the veil
discourse,norbythe feministone?Whataboutthosewhose'moment'in
the seventies has lingered,whose ambivalenceabouttheir bodieshas
notbeen'resolved'bythe adoptionofthe veil?77Vhat
doesa feministsuch
as myselfhaveto offerthemandhowdo I farein comparisonwith those
who preach the veil? How could what I have to offer them be
empowering?
I findthat my position,and that of otherfeminists,is not devoidof
ambivalence.We obviouslyfare worse when it comesto empowering
womenon the streets. If what we have as remedyis a long agendaof
changingthe laws, claimingour rights to walk the streets without
harassment,and raisingconsciousnessaboutthe 'equality'of men and
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32
Feminist Review
women,thenwhatwe haveis terriblyunattractive.It is longterm(when
the veil as remedy is immediate),sounds hopelessly utopian and
demandingof women to engage in what sounds like difficult and
impossiblepersonal/politicalstruggle.But what is even moreserious
than all this, in contrastto the lookof socialrespectabilitythat the veil
bestowson those whowearit (sortof like the respectabilityof a woman
dressedlike a nun),we seemto offerwomena discoursethat will make
them socially conspicuous,questionableand suspect. For the ambivalentwomanofthe seventies,alreadydoggedin herpursuitforgood
reputation,what we offerher looksnot only unattractive,but almost
sociallysuicidal.
The situation is aggravatedfurther by the fact that most such
feminists are upper-or middle-classwomen,with materialresources
that enablethemto avoid,to a greatextent,uncomfortable
experiences
on the streets (most of them drive their own cars). They also invite
instinctive hostility in lower-classwomen by virtue of their class
position.
Even more, feminist discourse sounds quite foreign. It uses
conceptssuch as 'equality'and 'freedom',which are on the one hand
indeterminateandcouldbe easily appropriated('equalitybetweenmen
andwomenmeansthat men shouldbe women'ssuperiorsbecausethey
are morequalified'),but they are also conceptsthat need yet to become
discoursein the postcolonialcontext('whyshouldwomenbe free when
men are not free either?').Liberalism,which postcolonialfeminism
seemsto be basedon,has yet to win the dayin these societies.
Regrettablyforthe feminist,the importlikequalityofher discourse
weakensher case even further.Seen as a Westernproduct,feminism
doesn'thave an obviouslist of victoriesthe postcolonialfeminist can
lean on. Rape,pornographyand familydisintegrationin the West are
flauntedin the face of such a feminist as she proceedsto preachher
politics.Ratherthan seeing feminismas a politicalresponseto these
socialphenomena,feminismis seen as its cause.It is becauseWestern
womenhave become'emancipated'that they are on the streets to be
raped,morallycorruptto be playmates,andselfishabouttheirownlives
to causethe disintegrationof the family.In a crude,superficial,partial,
empiricalway,that mightbe true. But beforethe postcolonialfeminist
steps in to explainthe complexityof the situationin the West,she finds
herself silenced by the immediate, simple, straightforwardalmost
magicalrhetoricof the veil. But even if she is allowedto speak, she
suddenlyfindsherself in the uncomfortablepositionof 'defendingthe
West',an anomalyin itself in the postcolonialMuslimsocietiesof the
day.
Solidarity with the veiled
So far I have constructedthe veiled positionand the feminist one as
beingsharplycontrasted.I hadindicatedearlierthat they seemedto me
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Post-Colonial
Feminismand theVeil 33
to representa hopelessclashofnormativevisions.But let me step down
a little bit andreshufflethe positionsI have constructed.Whowants to
talk aboutnormativevisionsanyway?Theyoftenseemto leadnowhere.
Perhapsthe feministpath and the veiled one criss-cross.Perhaps
they doso to an extentthat they areno longersingularlyidentifiableas
such.To showhow they mightpossiblydo that we need to breakthem
downand attacktheircoherence.
The coherenceof the veiled positionbreaks down like this: the
contemporary
veil seeks to addresssexualharassmenton the street.It
seeks to protectwomenon their way to workand to school.Its female
subjectsare sociallyconspicuousa priori: they are not womenwho are
stayinglockedindoors.It has cometo remedythe uncomfortabledaily
lives of single, youngwomen,who are leavingthe house seekingwork
and education.But the veil as rhetoricassumes that women should
ideallybe inconspicuous.
Theyshouldbe lockedindoorsoutofmen'sway
so as not to seducethem.Theyshouldnot go out to work,their rightful
placeis in the houseas wivesandmothers,not as wageworkers.
The veiled position thus seems to be self-deconstructing.If it
seriouslypursues its normativevision by inviting womento stay at
home,then it loses its attractivenessandthereforeits effectivenessas a
tool.Forit was women'sconspicuousnessthat promptedthem to adopt
the veil in the firstplace.
Even moreparadoxically,fundamentalistideology,as the inspirationforthe rhetoricof the veil, assumesthat womenshouldworkonly
out of necessity, preferablywork in professionsthat are considered
femininesuchas teachingand nursing,and onceat the workplacethey
shouldminimizetheir contactwith mento the greatestextentpossible.
77Vhether
duringtheir workinghours,or duringbreak-time,individual
womenandindividualmen shouldnot be left alone.Menare presumed
to be the leadersin any context,whetherat workor at home.Women,
whohaveadoptedthe veil forits empoweringeffecton the streetas they
go to work, can find themselves seriously disempoweredif the veil
carriesits 'logic'to the workplace.Spatial and functionalsegregation
betweenthe sexes, as the fundamentalistideologyof the veil envisages
for the workplace,couldseriouslyaffectthe careerprospectsof veiled
women.Sincethey live andworkin a worldwheremen are alreadythe
decision-makers,and the higher situated in the hierarchy of the
workplace,minimizingcontactbetween women and men could only
possiblyresult in isolatingwomenfurtherfromthe positionsof power
anddecision-making.
The ambivalenceof their positionas veiled womenseeking work
could be effectively utilized by feminists. Seeing this as a golden
opportunityforjoining hands with veiled women,feminists can offer
their politics as remedyfor the disempowermentveiled women can
experienceat the workplace.Liberalfeministdemandssuchas equality
in the distributionofresponsibilitiesbetweenmenandwomenbasedon
the qualificationsof the individual,equalityof promotionopportunities
between the sexes, daycare facilities for women to nurture their
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34 FeministReview
children,canbe offeredto thesewomenas empoweringpoliticalrhetoric
for them as wage workers.Such demandswill undoubtedlyresonate
deeplyin veiledwomen'sexperienceat the workplace.Feminismcould
thus becomethe empoweringpoliticsof veiledwomenat work.
The ironicside aboutall this for feminists,is that all of a sudden
they could find themselves joining hands with veiled women as
'comrades'in politicalaction.The coherenceof the feminist position
couldthus be opento question.Far fromfindingthe beneficiariesof its
rhetoric female subjects engaged in a struggle for free and equal
interactionwith men in a free play of sexuality,postcolonialfeminism
will have to adjust itself to the fact that its empoweredsubjectsare
veiled women.In otherwords,feministwomenand veiled womenare
nowsisters.
Veiled and divided: the battle over the body
I have so far talkedaboutthe veiledbodyas if it were monolithic.And
even thoughI believethat the rhetoricof the veil seeks to constructa
monolithicfemale sexuality for its followers,I do not howeverthink
that, on closerinspection,the communityof the veiledrevealsany such
single construction.Veiled sexuality,it seems to me, reveals a multiplicitythat is beyondthe feminist'swildestexpectations.
True,there are those who canbe describedas 'ideologyincarnate'.
Theirrelationshipwiththeirbodyreplicatesideologyso wellthat a shift
in this constructionlooks almost hopeless. They are the leaders, the
preachers,the passionatebelievers,the puritans.They are the ones
whose publicveiled self takes over,even when they are in the private
quartersof women.Theirbodiesseem to adoptthe dailyrituals of the
veil, wherethey cometo look,forthe morecolour-lovingaestheticeye,
ratherbland,insipidandotherworldly.It is the bodyofthe virtuous.
But there are also those in the communityof the veiled who are
tentative and wavering.Oncesecurein the companyof women,they
revealbodiesthat aremorecolourful,livelyandsexual.Oneis surprised
at the shifttheirbodiesmakewhentheytake the veil off.Theblandface
becomescolourfulwith creativemake-up.The loose dress of the veil,
oncetakenoff,revealsunderneathfashionableclothing,makinga more
individualand personalstatementthan the collectivepublicone of the
veil. Their sexuality appearsto be more forthcoming,assertive and
joyful.Oncetogether,their interactionwith each otheris not devoidof
seductivenessandflirtation.Theirprivatebodiesare almostunrelated
to theirpublicones.
Andthereare alsothosewhoseprivatemorecolourfulbodies,shyly
but daringly,pushto becomemorepublic.Theywearmake-upwith the
veil. They are more creative,fashion-consciousin public, constantly
attemptingto subvertthe blandnessof the veil. Theyinvent a million
waysto tie the scarfon theirheads,whichitself becomesmorevariedin
coloursthan the more standardwhite. The loose dress of the veil
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Feminismand theVeil 35
Post-Colonial
suddenly becomes slightly tighter, more colourful,more daring in
emulatingWesternfashions,even if it doesn'texplicitlyreveal more
partsofthe femalebody.Onealsonoticesthemonthe streetsconversing
with men, strollingwith them, subvertingthe segregationthat the veil
imposeson the sexes.
And there are those who wear the veil, but retain a fiercely
ambivalentrelationshipwith it, so that wearing it is a conscious
decisionthat is madealmosteveryday.It is not uncommonto findthem
wearingit some days and takingit off others.'Wearingthe veil, I find
sometimes encouragesme to binge on food since my whole body is
coveredin public,and I tend to lose touchwith it. I feel I needto take it
offsometimes.I needthe publicvoyeur'sgazeto controlmyself.'
And,there arethosewhouse theirbodiesanddressas a statement
of opposition.They differentiatethemselvesin their environmentby
wearingthe veil, andusingit as a statementonfemalesubordinationin
Arabhouseholds
nonfundamentalist
(pseudo-secular,
pseudo-religious)
in whichthey findthemselves.Wearingthe veil allowsthem to have a
singularandindividualvoice:'Youareall notwearingthe veil,but I AM.
I ampowerfulenoughto doit, andthis is howI carvemyselfa spacethat
you cannotreach.I disapproveof what you are, whoyou are, andwhat
youthink!'
Ofcourse,a veiledwomanis not necessarilyeitherthis orthat. She
couldshiftfromonepositionto the other.At times colourful,othertimes
bland, seductive and prudish,public and private.A veiled woman's
subjectivityappearsto be muchmorecomplicatedthanthe simpleword
of the veil canpossiblyconvey.
Forthe feminist,suchmultiplicityof veiledsexualitycouldbe very
exciting and promisingof rich interactionand dialoguewith veiled
women. Her position accordinglycould become more nunnced and
multiple. Instead of dismissing them as the enemy, the threat, the
falsely conscious,she couldsee them as the varied,divided,seemingly
united,femalecommunitytryingto survivein an enuronmentthat is
hostile to them as muchas it is to her. It is a multiplicitythat invites
conversationbetween the 'same',rather than the apartness of the
'other'.
The feminist resituates herself
In the sectionbelow,I shallreferto the 'rhetoricofthe veil'.WhatI mean
by it is the fundamentalistconstructionof the veil, as it is circulated
ideologically.A womanwhodecidesto wearthe veil is usuallysubjected
to a certainideologicalindoctrination(by a fundamentalistpreacher),
abouthow every Muslimwomanneeds to coverher bodyso as not to
seduce men, and how in doing this she obeys the word of Allah.
Otherwise,she wouldface his wrath on the day of judgement.I have
alreadytentativelyreferredto it in the sectionentitled'Solidaritywith
the veiled'.It is in relationto, and at the same time by means of, this
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36 FeministReview
'official'rhetoric that the different women I have just described
constructtheirpositionof ambivalenceor subversion.
In my constructionso far, I have largelyignoredthe questionof
power.77Vhat
I meanby powerin this contextis the powerattachedto a
particulardiscourseas the only possiblerepresentationof'reality',to
the exclusionof others.This is a particularlyimportantissue for the
postcolonialfeministwho is interestedin understandingand possibly
impactingthe femalecommunityof the veiled.Theexcitementoverthe
multiplicityand richness of such a communityfor the postcolonial
feministmight be immediatelydampenedby the ideologicalpowerof
the veil over that community.This will still be the case despite the
variety and richness of veiled womens lives that could be read as
subvertingthe rhetoricof the veil.
It is interesting to note that since the veiled women of the
contemporaryfundamentalistmovementshave adoptedthe veil as a
politicalact (they were not borninto it), the rhetoricof the veil has a
stronghold overthem, since it providedthe rationalefor their act. In
articulatingtheirlives andtheirrelationshipwiththeirbodies,theycan
onlyengagein suchrhetoric.Thisseemsto havethe effect,at the endof
the day, of reifyingthe 'reality'of their daily lives, by disablingthem
fromseeing the subversionsand variationsthat exist or couldexist to
disruptthe ideologyof the veil.
This seriouslycomplicatesthe positionof the feminist.In orderto
have a hearingwith these women,she needs to 'hookup' with their
conceptualsystem (rhetoric).But she also needs to do it in a way that
subvertsit and allowsconceptualopeningsin it, throughwhichveiled
womencan start to see their lives differently.This is a slipperyroad
since she will always risk being overwhelmedby the 'logic'of the
rhetoric,and therebyend up being renderedineffectiveand immobilized by it. She will also find herself in the uncomfortablepositionof
having to say things that she 'doesn'treally mean'in orderto have a
hearingin the first place. Consciousof having to keep the balanceof
being both inside and outside the system, the feminist risks being
pushedone side orthe other.
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Post-Colonial
Feminismand theVeil 37
The feminist: I like the way you wear your scarf. It's creative and
most unusual.
Veiled woman: Thank you. Iget bored with the way I look if Iwea r it
the same every day.
The feminist: I thought the whole point was to wear it the same
every day so that you don't attract attention to your body.
Veiled woman: It's just that I think that people need to look
beautiful to others. That doesn't mean they have to seduce them.
Allah is beautiful and He likes beauty.
The feminist: I agree with you. I think women can look beautiful
without having to appear as if they are out to seduce men. I believe
that women can look both proper and beautiful. In my opinion, you
can do that either wearing the veil or even Western clothes. 1,
personally, feel more comfortable wearing the latter. The veil appears
to me rather exaggerated.
Veiled woman: Except that Allah commanded us to wear the veil.
But ltve always believed that the important thing is how we feel
inside. The importantthing isthatwefeel pure inside, no matterwhat
we wear, whether it is Western clothes or the veil.
Notes
Lama Abu Odeh is currently a doctoral candidate in Juridicial Sciences at
HarvardLaw School. She has also studied at the Universities of Jordan, Bristol
and York. She is a feminist activist and a founding member of a Women's
Studies Centre in Jordan.
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