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Politics Of The Veil By Joan Scott Summary

707 Words3 Pages

Jonathan Wert
5/7/17
French History
Dr. Blackman
Politics of the Veil Politics of the Veil, written by Joan Wallach Scott, is about the 2004 controversial headscarf ban in France. Scott opens with, “This is not a book about French Muslims; it is about the dominant French view of them.” Scott examines the political storm surrounding the French ban on headscarves for girls eighteen or younger in public schools. The book is an easy read, filled with first-hand accounts of the racism felt by Muslim women. Scott is an American historian who focuses in gender and intellectual history. She teaches at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University. Joan Scott has been studying these issues for many years. The main argument, is against the …show more content…

The United States legal system is unlike Frances, because in France, differences of religion are formally unacknowledged, so instead of legal protections based on differences, all French are considered first and most importantly French citizens. French Nationality comes before all other markers of identification. Secularism is supposed to protect French citizens from any claims of institutionalized religion. Scott’s research found very few of the girls wore the headscarves to school. Many of the young girls chose to wear the headscarf. They were not pressured by any imams, the fathers, or brothers. Pro-ban arguments use the French version of secularism which defines not only separation of church and state, but the state’s role as the protector of individuals from religious order. Pro-ban supporters argue that Islam threatens republicanism by stripping Muslim women of the liberty to choose to wear or not to wear the headscarf. Obviously, it’s a poor argument because a majority of the girls were not forced to wear the headscarf. Many pro-ban supporters often downplay the fact that Catholic culture has an embedded role within …show more content…

Scott states, “Islam’s insistence on recognizing the difficulties posed by sexuality revealed more than republicans wanted to see about the limits of their own system.” (Scott, 154). In the end, Scott reveals how the inability of the French government to address the issue of the veil meaningfully understates the current inability of France to create a country that can co-exist with

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This week's readings focus on the issues of freedom and enlightenment. In Angelique Chrisafis’s essay France’s headscarf war: ‘Its an attack on freedom’ we are introduced to the problems many Muslim women in France are experiencing regarding their traditional headscarf, the hijab. Chrysalis explains that the French Republic lays a great deal of importance and focus on the separation of church and state and, therefore, do not allow any religiously affiliated clothing or items to be worn in the public work sector. However, many Muslim women are upset, embarrassed, and feel targeted by the treatment they are receiving at the hands of different institutions in France when wearing their hijab. The on-going battle between the right to religious

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In her Financial Times article, “Reinventing the Veil,” writer Leila Ahmed uses her background and knowledge as a Muslim feminist to write about the dynamic evolution or revolution of the Islamic veil. Ahmed starts with the 1940s through 1960s, in an era which education was quickly spreading. Many Muslim majority cities were becoming more aware of the cultural significance of the veil and were deciding to opt out. As an educated Harvard academic, Ahmed builds trust with her readers’ and also establishes her credibility. She then appeals to our emotions to form an overall persuasive and organized piece.

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* The article “Reinventing the veil” by Leila Ahmed discusses how the concept of hijabs has changed over time. Back then many people had the assumption the veils would

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That is, while many of the Pachucos appropriated the zoot suit as a way to cope with feeling powerless and voiceless in a white supremacist society, Muslim women at the beginning wore the headscarves mostly for religious, functional, and personal reasons. For Muslim women in France, at least in the 1990s onwards, there was no literal appropriation involved. Instead, the headscarf was worn because it was a sign of modesty and means of controlling sexuality by their culture and religion, a material and psychic link to their homeland, a form of self-protection, and an expression of religious identity (Scott, 2005: 117). Like Mexicans in the United States, Muslim women in France are also marginalized and discriminated upon. The ideals of the French revolution and French republicanism created an ideology that there is a true self and essence, and the government embarked on a journey under the rubric of that ideology (Scott, 2005: 109; Miller 2010: 41).

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According to the author’s opinion Canadian Muslim women feel the most targeted leading this to be the main issues as it is states for any head wear such as niqab or burka covering the face to be removed when receiving public services regarding identification (Shingler, 2017). Despite, the author being able to relate to the controversial topic he is able to incorporate statements from those who are not in favor of the new bill. In summary, CBC News author Benjamin Shingler uses statements from Quebec’s government and Muslim Canadians grasping a better understanding of both viewpoints. As a result, the issue seen is being examined through a micro-level as looking beyond a problem and looks at cause and effect for individuals throughout society.

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In 1939, Reza Shah’s unveiling declaration sparked a worldwide debate as to what the veil actually symbolizes. Ever since the beginning of Islam, women throughout the Islamic world have had to adopt the hijab as part of their cultural and religious attire due to various interpretations of the Islamic dress code. In addition, the Koran emphasizes purity in the name of Islam by asking both men and women to be modest when it comes to the way they dress. Furthermore, in his efforts to modernize Iran, Reza Shah failed to satisfy the needs of his people, as he gave women no say in what they could and could not wear in public. This eventually resulted in the division of Iranian women, as there were those who favored the Islamic tradition, and those who supported the regime and its adoption of Western values.

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This ban of a women’s religious dress is in no way constitutional under the current French Constitution. My client and the 1,546 fines have been given out to 908 women wearing the burqa in public (McPartland), have not been given equality without the distinction of religion. The French Parliament stated that this was for Muslim women to, “adapt to the local community,”. These 908 women being fined and being spotlighted by the community do not feel welcomed in their local community, because their religion and traditional religious dress has been attacked. This ban is helping nobody and compromises the integrity of France, as stated by Geoffrey W.G. Leane, “In all likelihood these policies will end badly, not only for Muslim minorities in Europe, but for the legitimacy and integrity of modern European liberal values as well.”

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The issue of the veil has come to represent the essence of Islam, not only to the West, but also to Muslim Conservatives and Fundamentalists. To some in the West, the veil represents repression and constriction of women’s freedom and choice, limiting their capacity for self-determination. However, some Muslims would argue that women must veil because it is a first step towards restoring true Islam and a defiance against the West Interventionist policies (Lazreg, Why Women Should Not Wear the Veil, pg. 113). Additionally, the idea of freedom as the ultimate value, is a western standard and that for some, piety is more important. Lila Abu-Lughod and Marnia Lazreg have contrasting views on the veiling of Muslim women and the affects it has on their lives.

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To begin with, some school dress codes do not allow freedom of religious wear. According to one article,” Both

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According to this colonial power, If men were to be challenged by their woman, it would create a radically new society, one that was to be assimilated to be just like the French one. If woman embraced western ideals, they would no longer just listen to their husbands, who in reality were more likely to rebel. Men were more likely to rebel due to the fact that they were more exposed to the public realm, while woman were not and were for many years not included in the revolutionary efforts. If the woman was to be “liberated” the men (who are more likely to rebel) would lose his power, and the French sought to achieve this by trying to rid these woman of wearing the veil. The veil as viewed by the French was a system of control, enforced by the men.

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Every girl at her school is forced to wear the veil, which according to her teachers it is

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The Islamic religion was also the reason for veiling even after the Islamic revolution. However, there is the one difference after the revolution which is fundamentalism. The fundamentalist strongly believes that women 's hair stimuli men 's sexual desire, as the TV explains why women need to hide their hair in Persepolis (Satrapi 74). Indeed, When Marjane 's mother was in town without wearing the veil, she was insulted by fundamentalist (Satrapi 75). Although people might be punished by government or fundamentalists, some people refused to wear the veil.

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(Transition: Why hijab is been perceived as a threat to some people) I. Although Muslims have been in the United States for more than 100 years, women in hijab have been wrongly and negatively in some communities. i. Since 9/11, the media has been featuring the hijab as a symbol of terrorism or violence. As people lean toward getting most of their information from these resources, they will develop a negative picture about Islam in general and women in hijab in particular. For instance, when news feature a women wearing Muslim attire such as hijab while reporting stories related to terrorism.

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It was later called The Islamic Revolution” (Satrapi 3). The readers see right away that every students entered school was asked to wear veil due to the fact that “1980: The Year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school” (Satrapi 3). The veil symbolizes the restriction of social liberties for

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The strict rules that began to form involving the forced wearing of the veils, and the requirement of the Islamic faith, were coming from the fundamental side. With the definition of fundamentalist being “a person who believes in the strict, literal interpretation of the scripture in a religion”, the fundamentalists were bending the Islamic faith

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