http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/fight-to-wear-the-veil-will-test-turkey/2007/07/29/1185647736832.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Women's fight to wear the veil will test Turkey's move towards modernisation James Button July 30, 2007 YOU SEE all kinds of veils, or headscarves, in Turkey. Last week I saw a woman in a black veil and tight jeans; another in a wildly multi-coloured veil and high heels; another wearing a pink veil and make-up to match. Amberin Zaman, Turkey correspondent for The Economist, has seen a woman in a veil sporting a tight top and bare tummy. She has seen a transvestite in a veil. She says some of the country's most feisty feminists - including women who campaign against male violence - wear veils. When Etyen Mahcupyan rides a ferry across the Bosphorus to go to work at Istanbul's Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, he sees two or three couples kissing. They could be young people anywhere, except that the woman wears a veil. Yes, Turkey also has women in black, wearing a shapeless overgarment with only a small part of the face showing. But the kaleidoscope I saw challenged all my preconceptions. In just a few years these small pieces of cloth have become a faultline of European politics, symbolising fears of a resurgent, strident, even separatist Islam. In 2004, France banned the headscarf in public schools. Last year the Dutch Government and parts of Belgium proposed banning the burqa, the covering that shows only the eyes (at times not even them). Former British foreign secretary Jack Straw caused a storm when he voiced unease about the niqab, a covering similar to a burqa. Of course the headscarf is not the same as the burqa, which denies human contact by shutting off the face. Yet both are highly visible symbols of a deep, if not always admitted, Western belief that Islam oppresses women. Turkey is not Europe, but its cosmopolitan and secular elite identifies strongly with the West. Last week's national election was triggered by a dispute over whether the wife of the ruling party's candidate for president should be allowed to wear a headscarf. Although almost entirely Muslim, Turkey is the fiercest opponent of Muslim symbols such as the headscarf. The paradox goes back to the determination of Ataturk, founder of the secular state in 1923, to modernise his country by keeping Islam out of public life. Female MPs, lawyers, public servants and tertiary students cannot wear the veil in their place of work or study. Since the ruling Justice and Development party has Islamist roots, the elites, including many educated women, are terrified that a head of state with a veiled wife would be a step towards sharia law. It is hard to share their fears. Yes, headscarves are more visible than ever in Turkey. But here is the surprise: their use is declining. The reason more are seen is that their wearers are coming out of their homes and demanding a place in public life. A report by the European Stability Initiative found that in the past seven years the proportion of Turkish women who do not cover their heads has risen from 27 to 37 per cent. Among the 60 per cent who cover, most wear the scarf in the loose, traditional style that often shows hair. Only 10 per cent wear the veil in the strict, religious way: tied tightly around the face, often with a bonnet, so that no hair shows. But here is another paradox: among these apparently religious Muslims are some of the strongest feminists. They are young women whose parents - the religious, rural poor - moved to the cities in Turkey's huge postwar urbanisation. Their mothers work, they are educated (female literacy has risen from 13 to 81 per cent since World War II) and they want better jobs than their mothers had. Mahcupyan, whose foundation has studied the "scarf girls", says the scarf is their "passport out of the family". It allows them to stay out late and tell their parents they cannot be misbehaving: they are religious, after all. It also frees them from harassment by men. "It's a very modern garment, even a feminist statement," Mahcupyan says. The wearer "is trying to differentiate herself, first from her family, then from society. She is saying, 'I'm a person, I have my own career, and this is my choice.' " These women also see Islam as patriarchal and are redefining it in their own image, he says. One told him she was afraid her husband was not very Islamic. Asked why not, she said, "He does not help me clean the house." The women are provoking a small crisis: their scarves prevent them from going to university. Mahcupyan estimates that a few thousand have been expelled; tens of thousands more do not apply. Selin Bolme, 32, is a doctoral student and a researcher with an Ankara think tank. She wears jeans and a T-shirt to work and is not religious. But she thinks Turkey's rigid stance on the "scarf girls" denies them their natural rights. "A woman who is more successful and smarter than me cannot go to university: how do you explain that? She will turn back to the home, become a mother with three children, maybe become more radical. It's not right," she says. Emboldened by its landslide win last week, the ruling party may move on behalf of the scarf girls' rights. Change is bound to come, even if Turkey shows that not all cultures modernise in the Western way. This vibrant country also shows the world that while militant Islam is a great force, the rise of women is greater. There are plenty of reasons to believe the latter will prevail. James Button is Europe correspondent [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! 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