Islam And Banning The Headscarf

Tin Dunlop has more. So does Mark.

I insist, again, that it is possible to be against both the treatment of women under Islam in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, and also in our country, without ripping the headscarves from the heads of teenage girls.

Tim's post is long, thoughtful and nuanced. If you haven't already read it, please do so.

Comments

[anthony]

One of my jobs at work is assisting migrant and refugee learners from an ESL background through a Nursing Certificate. Quite a few are Muslim women and several wear headscarves. This was seen as a problem for work by some and the offered solution at the time was "no" as "this is how we do it here". I got caught in the middle of this but it was resolved after a few questions. What do nurses do in Muslim countries? Are there any hospitals in that have dealt with this issue? What are the actual health issues? And what would be permissable for the students concerned?

Once this was done we had an example,a justification, and a solution. The health problem was with covering the forearms with sleeves carrying infections, rather than headscarves and the issue was resolved.

A personal anecdote is not the most compelling of argument but it does show how these frictions in our culture can be worked out in a specific, rational, and pragmatic way that need not end up being swept up in larger issues. I can't see Bronwyn Bishop's suggestion in this light.

[Kim]

Kate, I can't agree with you about Tim's post. I think Tim takes an arrogant and patronising tone, and I have many objections to what he writes and his subsequent response to comments, summed up by this comment I just made on his thread:

"It's Hijab not Hajib, for Christ's sake (I use that swear phrase advisedly). I don't want to be all little t tim and pick up on spelling mistakes, but it's significant that people on this thread can't even be bothered to spell the term correctly.

Have a go at transubstantiation - I'm sure you can spell that.

And I don't know, Tim, why you insist on writing "Koran" instead of "Qur'an". The former is a 19th century transliteration from the Arabic to the English. I think you know how to write Beijing as opposed to Peking. Same issue. It spells Orientalism to me.

I don't mean to be picky, but as a woman and a feminist I've had it with men like observa and EP suddenly discovering that women are oppressed in Islam when the general thrust of most of their comments is that women should be put well and truly in their place in Anglo-Saxon Oz.

It strikes me, Tim, that you're also claiming the right to adjudicate from a position which you don't subject to questioning - that is, the big A Australian who gets to say what's acceptable in a liberal society and how people ought to behave therein.

I myself am American and Australian and also have Jewish ancestry - from the Hispanic peninsula where Christian Spain expelled most of our ancestors and forced the rest to conform to nominal Christianity in the interests of national unity and go underground with their religious beliefs.

If you want to recreate this in late modern Australia, go for it. Just don't speak in my name.

I'm also a woman and therefore know something about others re-organising how I can live my life, and speaking for/over me.

I'm sorry if this comment, like Mark's, is too passionate for this estimable and restrained blog, but you're raising some very emotive and important issues, and you need, I think, to spell out your presuppositions more precisely.

Or think again, which I hope you do, because in general on other subjects I have a lot of respect for you and your writing."

[Kate]

Kim, I don't agree with him entirely either. (What's this? Tag teamers having a disagreement? Rob would be shocked, shocked I tell you.) I found his opinions thoiught-provoking and I'm still chewing on them. As it happens, I'm much more inclined to agree with Mark's take on the matter.

And I agree with you entirely on your take with EP and Observa -- their concern for women under Islam is touching. Not.

[Kate]

To continue... IMHO it seems foolish to link the violence of the terrorists to Islam. Islam has no monopoly on violence.
I also can't see how the hijab is symbolic of resistance -- teenage girls. All this talk of 'banning' it and 'symbolic resistance' really elides the idea that Bishop is advocating the persecution of teenage girls.

[Kev]

I see a woman wearing hijab and I see subjugation - whether she is aware of it or not. This is not an isolated opinion and neither is it based on anti feminism.

By the same token I don't think outlawing wearing it is the way to go either. I would think that time and education will see it's demise.

Kims point on Koran versus Qur'an is approaching pedantic and adds little to the debate. I was a professional linguist and was taught to use the anglised version of words when writing english. It is not insulting to a culture to translate their spelling - it just makes sense. Language is a living thing and changes like Peking to Beijing occur naturally - not by edict. A quick Google indicates that any amount of educational institutions use both forms.

I might add that my Indonesian Kamus Umum, a dictionary for the largest Moslem country on earth has the spelling Koran when capitalised being an Indonesian accepted alternative to Qur'an.

Small point maybe, but let's not confuse the debate with linguistic red herrings.