A different look

In my Communications Ethics course today, a Fulbright scholar spoke about her take on Islamic dress in the gulf states.

I must say, my worldview was challenged.

A professor of English at the University of Bahrain, who is visiting Whitworth on a six-week Fulbright program, lectured about her country's take on the Hijab, the traditional scarf worn to cover the hair by Muslim women. She showed pictures of various styles and levels of modesty. She then compared these to the chador, what is what we consider a burka, or the full facial and body covering.

I knew before that for the majority of Muslim women, their clothing is their choice. As she said, the only country that requires the full is Afghanistan, and we all know how I feel about that. I've also always tried to make the distinction between Muslim and Arab, and fully realize that these terms are in no way interchangeable. There's a mosque down the road from my house. I get that.

But after hearing this incredible woman speak, I was inspired to realize that the West isn't the only one that cares about the oppression of Afghani women. Though she did say the idea of military or economic intervention in places like Afghanistan was a fundamentally Western idea, she said the women of Bahrain are just as outraged at the floggings in the street and the extreme takes on marriage.

Here's a fascinating video she showed us of the new First Lady in Qatar: