tags: Turkey, scarf, ban
Tashny, I noticed that my answer to your questions were turning into a nice long rant, so I thought I might share them here. Hope you don't mind:)
1. The hijab is important for women to wear because- I believe that it is an obligation. The verse that says women should 'draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to..' as well as hadith has generally been understood as that women should cover their hair. Is it okay for women to never don it- Wearing a scarf is not the only, or the main obligation, men have to cover up too and also its not just about covering one's hair, the verse mentioned continues about being modest and 'lowering ones gaze' so its one whole thing, of outfit and attitude, that one who says she is a Muslim should try to abide by as much as she can, or at least know that there's such an obligation even if they're not going to for whatever reason.
In short- I think Muslim women should wear it, but don't care if they personally don't want to. (Like I wear one and my mother doesn't, some of my friends are covered and some are not).
2.The ban here is not associated with immigration issues as it is in France. Nevertheless, the same two reasons you mentioned are given by scarf opponents for the ban here; that Turkey is 'a secular state' and that of others who in a more liberal, feminist voice talk about 'the oppression of girls'. 'It is patriarchy we are against' they say, we care about you. (But if you prefer to stay as you are then don't come to school. Stay at home and be housewives.)
Here scarf banning has more to do with urbanization and our long process of (nation- state imposed) modernizing. In the 60's the move from rural to urban brought a merging (or clashing) of traditional with modern, as these invisible people began to be visible in the public sphere. The elite ruling classes felt threatened by this. Modernity here had been imposed on the people as looking and living (but not completely thinking)Western.
These people saw 'a necessary parallelism between western lifestyle and the civilized profile'. But this had started earlier than the Republic. As the Ottoman empire went towards decline, measures were taken to improve their image in the eyes of the west. (The Versailles- imitation palaces you'll be taken to see on a trip of Istanbul are from that era) Debates on the role of women in public, and feminism first appeared during those periods of self concious attempts. And remember Orientalism. The image of your women is what is going to define your progress. Islam is bad for women. And it hinders 'progress'.. Anyway there's a long way in between but the bans started in the 80's. One way of justifying the ban has been to portray certain (the generally used) ways of wearing the scarf as a threat. Its not uncommon to hear 'I want it banned in universities- but my grandmother wears a scarf too you know' or 'my maid wears one too'- implying that women were ok when they were in villages or just housewives, but it was the educated women who wanted to appear and take place in public that was not acceptable. The scarf to the ruling elite was been a reminder of the past that they wanted to erase, and they thought that this problem would be eliminated by education and urbanization. But the opposite happened, these women weren't like those 'grandmothers' in the villages, - so now theyre clinging on to it being a 'political symbol'.
According to them women who made their religousness visible were 'implying that others were less religious' than them, and also the chance that they would force others to be like them. (As if the opposite wasn't/isn't equally possible, looking at how we see the necessity of associating modernity with the outfits).
The ban also dismisses the visibility of men with religious symbols. Like beards. Or why other political symbols are not banned. Or the equally ridiculous question of even if it was a political symbol* why should someone considered an adult, have to hide his political affliation or symbol in a a university which is supposed to be a place of free speech,diversity etc. etc.
Secularism here is about making the public space 'cleansed', and neutral. (Keep your ethnicity, religion, diversity to yourself. We can't tolerate it) Somehow the visibility of religion can make secularism go away. If one points out that half the world is secular but doesn't have to ban outfits for it they go for but we are different we have 'special circumstances', and its a threat to the 'unity and secularity of the state' (the same reason given for discriminatory attitudes towards minorities esp. Kurds) If we let them do what they like they'll ask for more, we'll turn into Iran (last year there was a media invoked frenzy of 'are we turning into Malaysia'?). The state has always seen itself as having to regulate its citizens, shape and control them. We still have a long way until people see that they as individuals should come before the state and its ideology, and not the other way round.**
The whole thing is full of contradictions. One is the campaigns to 'send girls to school' for the eastern parts of Turkey, like ('send them to school but as we like them'), while the people mostly living in rural areas, (besides out of poverty), refuse to send their girls to even mixed schools- never mind the scarf. Another irony is of feminists who support the ban, while its so openly visible that a country where more than half of the women wear some sort of head covering can't all have been 'forced by men' into it. And even if some people are forced into it, the audacity of banning a liberty based on such a biased, hypothetical claim. Women who wear scarves are not regarded as people who can think for themselves, while more 'enlightened 'others have to think and act for them. To civilize, and to 'liberate' them. ( Distant cousin being the US liberation of Afghan women)
In the 90's some official proposed an ingenious 'solution' that girls wear turbans instead. His proposal was forgotten but increasingly since then, headscarves are referred to as turbans. People forget that a turban is something that they've never even seen before (unless they happen to have acquaintances with Sikh people). Its easy to just repeat the cliches.
I'm not against the scarf I'm against the turban.
What makes a scarf a turban?
You wanting to wear it to school.
Why?
Its a political symbol.
Of what? (Besides I don't care for politics)
...
This is a secular country. And you have to follow the rules- if you want to live here.
***
-------
I could go on and on listing reasons and more underlying reasons. But in the end despite all the talk it just boils down to the girl in the caricature, angrily cutting off her hair as people fought over her head on her wearing and not wearing it.
The people who do the talking and deciding; the former prime minister who said to 'send all scarved girls to Arabia'..the bewildering idea of attaching ideological meanings to pins,(entering an army compound you may be asked to take off the pin on your scarf and tie the scarf under your chin- if they take you in), the religious leader who said education is more compulsory in Islam than the scarf, so just go to school, of the sign on a university put up one day saying 'ideological hats not allowed', of the grandmother who says 'but you're just taking it off at school?',
-and the humiliation felt at having to take off your scarf in the middle of the street, the debates on wearing wigs, choosing courses according to the lecturers scarf whims, the exchange student who thought that all the 'hats on scarves' at campus must be some kind of fashion, the friend who wondered aloud if she still had to wear a scarf if she shaved off all her hair, or the internalizing of the stereotypes as you wonder if you're being treated in some way because of your scarf...
You start to doubt that you could wear it out of religious belief. How can it be; while theres- the men the pressure the politics the symbol the backwardness the culture the islamism the form of protest the class the anti secularism..
The university I go to is currently the only one in the country that you can keep your headscarf on. (Although the new chancellor tried to change that but failed when the protests came from too diverse a crowd..) But you still have to put on a hat on your scarf as you enter through the entrance of this liberal exception.
And the education faculty does not agree. Most of the lecturers there can't even bear hats. 'You're going to open up anyway' they say. Be the right example.
* The prime minister somewhat foolishly uttered these words last year, and the secularists jumped on it as a 'confession'.
**Some people like me hope that entering the EU one day- if we ever do, will help a bit.
*** 'and besides France does it too'
1. The hijab is important for women to wear because- I believe that it is an obligation. The verse that says women should 'draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to..' as well as hadith has generally been understood as that women should cover their hair. Is it okay for women to never don it- Wearing a scarf is not the only, or the main obligation, men have to cover up too and also its not just about covering one's hair, the verse mentioned continues about being modest and 'lowering ones gaze' so its one whole thing, of outfit and attitude, that one who says she is a Muslim should try to abide by as much as she can, or at least know that there's such an obligation even if they're not going to for whatever reason.
In short- I think Muslim women should wear it, but don't care if they personally don't want to. (Like I wear one and my mother doesn't, some of my friends are covered and some are not).
2.The ban here is not associated with immigration issues as it is in France. Nevertheless, the same two reasons you mentioned are given by scarf opponents for the ban here; that Turkey is 'a secular state' and that of others who in a more liberal, feminist voice talk about 'the oppression of girls'. 'It is patriarchy we are against' they say, we care about you. (But if you prefer to stay as you are then don't come to school. Stay at home and be housewives.)
Here scarf banning has more to do with urbanization and our long process of (nation- state imposed) modernizing. In the 60's the move from rural to urban brought a merging (or clashing) of traditional with modern, as these invisible people began to be visible in the public sphere. The elite ruling classes felt threatened by this. Modernity here had been imposed on the people as looking and living (but not completely thinking)Western.
These people saw 'a necessary parallelism between western lifestyle and the civilized profile'. But this had started earlier than the Republic. As the Ottoman empire went towards decline, measures were taken to improve their image in the eyes of the west. (The Versailles- imitation palaces you'll be taken to see on a trip of Istanbul are from that era) Debates on the role of women in public, and feminism first appeared during those periods of self concious attempts. And remember Orientalism. The image of your women is what is going to define your progress. Islam is bad for women. And it hinders 'progress'.. Anyway there's a long way in between but the bans started in the 80's. One way of justifying the ban has been to portray certain (the generally used) ways of wearing the scarf as a threat. Its not uncommon to hear 'I want it banned in universities- but my grandmother wears a scarf too you know' or 'my maid wears one too'- implying that women were ok when they were in villages or just housewives, but it was the educated women who wanted to appear and take place in public that was not acceptable. The scarf to the ruling elite was been a reminder of the past that they wanted to erase, and they thought that this problem would be eliminated by education and urbanization. But the opposite happened, these women weren't like those 'grandmothers' in the villages, - so now theyre clinging on to it being a 'political symbol'.
According to them women who made their religousness visible were 'implying that others were less religious' than them, and also the chance that they would force others to be like them. (As if the opposite wasn't/isn't equally possible, looking at how we see the necessity of associating modernity with the outfits).
The ban also dismisses the visibility of men with religious symbols. Like beards. Or why other political symbols are not banned. Or the equally ridiculous question of even if it was a political symbol* why should someone considered an adult, have to hide his political affliation or symbol in a a university which is supposed to be a place of free speech,diversity etc. etc.
Secularism here is about making the public space 'cleansed', and neutral. (Keep your ethnicity, religion, diversity to yourself. We can't tolerate it) Somehow the visibility of religion can make secularism go away. If one points out that half the world is secular but doesn't have to ban outfits for it they go for but we are different we have 'special circumstances', and its a threat to the 'unity and secularity of the state' (the same reason given for discriminatory attitudes towards minorities esp. Kurds) If we let them do what they like they'll ask for more, we'll turn into Iran (last year there was a media invoked frenzy of 'are we turning into Malaysia'?). The state has always seen itself as having to regulate its citizens, shape and control them. We still have a long way until people see that they as individuals should come before the state and its ideology, and not the other way round.**
The whole thing is full of contradictions. One is the campaigns to 'send girls to school' for the eastern parts of Turkey, like ('send them to school but as we like them'), while the people mostly living in rural areas, (besides out of poverty), refuse to send their girls to even mixed schools- never mind the scarf. Another irony is of feminists who support the ban, while its so openly visible that a country where more than half of the women wear some sort of head covering can't all have been 'forced by men' into it. And even if some people are forced into it, the audacity of banning a liberty based on such a biased, hypothetical claim. Women who wear scarves are not regarded as people who can think for themselves, while more 'enlightened 'others have to think and act for them. To civilize, and to 'liberate' them. ( Distant cousin being the US liberation of Afghan women)
In the 90's some official proposed an ingenious 'solution' that girls wear turbans instead. His proposal was forgotten but increasingly since then, headscarves are referred to as turbans. People forget that a turban is something that they've never even seen before (unless they happen to have acquaintances with Sikh people). Its easy to just repeat the cliches.
I'm not against the scarf I'm against the turban.
What makes a scarf a turban?
You wanting to wear it to school.
Why?
Its a political symbol.
Of what? (Besides I don't care for politics)
...
This is a secular country. And you have to follow the rules- if you want to live here.
***
-------
I could go on and on listing reasons and more underlying reasons. But in the end despite all the talk it just boils down to the girl in the caricature, angrily cutting off her hair as people fought over her head on her wearing and not wearing it.
The people who do the talking and deciding; the former prime minister who said to 'send all scarved girls to Arabia'..the bewildering idea of attaching ideological meanings to pins,(entering an army compound you may be asked to take off the pin on your scarf and tie the scarf under your chin- if they take you in), the religious leader who said education is more compulsory in Islam than the scarf, so just go to school, of the sign on a university put up one day saying 'ideological hats not allowed', of the grandmother who says 'but you're just taking it off at school?',
-and the humiliation felt at having to take off your scarf in the middle of the street, the debates on wearing wigs, choosing courses according to the lecturers scarf whims, the exchange student who thought that all the 'hats on scarves' at campus must be some kind of fashion, the friend who wondered aloud if she still had to wear a scarf if she shaved off all her hair, or the internalizing of the stereotypes as you wonder if you're being treated in some way because of your scarf...
You start to doubt that you could wear it out of religious belief. How can it be; while theres- the men the pressure the politics the symbol the backwardness the culture the islamism the form of protest the class the anti secularism..
The university I go to is currently the only one in the country that you can keep your headscarf on. (Although the new chancellor tried to change that but failed when the protests came from too diverse a crowd..) But you still have to put on a hat on your scarf as you enter through the entrance of this liberal exception.
And the education faculty does not agree. Most of the lecturers there can't even bear hats. 'You're going to open up anyway' they say. Be the right example.
* The prime minister somewhat foolishly uttered these words last year, and the secularists jumped on it as a 'confession'.
**Some people like me hope that entering the EU one day- if we ever do, will help a bit.
*** 'and besides France does it too'