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Gender and Globalization

S.U.N.Y. Global Workforce Project. Gender and Globalization. The “Headscarf Affair”. Dr. Carl Davila The College at Brockport. Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims. Key points.

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Gender and Globalization

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  1. S.U.N.Y. Global Workforce Project Gender and Globalization The “Headscarf Affair” Dr. Carl Davila The College at Brockport

  2. Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims Key points • Gender segregation: A complex social form that involves both feminine and masculine values at many levels. • Most basic: Men and women traditionally prefer to socialize separately • Predates Islam: Was practiced by the Greeks and Romans, as well as the early Hebrews and Christians. • For Muslims: Privacy is sacred, as is women’s reproductive capacity. Segregation is meant to protect both.

  3. Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims Key points • Gender segregation: A complex social form that involves both feminine and masculine values at many levels. • For women, this leads to a kind of empowerment: Social networking. • A downside: ♀♀ often seen as bearers of family honor through their reproductive capacity. • Thus: Segregation often is used to limit a woman’s potential to “dishonor” the family through contact with men not related to her.

  4. Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims Key points • Gender segregation: A complex social form that involves both feminine and masculine values at many levels. • Not at all uniform across the Islamic world: Women in Yemen • some societies are more strongly segregated than others some social classes (mostly middle and upper) are more strongly segregated than others Young Syrians in a cafe likewise, there are generational differences, as well

  5. Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims Key points • The “veil”: Also a very complex symbol with many social meanings. • Predates Islam: Was practiced in Mesopotamia, Christian Byzantium and pre-Islamic Persia. • Full face veil does not appear in the Qur’an. It probably was adopted by early Muslim community copying wealthy Christian families in cities conquered by Muslims.

  6. Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims Key points • The “veil”: Also a very complex symbol with many social meanings. • Most veiling practices are tied to local traditions, as well as to sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Veiled woman and son in Mali • There are manyforms: BBC on the veil Veiled woman and son in Morocco Veiled woman in India

  7. Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims Key points • The “veil”: Also a very complex symbol with many social meanings. • May be understood as any combination of … • a way to distinguish male from female • a way to discourage unwanted sexual attention from men • piety • social class communal or ethnic identity/belonging tradition • All of these are linked to some degree of religious identity/belief

  8. Veiling, Segregation and Gender Among Muslims The “take-away” points: • Veiling and segregation have many, many social dimensions. • For many (not all) Muslims, the veil has become a marker of piety and of social identity. • Piety, identity and sexual propriety (family honor) are culturally linked in many societies influenced by Islam • It can be difficult to separate the various meanings that veiling and segregation represent ... all at the same time.

  9. Case Study: The “Headscarf Affair” "Meanings of all kinds flow though the figures of women, and they often do not include who she herself is. Women attest the identity and value of someone or something else, and the beholder's reaction is necessary to complete their meaning." ~ Marina Warner, Monuments and Maidens (New York: Atheneum, 1985)

  10. Case Study: The “Headscarf Affair” • Major themes to keep in mind: • French concept of national identity = secularism and integration (“melting pot” vs. “salad”) • N. African (“Maghribin”) identity bound up to a large extent with religious beliefs and practices. • Migration: a very significant impact of globalization The “special relationship” former colonies often have with former conlonizers (neo-colonialism)

  11. Case Study: The “Headscarf Affair” • Questions to consider: • Q: What’s at stake for each side in this affair? • Q: Why women’s clothing? Why is that such • a loaded matter?

  12. Case Study: The “Headscarf Affair” • Scenario: • “What does the Frenchman say, • What does the Algerian migrant woman do?”

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