Khalidah wrote a very interesting post about Women & the Veil, and because my comment was too long for a comment I decided to make this post.

First, I would like to thank Khalidah for talking about this.

Second, I want to say that discrimination against veield women is on the rise, not just in Amman but in almost every so called moedern city in the Arab World. To give you an example, I once was in a Zara shop in one of the many shopping malls scattered across the U.A.E and apparently I didn’t have lots of makeup or fancy clothes to convey the idea of me being just as modernized as the rest of the customers, and I had this gay-looking guy refusing to keep the tons of clothes me and my sister bought until I get the money from my parents who were hanging out at the same mall. It just happened that mom’s credit card was over limit and we only knew that after spending hours at the store picking and trying. Yet, the stupid guy refused to keep everything aside till we come back!

You probably think that there’s no evidence of discrimination here, but I happen to know what kind of treatment female customers usually get there and what kind of customers Zara receives, among which are many of my unveiled and even veiled friends. Sometimes you don’t need evidence, discrimination is often something you feel or sense especially when you have enough knowledge and experience to judge. You either look like a veiled barbie or you excessively flirt with those gay-looking guys, otherwise, make sure you can pay CASH for your purchases and do not expect to be talked to in a friendly manner.

Customer service is unheared of when a veiled woman with no makeup comes in with mind-your-own-business kind of attitude. But who knows, maybe things will get only worse and the next thing I know is that I have to sleep with the cashier in exchange of customer service.

The same applies to front desk kind of jobs, I often save myself the trouble and the indignation of applying to such jobs as I already know that my concealed charms -if exist- will prevent me from getting a job a very less good looking girl will definitely get if she chose not to cover.

And the problem is that you can not fight veiled discrimination, ironically.

Misconceptions is another even more shocking reality, a veiled woman is autmotically thought of as marriable, as soon as the girl cover her hair she’s considered in a marriable state, almost inviting of men or even their mothers’ proposals. Isn’t it insulting when my veil is translated to “I’m so ready to get married”? It’s as if marriage is every veiled girl’s obsession or something. How does a peice of cloth communicates so much I have no idea.

She’s thought of as disperate for a guy, any guy, and because she’s raised in a lower class (again how does a peice of cloth indicates so is something beyond my comprehension) she will probably fall for the first guy who approaches her and is expected to be naive and submissive especially compared to an unveiled. The fact that some people do force or suggest hijab to their daughters because they want to see them “settled” in a marriage does not justify the stereotype. It’s as outrageous as thinking that every unveiled girl is not good for marriage.

A veiled woman is thought of as lazy, traditional, and a “girls-only” woman. While the later is true to an extent it certainly does not mean a veiled woman is too preserved to ever talk to men (and BTW, if she does talk to guys, then she’s disperate for a husband and/or suffers from lack of men in her closed social class), that she does not desire any kind of contact with males. No matter how hard she tries to mingle and blend in, she’s often prejudged and its prejudgement which gets to me.

I remember that Tololy wrote an excellent post titled Veil vs. English as an example of how stupid some people prove to be when it comes to stereotypes, I highly recommend that everybody reads it.

Lastly, if you want to know how irritating it has become, know that I don’t entirely blame Muslim girls for being reluctant when it comes to hijab. I think I would be less likely to wear the veil now had I not wore it long ago.