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Muslim women who wear a veil or headscarf are often misunderstood as being oppressed, according to some Muslim students at the University. This Ramadan, which began Sept. 1 and continues through the end of the month, Muslim women on campus hope to set the record straight.

Instead of embraced, these women are often misunderstood and branded with the social stigma that surrounds the veil, or hijab, according to Margaret Rausch, professor in the department of religious studies and expert on women in Islam.

“The media tends to portray these women as oppressed,” she said. “If you ask someone on the street, they will say, ‘Oh, these women have a horrible life,’ and they connect it to veiling.”

While gender equality is an issue in the Middle East, Rausch said Muslim women have a lot more freedom than most people think.

“These women are young and progressive and are doing a lot of things with their lives. And they are wearing a headscarves because they choose to,” she said. “They feel that women are being turned into sex object by the media. Sometimes a headscarf is a statement against this.”

Wearing a veil or headscarf, which covers the hair but not the face, isn’t only a religious practice of modesty, but is also a centuries-old tradition.

“There are a lot of women who veil because their grandmother veiled and their mother veiled and they grew up that way,” Rausch said.

Areej Al Somali, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, graduate student, compared her veiling to American women who choose to wear revealing clothes.

“Some are comfortable enough to do it, others aren’t,” Al Somali said.

But some Muslim women, such as Dalal Albuhayri, choose not to wear the veil.

“To me, it is a personal choice,” Albuhayri, Riyadh graduate student, said.

Albuhayri said the girls who chose to veil in the United States did so to feel comfortable and safe, rather than out of obligation.

Al Somali said wearing a veil helped her overcome homesickness.

Scarf-wearing has sparked controversy in both Western and Islamic countries, including recent conflicts in France, Turkey and Iran.

Though spousal abuse and women’s rights are issues all over the world, Rausch said modern Muslim women have a lot more freedom than the media portrays.

“There are very traditional families, and your father controls your life. And there are families that encourage you to pursue higher education and pursue a career,” she said.

Despite a globalizing and modernizing world, Islamic culture still remains rich with time-honored traditions. In order to remain pure, women aren’t allowed to converse in public with unrelated men. It is common to rely on family and friends to set up meetings, but technology has offered a new method of searching for a spouse: text messaging.

Though media coverage of the middle east has increased in recent years, a woman’s role in marriage is a facet of Islamic culture still often misunderstood in the West.

When it comes to relationships, Albuhayri said she would like to date like Westerners, but Al Somali said she would prefer the traditional method of going through her parents to find a spouse. Much as it is in the U.S., divorce is an accepted part of society. In Saudi Arabia, the divorce rate is up to 62 percent, according to Arabianbusiness.com, an English-language online newspaper.

Areej, whose sister is divorced, said the divorce rate didn’t reflect everyone in the country. In some areas of Saudi Arabia, like the Baha province, the divorce rate is as low as nine percent, she said.

“Each society, each family has different views on divorce, like in any country. My family is okay with divorce. It is always an option,” she said.

Rausch said a greater understanding of these women would increase cultural awareness on campus.

— — Edited by Mary Sorrick

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