Veiling, Secularism and Islamism: Gender Constructions in France and Iran

Dominant discourses on the veiling of Muslim women have become part of a larger Western debate on the assumed "threat of Islamic fundamentalism".¹ Veiling is often invoked as an icon of traditional religious identity that represents opposition to the modern world. Ironically, the diverse positions in the Muslim world on the nature of relationships to tradition do not challenge the view of Islam as a fundamentalist entity. In the West many discussions on the "veiled woman" frequently assume, either implicitly or explicitly, that Muslim women are mute, victimised, often without personal agency, and ultimately incapable of self-definition. On the other hand, the Muslim woman who has discarded her veil, or chosen not to veil, is repeatedly depicted as a fully integrated free human being. The dichotomies – veiled/unveiled and imprisoned/free – are problematic categories that need critical re-consideration.