Naturally I have seen photos of women wearing these before. When I traveled to Malaysia I saw many women with hijabs* or scarves covering their heads, and the effect can be colorful and attractive.
But seeing the full-length jet-black chador on the street in the middle of a modern european city in summer had a strong impact on me. The solid black color makes a stark visual statement, especially in contrast with the other people around in casual western dress. Especially, as was often the case, if the woman in chador was accompanied by her husband and children, who were conspicuously NOT in traditional dress, but in normal western clothing. "Why," I thought to myself, "have the men and children integrated into modern society while the women remain apart, isolated, stuck in the past? How must those young girls feel the day they can no longer run freely and must set themselves apart?"
I am not a religious person, but I am a liberal person who tries to be tolerant of differences of opinion and belief. I try my best not to have prejudices, but like all humans, I come with the cultural baggage of being an American who lived through 9/11, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and the Boston Marathon bombings. In addition, as a feminist I found it very hard not to feel disturbed seeing these women enveloped in blackness. It was very hard not to feel judgement. Their children looked happy in their strollers, on the playgrounds, and in the parks. I wanted very much to see these families as similar to our own, yet I could not overcome my feelings of sadness. I hope that the women wearing the chador feel that they freely chose to do so. I hope they do not feel it a burden or a limitation. But I can't help but feel that it MUST be one. Bulky clothing does restrict a person's movements. It makes it hard to play sports, to swim, and be active, which is one of the joys of my life. Feeling the power of one's own body seems to me a human right.
A few times we noticed women wearing a kind of metal mask over their noses and mouths. It looked a bit like a beak, and frankly it was a little frightening to look at. I did a bit of research, and found that these are called burqa* and are common in the United Arab Emirates.
I'm sure they can be made to look beautiful, alluring, exotic, and mysterious. However, I had a hard time not imagining that it might be hard to breathe or speak with something over my nose and mouth.
In this kind of burkha it must be hard to see clearly and I imagine it to be stifling in hot weather.
I can't help but think of footbinding, a despicable practice, now illegal and no longer done, in ancient China where girl's feet were broken and bound into tiny hoof-like shapes, to make them more desirable (and less mobile). "Golden lily" feet were actually considered erotic. Some cultural practices need to be discontinued simply because they are oppressive.
In the west, people only cover their faces in hospitals, during Halloween or Carnival, or when committing crimes. I think it naturally triggers suspicion to see someone walking around with their face covered, as if they have something to hide. It's a cultural bias, I recognize, but it does tend to make an unknown stranger seem less trustworthy. I have heard some women who choose to cover themselves like the feeling of freedom from the sometimes preying eyes of men, that they don't feel like their bodies and appearances are constantly being judged as attractive or unattractive. I think that argument is valid, although in the West they are likely to be judged for their religious belief instead.
It is terrible, but on a rainy day at the playground, a women in a black chador in the distance was gesticulating with her black umbrella, and for a brief moment it flashed through my husband's mind that she might have a weapon. One can't deny that baggy robes would make it easy to hide things like weapons and bombs, and on the bus to the airport it again crossed my mind as I sat across from a woman in black. "I hope she is not a suicide bomber. I hope she is just a normal woman like me."
I am a bit ashamed to admit to having had these thoughts, and yet I think we should talk about these things, air our dirty laundry and let the sun shine on our humanity. When I see a woman in a chador, this is what I see:
In April 2011 France passed a law which bans full-body coverings such as burqas and chadors, for security reasons as well as cultural integration. Apparently they do not have such strong views on freedom of religion in that country. I doubt that would fly in the US, but if we had a large influx of orthodox muslim immigrants to the country, I can imagine the conflicts that would cause.
I want for women everywhere to feel equally valuable, equally free to learn, to make, to do, to drive, to write, to read, to dream, to sing, to dance, to own, to earn, to travel alone, to choose their own spouse, to vote, to choose their own clothing, to have control over their own destinies. Is that me imposing my western values on my muslim sisters, or is that what they also want for themselves?
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