Bothered by clothing? Or lack thereof?

 

I have to admit that it used to (privately) bother me to see women wearing the Burqa or the Niqab - clothing that covers the whole body head to toe – including the face.  I was even ambivalent about the Hijab (head scarf).

However, it bothered the rational side of me that I was so easily bothered by a piece of clothing.   After all, practically every society has a dress code - pieces of clothing that must be used to cover various parts of the body.   And, in almost all cases, the rules were different for men and women.

I am quite certain that many people have had similar types of feelings.  I am writing this post in case it helps anyone else's thought processes about this.

After having thought much about this, I realized that the reason why it bothered me was this:   I was subconsciously and automatically associating the (above mentioned) two pieces of clothing with oppression of women.

But having different rules for clothing for men and women - does this by itself automatically indicate oppression?  Every society I have lived in has different rules for clothing for men and women, including the one I live in now.  Every one of these societies (I lived in) placed additional restrictions on women - a man could walk shirtless on the street without a problem while a woman would have been arrested for it.

Does the above restriction mean that I am also living in a society that oppresses women?  Are some parts of Europe where women covered their heads often (Polish head scarf, for example) oppressive societies?  Should nudists consider most of us, men and women, oppressed?

I would say no, and most likely you will say no as well.  But think about why we would say so - why we think women not being able to walk shirtless is not oppression, or at minimum, sexual discrimination.

The reason I would answer no is because, the rules in these societies are (arguably at least) agreed to by both women and men i.e. both women and men seem to be OK with the differential treatment and do not see anything wrong with it.

This realization changed my thinking.  I am no longer bothered by burqas, niqabs or hijabs, or women having to cover their upper bodies.   What would bother me now are two factors:

• Do women and men have an equal say in the dress code? (whether they be government-specified, religion-specified or society-specified? and
• Do women and men have equal rights to Education? (Having equal say is no good without good independent decision-making capabilities)

Both factors above are missing, to various degrees, in various parts of the world.   It is only in relatively recent times that many parts of the world gave voting rights to women.  In the U.S. this happened only about a century ago – a mere blip in the history of mankind.  Even now, most religious laws still seem to be interpreted/determined primarily by men in clergy/priests/imams/monks - in all religions.  And women are denied education opportunities in many parts of the world.

In summary:  The dress code in a society (specifically the level of body coverage) is unimportant - what is important is that it be acceptable to both sexes in that society, that both sexes have an equal say in it, and that both sexes have equal opportunity to make an educated decision.

Just something to think about.

All blogs from Venu P Gopal

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/venupgopal/