What percent Muslim women wear hijab?
April 10, 2007 11:37 AM Subscribe
Do the majority of Muslim women in the world wear the hijab (head covering)? What percent do wear hijab?
hijab doesn not necessarily mean "head covering", as you seem to think -- it's a generic term that is open to interpretation (the Koran itself uses a different word, not hijab) and indicates the need for modesty in female attire (men must be modest, too, by the way -- to the extent that even very many religious athletes actually shower with their underwear on, in their teams locker rooms).
anyway: head covering can be just that, a scarf on one's hair, or a wider shawl that covers almost entirely the head and neck and shoulders. it can get more and more severe, reaching the burqa-like total covering of one's body.
posted by matteo at 12:22 PM on April 10, 2007
anyway: head covering can be just that, a scarf on one's hair, or a wider shawl that covers almost entirely the head and neck and shoulders. it can get more and more severe, reaching the burqa-like total covering of one's body.
posted by matteo at 12:22 PM on April 10, 2007
I can't speak for the majority of muslim women (I'm neither a muslim, nor a woman), but a muslim friend at work told me once that it depends mainly on age. I see a lot of first generation muslim women wearing a scarf of some description, but many younger women (my friend included, and all her sisters) don't seem to wear them. I suppose it depends also on how strict the family is?
I'm in the UK.
posted by Solomon at 12:26 PM on April 10, 2007
I'm in the UK.
posted by Solomon at 12:26 PM on April 10, 2007
The most common form of hijab is the abaya, or headscarf, which covers some or all of the hair, often accompanied by long jackets/cloaks (chador). The veil (niqab) and other strategies for covering the face, including the burqa, are relatively uncommon.
It should be noted that the rules for head covering and modesty are only enforced by law in a few countries, like Saudi Arabia or Iran. Most other Islamic communities treat these customs as markers of group identity, so that differences between the coloring and fashionability of the headscarf are used to identify regional differences, class, and modernization. In Iran, for instance, it is becoming popular for young women to wear their headscarves a little off the front of the head, so that their hair is showing. (For instance, as Nancy Pelosi is wearing it in this picture.)
posted by anotherpanacea at 12:42 PM on April 10, 2007
It should be noted that the rules for head covering and modesty are only enforced by law in a few countries, like Saudi Arabia or Iran. Most other Islamic communities treat these customs as markers of group identity, so that differences between the coloring and fashionability of the headscarf are used to identify regional differences, class, and modernization. In Iran, for instance, it is becoming popular for young women to wear their headscarves a little off the front of the head, so that their hair is showing. (For instance, as Nancy Pelosi is wearing it in this picture.)
posted by anotherpanacea at 12:42 PM on April 10, 2007
A lot of the Muslim women that I saw around Wayne State's campus in Detroit wore some sort of head covering.
posted by dagnyscott at 1:08 PM on April 10, 2007
posted by dagnyscott at 1:08 PM on April 10, 2007
When I was in high school (eight years ago now) a lot of my first generation American Muslim friends wore hijab/scarves/jilbabs, while most of their mothers did not (they hadn't in their home countries, and didn't here). These girls weren't all a part of the same Muslim community either, so I don't know whether I would say that it was any sort of community pressure (they were Indian, Guyanese, and Arab, and did not all attend the same mosque).
posted by LiliaNic at 1:35 PM on April 10, 2007
posted by LiliaNic at 1:35 PM on April 10, 2007
A lot of the Muslim women that I saw around Wayne State's campus in Detroit wore some sort of head covering.
You probably weren't able to identify the Muslim women who didn't wear them, and it's very likely that they outnumbered the ones that did.
There are no hard stats on this. As a Muslim, this has been my impression:
Among American Muslims, probably around 5-15%
In the Middle East: 60-70%, though some areas like Saudi Arabia are around 99%, while others are lower.
South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh): 3-5%* and is higher in the rural areas. (I don't include Afghanistan in this, I'm not sure what the situation is now that the Taliban's control is uncertain.)
East Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia): 30-40%**
* Indo-Pak women frequently wear something called a dupatta, which most people (including most Muslims) don't really consider headscarves.
** I'm least familiar with this area.
posted by exhilaration at 1:54 PM on April 10, 2007 [1 favorite]
You probably weren't able to identify the Muslim women who didn't wear them, and it's very likely that they outnumbered the ones that did.
There are no hard stats on this. As a Muslim, this has been my impression:
Among American Muslims, probably around 5-15%
In the Middle East: 60-70%, though some areas like Saudi Arabia are around 99%, while others are lower.
South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh): 3-5%* and is higher in the rural areas. (I don't include Afghanistan in this, I'm not sure what the situation is now that the Taliban's control is uncertain.)
East Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia): 30-40%**
* Indo-Pak women frequently wear something called a dupatta, which most people (including most Muslims) don't really consider headscarves.
** I'm least familiar with this area.
posted by exhilaration at 1:54 PM on April 10, 2007 [1 favorite]
When I lived in Malaysia, my Muslim friends told me that it was based on whether or not they considered themselves religious and wanted to show it. And as they got older, wearing a headscarf would make them seem more mature - kind of the same way other girls wear lipstick.
Some just had to wear them to school (required for girls in religion schools), some were just used to it. In addition to that, they were supposed to always remain modest by keeping their bits covered, even when alone in the shower. And not pluck their eyebrows and armpit hair, or dye their hair. (But of course, there was always the occasional scandal of a girl being found out for having dyed blue/red/green/yellow hair under her headscarf...)
A Christian friend of mine wore a headscarf for about a year when she had to shave her head (medical reasons).
posted by Xere at 2:17 PM on April 10, 2007
Some just had to wear them to school (required for girls in religion schools), some were just used to it. In addition to that, they were supposed to always remain modest by keeping their bits covered, even when alone in the shower. And not pluck their eyebrows and armpit hair, or dye their hair. (But of course, there was always the occasional scandal of a girl being found out for having dyed blue/red/green/yellow hair under her headscarf...)
A Christian friend of mine wore a headscarf for about a year when she had to shave her head (medical reasons).
posted by Xere at 2:17 PM on April 10, 2007
lived in Indonesia for 8 years. The majority of women in Jakarta did not wear a head covering.
An escort service in Jakarta did have their girls wear jilbabs on 'calls' to hotels for a while. It worked for a while, until hotel security started asking why 'secretaries' always spent the night....
posted by tristanshout at 2:52 PM on April 10, 2007
An escort service in Jakarta did have their girls wear jilbabs on 'calls' to hotels for a while. It worked for a while, until hotel security started asking why 'secretaries' always spent the night....
posted by tristanshout at 2:52 PM on April 10, 2007
Here's a photo of Megawati in the 'lighter', elegant scarf that some women wear in Indonesia, particularly older women. Note that you can find lots of pictures of her without a scarf as well.
Echoing what Burhanistan and Xere said, my experience there from a few years ago was that you'd see women wearing a full scarf if they were headed to mosque or a mushollah/prayer room (many convenient locations in hotels, train stations, etc.), or if it was part of a school uniform, or if they were religious and wore it all the time in public (but that seemed to be a minority, at least then, and on Java). Distinguished and/or professional women would usually wear a really, really nice dress and look like they had spent hours in a salon, anywhere from Sophia Loren at one end of the spectrum to Margaret Dumont at the other, and no headcovering. Older women would often wear one like in the photo above, with lace or embroidery, sheer and cool, often white or light-colored, and only lightly draped.
My impression is that you might see a few more women in full scarves now, since Islam-as-a-political-stance may be a little more open than it was ten to twenty years ago.
But yeah, I saw it vary from person to person, from area to area, and from situation to situation.
posted by gimonca at 3:13 PM on April 10, 2007
Echoing what Burhanistan and Xere said, my experience there from a few years ago was that you'd see women wearing a full scarf if they were headed to mosque or a mushollah/prayer room (many convenient locations in hotels, train stations, etc.), or if it was part of a school uniform, or if they were religious and wore it all the time in public (but that seemed to be a minority, at least then, and on Java). Distinguished and/or professional women would usually wear a really, really nice dress and look like they had spent hours in a salon, anywhere from Sophia Loren at one end of the spectrum to Margaret Dumont at the other, and no headcovering. Older women would often wear one like in the photo above, with lace or embroidery, sheer and cool, often white or light-colored, and only lightly draped.
My impression is that you might see a few more women in full scarves now, since Islam-as-a-political-stance may be a little more open than it was ten to twenty years ago.
But yeah, I saw it vary from person to person, from area to area, and from situation to situation.
posted by gimonca at 3:13 PM on April 10, 2007
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posted by chunking express at 12:04 PM on April 10, 2007