A VEILED REVOLUTION

These beautifully drafted and sensitive presentations [including Women under Siege and The Price of Change] fill a large gap in anthropological filming. B. Aswad

25 minutes Colour 1982
Film-makers: Marilyn Gaunt and Elizabeth Fernea

The Middle Eastern use of the veil symbolizes for many Westerners oppression and constraint. Egypt in 1923 was the first Arab country where women cast off the veil. Now, sixty years later, women are taking back the veil of their own free will, wearing what they call Islamic dress. In exploring the reasons for this change, this film confronts stereotypes and replaces them with insight.

After the 1920s, middle-class Egyptian women began wearing Western clothes, but then, in the 1970s, some began to wear turbans and many now wear long skirts and veils. To understand this change, the film-makers interview several women. An office worker first began wearing modest dress when she was nineteen and at twenty-five is still wearing it. She says she does this because the Koran tells her to, and because in the office, the dress maintains her respectability in a country where women who work are considered shameful. A female engineer says she wears Islamic dress because it gives her more freedom of movement in her work.

The head of the Egyptian television news wears Western clothing but says she admires those women who do wear the Islamic dress. Another woman has decided to withdraw completely by wearing full Islamic dress with face covering and gloves. She does this for religious reasons, and her brother, who is conservative in his views, treats her choice with open respect. Yet this woman attends university, despite her attire. This is a point also made by four students. They say the modest dress takes courage and they respect those who wear it. Those who do not wear modest dress speak of themselves as less worthy than those who do. Some women who are interviewed dislike the change. Some of the older women who had much involvement with women's struggle for independence see the veil as a return to the old ways, representing the abandonment of hard-earned freedom. At the same time, women also see the dress as liberating, as a separation from the West, as a way of asserting themselves as Egyptians. And indeed, women are now studying in the mosque, learning the law themselves and seeking freedom through their own Islamic traditions. This film is powerful in portraying these changes and the motives behind them. Elizabeth Fernea has written a study guide that makes excellent background for those who wish to use the film in the classroom. This is available from: Elizabeth Fernea, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1193, USA. Catalogue number (16mm): 3RA124 £9.

R.T. Antoun, 1968. `On the Modesty of Women in Arab Muslim Villages: A Study of the Accommodation of Traditions'. American Anthropologist, Vol. 70, pp. 671-97.

B. Aswad, 1985. Review of the film. American Anthropologist, Vol. 87, pp. 233-35.

L. Beck and N. Keddie, 1979. Women in the Muslim World. Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass.

E. Fernea and R. Fernea, 1979. 'A Look Behind the Veil'. Human Nature, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 68-77.

E. Fernea, 1982. A Study Guide to the Film `A Veiled Revolution'. University of Texas Film Library, Austin Texas.

E. Fernea and R. Fernea, 1987. The Arab World. Anchor Press, New York.

N. Minai, 1981. Women in Islam. Seaview Books, New York.