Veils Obscure Face Of Freedom

Sat., Nov. 9, 1996

Rebecca Nappi For The Editorial

They look like creatures out of a Star Trek episode. Wrapped head to toe in cloth, their eyes peer out from little slits.

Women who live in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, must wear these head-to-toe coverings everywhere they go. If they go anywhere, that is. The Taliban, an Islamic rebel army, has taken over the capital and banned women from school, from the workplace, from any sort of independent life. Last Sunday a “60 Minutes” correspondent talked with the men enforcing the edict and the women living it. The women seemed like prisoners of war. They missed their jobs, their freedom, their dignity.

We felt claustrophobic and outraged as we watched. And we wondered what action should be taken. Can the United States impose sanctions? Can women’s groups smuggle some of those repressed women out of there?

Unfortunately, there is little the United States can do. What we are seeing globally is the end result of the death of the Soviet Union. Newly freed countries are either in chaos as they grapple with the nuances of democracy. Or they are fiercely holding on to fundamentalist ways.

And we must remember that we’d be interfering in a culture we truly don’t understand. The veil has been a tradition for centuries and has strong religious beliefs behind it. At an International Women’s Conference in Seattle two years ago, an Egyptian woman said Western women should not be too quick to criticize the wearing of the veil. Nawal El Saadawi said, “I met a woman at a conference. She had makeup on so thick I could not see her features. The woman was criticizing the Arab women for wearing the veil. I said to her, ‘You have a veil, too. The makeup - call it a post-modern veil.”’

Ultimately, all that we can do is hope and pray the Taliban loses power quickly and less traditional Islamic women can choose once more to work outside the home. And take off the restrictive clothing.

In the meantime, women in our country can celebrate freedoms often taken for granted. Freedom to work, to stay home, to voice opinions, to vote, to run businesses, churches, communities. The freedom of equality. Cherish it and never stop fighting for it.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi For the editorial board

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