To veil or not to veil? Islamic dress and control over women’s public appearance

ABSTRACT

Women’s public appearance is subject to ongoing debates. In many parts of the world, women have been forced to cover their body, or to uncover it, due to incompatibility with local, cultural or religious values. This paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between August 2016 and February 2017 in Aceh, Indonesia; the only province with a special autonomous right to implement Islamic law. This paper aims to look at how Aceh’s shari’a regulates people’s public appearance. The research found that Aceh’s shari’a regulates women more than men and that the law has homogenized the interpretation of religious texts, which is monopolized by the government. The law endorses a unitary standard of women, into one standard model of femininity; particularly regarding their dress. Through the law, the government controls women’s bodies in public and imposes cultural uniformity onto them. This paper argues that the practice of Islamic law in Aceh disseminates a narrative of western hegemony through colonial legacies and stereotypes, in an Islamic culture that is male-dominated and in which women are subjugated.

KEYWORDS:

• Shari’a
• public appearance
• control
• women’s bodies
• femininity
• western hegemony

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Prof. Alison Stone, Dr. Shuruq Naguib, Dr. Ana Porroche-Escudero and the JGS reviewers for their guidance and constructive comments on this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. See: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/french-police-make-woman-remove-burkini-on-nice-beach

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Indonesia Endowment Fund For Education-LPDP.

Notes on contributors

Desy Ayu Pirmasari

Dr. Desy Ayu Pirmasari received her Ph.D. in Politics from Lancaster University with a scholarship from the Indonesia Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP). She has an MA in Conflict Resolution and Peace studies (2013) which was funded by the Chevening Scholarship, UK Government’s international award scheme. Her research focuses on women and Islamic Law in post-conflict society.

Prior to her PhD, she worked as a journalist for more than 5 years. She covered the Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the Mindanao conflict in the Philippines, and has reported from North Korea. She has interviewed prominent personalities, including Abdullah Badawi (Prime Minister of Malaysia 2003–2009), Anwar Ibrahim (Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia 1993–1998), Joseph Estrada (President of the Philippines 1998–2001), as well as Imelda Marcos (First Lady of the Philippines 1965–1986). Desy was also selected to participate in the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Generation: Women’s Leadership Forum 2015 hosted by The United States Mission to ASEAN.