In Iraq, Women’s Fashion Doesn’t Mix With Islamic Custom

c. 2007 Religion News Service BAGDHAD, Iraq _ For two years, Faiza Abdal-Majeed has carried a headscarf in her purse for emergencies. For a woman in the Iraqi capital four years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, these can include passing unlawful checkpoints manned by armed militiamen, impromptu forays through neighborhoods controlled by religious zealots, […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

BAGDHAD, Iraq _ For two years, Faiza Abdal-Majeed has carried a headscarf in her purse for emergencies.

For a woman in the Iraqi capital four years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, these can include passing unlawful checkpoints manned by armed militiamen, impromptu forays through neighborhoods controlled by religious zealots, and taxi drivers who refuse her fare unless she sports a veil. In addition, her job with Iraq’s women’s affairs ministry frequently brings her into contact with government officials, police officers and Muslim clergymen who insist she cover her head before they speak with her.


“Some clerics and politicians are forcing religion into our lives,” said Abdal-Majeed, 45. “We’re being pushed back 1,000 years in time.”

Baghdad once was considered a secular, cosmopolitan metropolis where Islamic customs seldom collided with women’s fashion. Today, however, what women wear _ perhaps as much as anything _ is evidence that religious ideology has strengthened its grip and forced half the population to submit to traditional Islamic dress.

On the streets of the capital, the most common couture is what women call the Islamic uniform: the bulging black abaya that covers the body from top to toe; the headscarf, or hajib; and the long, dark, ankle-length skirts commonly seen on schoolgirls, university students and professionals.

The changes have left a generation of women, especially those more educated and better off financially, struggling to meet expectations.

“I’m always discussing with my friends and family whether or not to wear the veil,” said 21-year-old activist Zaineb Hussein. “I can’t go out without it, but I take it off once I reach my office. I feel completely free without it.”

While extreme Islamists have exerted influence over society for the past four years, many women say the country’s 2-year-old democratically elected parliament is even more responsible for the regression of civil liberties and fashion choices.

“The government differs on all issues except women’s rights,” said Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq. “They’re using the new constitution to impose Islamic law and reduce women’s rights.”


As an example, Maysoon Al-Damlugi, who is among the 25 percent of women in Iraq’s 275-seat parliament, said most female colleagues in the legislature cover their heads. It is, she said, an indication of how religious fervor has seized the political landscape.

“The abaya and hajib are political symbols,” said the 45-year-old Al-Damlugi, who refuses to cover her head.

The shifting attitudes have many people concerned Iraq is moving closer to a theocracy similar to neighboring Iran, where women are required by law to cover their heads, even as other countries in the region are seemingly advancing women’s liberties.

Bushra Yousef, 51, is the managing editor of an Iraqi women’s magazine. She fled from Baghdad to Damascus last December after threats on her life. She said women in the Syrian capital enjoy more autonomy in dress than their Iraqi counterparts.

“Syrian women have freedom to choose what they wear,” Yousef said by telephone from Damascus. “Women in Iraq are often forced to wear Islamic uniform _ even Christian women.”

Ragadaa Manuale, a 36-year-old Christian, confirmed that view.

“Sometimes the men harass me when I go to pick up my daughter from school,” said Manuale, a secretary who lives in central Baghdad and is among the Christian population (roughly 3 percent) in Iraq. “I just wear (a headscarf) for security.”


Confronted with these demands, many Iraqi women are picking their spots on how and when to protest and express themselves. Some, like Mohammed, are digging in because “if we surrender our rights now, we may lose them forever.”

Others choose more subtle protests.

Suaad Mohammed Ali, a 35-year-old seamstress, describes her clientele as well-educated middle- and upper-class professionals. She said women are bringing her ready-made clothes and magazine photos of designs to illustrate the alterations they want.

“Women are always asking about the latest fashions,” said Ali, who wears an abaya when working her sewing machine behind the storefront window along a heavily trafficked road in the bustling Karrada district. “They wear them to private gatherings with family and friends.”

But like all aspects of life here, the women’s clothing business is suffering from security concerns.

Zaineb Hassan Nassir, 26, the manager of the Al-Masara Clothing Store, which sells sweaters, blouses and tight-fitting embroidered jeans for between $5 and $12, said the shop has difficulty covering its $450 monthly rent.

“People are afraid to be out,” said Nassir, who was concerned one recent morning that an Iraqi army checkpoint just a few feet from her shop door would draw an attack.


Samara Yousef Elias, 29, who owns the Salam Fashion Boutique in central Baghdad, said she has little walk-in business but about 25 core customers who make appointments to visit whenever she alerts them to new merchandise.

Elias, who wore a black shawl stylishly arranged over a turtleneck with her hair loosely pulled back, explained the most expensive items still selling in her shop are negligees, which run up to $155. “Women still want to spend money on something special they can wear for their husbands in private,” she said.

(Many interviews for this report were conducted through a translator. James Palmer writes for The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.)

KRE/LF END PALMER

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