opinion

Across the world veiling has been making a comeback. Whether sheathed in scarves covering only the head (the so-called hijabs ), the face and head (the chador and burqa ), or the entire body, shrouded females are now visible in public places everywhere, from public schools and universities to parliaments.

Why is this resurgence happening? Although the veil is supposedly grounded in tradition, its reappearance appears to be a response to today's social and political instability. In Afghanistan and other parts of Asia the collapse of communist regimes incited a rise in religious orthodoxy, as did the overthrow of the Shah in Iran.

In Egypt and Saudi Arabia, indeed throughout the Middle East, the resurgence of veiling has many roots; some argue that it arose out of the Arab defeat in the 1967 war with Israel; others say it began with the disintegration of the dream of Arab unity.

This connection to politics suggests even more strongly (as veiling is hardly mentioned in the Koran) that the practice is a social and religious construction: veiling allows for the creation of an instantaneous new political identity - a sort of 'instant tradition' - which is particularly powerful when the veil is enforced by public sanction.

This sanction can be achieved from the top down - i.e. by government or other decrees reinterpreting Islamic tenets - as well as from the bottom up, through communal norms and social pressure.

Ambition imperilled

Where the impetus to 'cover' comes welling up from below, from family and community, such veiling practices provoke countervailing state actions. In Turkey, the government banned head scarves in public schools and universities.

Crackdowns have seen thousands of young women excluded from classes and even from receiving their degrees if they appear in head scarves. The head scarf has also been forbidden in Turkey's parliament.

Turkey's highest courts rationalise these harsh measures against veiling by invoking the country's constitutionally mandated secularism, which Kemal Ataturk imposed when he created modern Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.

But in so infringing basic human rights to freedoms of association and expression to such a degree, Turkey's restrictions on veiling are now, paradoxically, imperiling one of secular Turkey's great ambitions - joining the European Union.

Similar prohibitions on veils operate all around the region, and for much the same political reason - i.e. to stave off Muslim political rule. In Egypt, for example, as in Tunisia and Uzbekistan, there are laws in place banning the full veil.

Charged symbol

Banning or restricting veils, however, is not confined to Muslim countries seeking to maintain a secular orientation in politics. In France, head scarves have been prohibited from public schools since the late 1980's, restrictions maintained despite the European Union's concerns that Turkey's curbs on veiling violate human rights.

Head scarves were first banned in France by administrative decree. That ban was later upheld by the Constitutional Court, which argued that allowing such public religious expression would likely infringe on the 'neutrality' of the public sphere, and so lead to 'divisiveness'.

Alas, such divisiveness already exists; public opinion opposing the veil is strident, but it appears to be less about religion than about racist xenophobia, anti-immigrant feelings, and resistance to multi-culturalism.

It also seems to contain within it fears about the potential erosion of French national identity. Given such pressures, the veil is a charged symbol across France.

While these new veiling regimes - both for and against veiling - may advance the aim of consolidating political identities in times of flux, they do so by placing a disparate burden on women, undermining their rights to freedom of expression and association.

Greater freedom?

But what can be done about it? If veiling injunctions that require women to wear veils seem draconian, it is by no means obvious that anti-veiling laws afford women any greater freedom.

Indeed, when states repeal veiling regulations, authority over women often reverts to families and other community elders. For example, in Egypt in 1994, when the education minister banned primary school girls from wearing head scarfs, a strong backlash resulted and there followed a marked retrogression in women's rights generally.

Conversely, in France, many Muslim women say that they experience greater freedom when the state prohibits veiling because such laws allow them to disregard the mandates of their religious communities.

Others argue that when the state forbids the veil, there is a net loss of freedom for women because wearing a veil - both historically and in current times - creates a buffer that allows women to circulate freely in society.

Moreover, veils allow women greater access to secular institutions from which they would be precluded otherwise. In general, wearing a veil affords greater freedom to women in male dominated societies.

Naked power

Whether the veil is embraced or loathed, these veiling wars mark a vast, almost global battle about cultural and political identity. The veil, and the battles over it, also represents a culture war that is disproportionately played out on women's bodies.

In the context of a long tradition where women are held to stand for public virtue, it's not surprising to find the battle exacerbated in places where political authority and legitimacy are frayed. After all, naked power usually seeks to hide behind a veil.

RUTI TEITEl, a native of Argentina, is Professor of Comparative Law at the New York Law School and author of Transitional Justice (Oxford 2000).