How Persepolis Changed my views on the veil

Good afternoon,

    My name is Christina Saldat and I recently began CAP Global Citizens at UBC. In this program our classes are intertwined around the common theme of global citizenship and understanding the world from all different points of view. Over the past three weeks I have learned that depending on whether you are a sociologist, a political scientist or a literature expert, you will have differing views on a variety of topics. Today I will look through the lense of a literature expert as I discuss the polarized debates of the veil in the West which is discussed in the text I recently read called Persepolis.

    In Persepolis we are exposed to the personal relationship that Marji has with religion. Marji who is the protagonist in Persepolis, is living in Iran during the time of the Iran-Iraq war whereby women were being forced to wear a veil whether it was against their will or not. Marji’s family had a more modern outlook on religion and opposed the new regulation that strictly enforced the veil as well as the requirement to wear conservative clothing. Throughout the book, Marji is fascinated by the way the government works and why certain rules are inflicted. In realizing this, she begins to rebel in her clothing choices and wears her veil with her hair protruding which is against the law. Her family is opposed to the new restrictions and often go to protests to support those views as Marji’s family does not support the law that all women must wear a veil and dress conservatively. At home you would see Marji and her mother not wearing the veil and dressing in ripped jeans and jewelry, all of which was forbidden. Although her family was going against their country’s regulations, I respect this as I believe that every women should have the right to decide what they choose to wear.

    I looked into further research and discovered that there are many laws and regulations that apply to different Muslim countries. Some say it is the law that women must be covered up while others have more relaxed laws and are now more lenient regarding women’s dress. I also discovered that in the West, Muslim women have the freedom to choose whether or not they want to wear head scarves, or if they want to wear even more complete forms of hijab. Many Muslim women believe that this is a symbol of  faith and respect their belief that the Quran requires. The laws pertaining to the veil or the hijab brought me back to thinking about the current debate happening in Canada at the moment about wearing one’s hijab while in court. Currently there is a controversy pertaining to whether women should have to remove their hijabs in the courtroom in Canada for safety reasons as it is harder to identify someone when their faces are covered by a veil.

    In 2011 the Canadian immigration minister introduced a new law stating that face coverings were banned when taking the Canadian Oath to become a citizen.However, after many women argued that it was violating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, this law was dismissed and as of 2015 women can once again wear headscarves while taking the oath. With the recent terrorist attacks in Canada and around the world, this law allowing women to take the oath wearing their head scarves is a continuing controversy and has the possibility to change. Just this week a woman in Montreal was told by a judge that he would not hear the case until her headscarf was removed. She stated that, “When I swore by God to be a good Canadian citizen I was wearing my hijab, and the judge, I shook hands with him the same day I became Canadian. I was really very happy. But what happened in court made me feel afraid. I felt that I’m not Canadian any more (Rania El-Alloul ).” Further information regarding this event can be found here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/5-head-covering-controversies-in-canada-1.2975181.

I personally believe that the discrimination of Muslim women based on their choice to wear a headscarf must stop. If we are accepting of Jewish people who wear a Kipa, Sikhs wearing turbans or Amish wearing bonnet we should not limit what Muslims can wear. In the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms it states in Part 1 subsection 2a) that everyone has the “freedom of conscience and religion”. If we pride ourselves on being a diverse and welcoming country then we must stay true to these claims and accept everyone no matter what their religion is. But Canada is not the only country that has banned wearing a burka. In Europe many countries such as France, Switzerland and Belgium have banned full face coverings and women who actually do wear them will receive a fine. To read more on this see below: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/burka-bans-the-countries-where-muslim-women-cant-wear-veils/

Reading Persepolis changed my views on the current debates in the West pertaining to the veil in such a way that it made me realize that religion and the associated stereotyping is inevitable. In Canada women are pigeonholed for wanting to wear a veil as a Canadian citizen, but in Iran women are stereotyped for not wanting to wear the veil and in Europe it has evolved to the point where women get fined for wearing a burka. I believe that all women should have the freedom to wear whatever they wish and to practice whatever religion they desire because that is a right that every human is entitled to. In conclusion, Persepolis has changed my views in the way that it has made it more clear to me that the world is not as welcoming as I once believed and that the world as a whole still has a lot of work to do in regard to cultural acceptance.

Christina Saldat

Links to articles and sources used:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/5-head-covering-controversies-in-canada-1.2975181

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-15.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/burka-bans-the-countries-where-muslim-women-cant-wear-veils/