Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!husc6!m2c!wpi!mgross@halibut.nosc.mil
From: mgross@halibut.nosc.mil (Michelle K. Gross)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: Hijab in France
Message-ID: <13355@wpi.wpi.edu>
Date: 8 Jun 90 18:02:13 GMT
References: <8518@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Sender: shari@wpi.wpi.edu
Reply-To: mgross@halibut.nosc.mil (Michelle K. Gross)
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego
Lines: 18
Approved: shari@wpi.wpi.edu



The news item about French schoolgirls being barred from attendance while
wearing headcoverings is upsetting. Even the conciliatory answer of the
Moslem leader in Paris is disturbing--he criticizes the girls' motivations
and permits them to have their heads uncovered. Given that other groups are
permitted to wear their own religious garb, one can only surmise that
this is either an anti-Moslem, anti-foreign, or anti-newest-foreigner
move. Or perhaps, the French have fashion complaints about scarves....

Traditional Jewish women have a similar problem: they are looked askance for
wearing a scarf in public. They often wear wigs or berets, instead. Although
the Rabbis permit such head-coverings, their use is ironic--the modest covering
is replaced by a covering more attractive than the woman's own hair.
Another thought--would the French permit women to wear the head-coverings 
of nuns in a public ? Would such coverings meet Moslem requirements?

mgross@nosc.mil