I just saw a pic of Angelina Jolie on cnn.com, which was taken while she was in Pakistan. In the picture, she is wearing a black headscarf, possibly as a fashion statement, but more likely not.
Do some middle eastern countries really require that visiting western women cover their heads while in their country? I mean, would it prevent a western women from being admitted into a certain country? Do some countries make exceptions, or are are they lenient towards women who might unknowingly show hair (on their head, that is). Lets say a western woman is wearing a headscarf and (without thinking) takes it off in public to comb her hair or something, would she be harrassed, or stoned to death or what?
Pakistan is not in the Middle East. Regardless, Western women are not expected to cover their hair in most Middle Eastern countries, or Pakistan. They are expected to dress “modestly”; the definition of modesty varies, of course.
I’m going to assume the OP meant “Muslim countries”.
There is a wide variation with how headscarves are perceived in Muslim countries, because there are wide variations with how religion and culture and politics interact in those countries. There is often a political association with wearing versus not wearing. Headscarves are banned in government buildings in Turkey, for instance, as they are seen as anti-secular and anti-modern, so wearing one is often seen as a political statement, saying that the wearer disagrees with the modern, secular state and wants more religion in public life. In rural areas, you’ll see more headscarves, but in urban areas, you’re going to see far more uncovered than covered heads.
In Bosnia, where religion is highly associated with nationalism, wearing a headscarf has the implication that the wearer is quite right-wing politically. Again, most women in Sarajevo do not wear headscarves.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, you get places like Iran, where all women, including Western tourists, are required to cover their hair.
I’ve never been to Pakistan, but my immediate guess is that Angelina Jolie was in a rural and conservative area that has been affected by flooding and wore the headscarf as a sign of respect.
FWIW, I’ve been to five countries that are majority Muslim, and I’ve never worn a headscarf, ever. I did pull the hood up on my sweatshirt when I visited the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
IMHO, everything east of Iran that’s marked on that map as being part of the Middle East would actually qualify as Central Asia. Pakistan could also be considered South Asia. It’s definitely not Southeast Asia, which is made up of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.
It was done as a courtesy to her hosts. Nothing more, nothing less. Simple good manners.
Only two, really: Saudi Arabia and Iran.
No examples of that come to mind, though I suppose there must have been some, in either of those two countries.
They’re all pretty lenient for foreign guests.
Certainly not. That’s the shoddiest sort of Orientalist stereotype. There is no Muslim country on earth where that would conceivably happen, unless it were carried out by some al-Qā‘idah or Tālibān extremist crazies in the lawless FATA areas. And even then I think it would be unlikely. The Pashtun in FATA may be lawless, but they consider hospitality toward guests to be a sacred duty. Yvonne Ridley said when the Tālibān took her prisoner, they were very polite toward her.
I’ve only got experience with Iran, but yes, if you’re a woman you’ve got to cover yourself and wear a headscarf, and if you’re a man you’ve got to dress modestly. However, I’ve seen Japanese tourists get away wearing baseball caps and wool hats! If you are clearly not a local you can get away with letting some hair show or slipping up a little, but if you are from there (or are a visiting Persian or Arab) then yeah, you might go to jail.
As for harassment, well, depends where you are. And, as in virtually every country on earth, wearing a headscarf won’t stop it.
The vast majority of the Muslim world neither requires nor expects foreign women to wear headscarves. Heck, much of the Muslim world is not particularly strict even with their own women.
That said, no matter where you are it’s a good idea to pay attention to local dress standards. I lived in a Muslim area in Africa. I felt absolutely no pressure to cover my head and the local people were extremely relaxed (women going out completely topless was not unheard of- legs were considered a much bigger deal.) But I did decide to add a bit of head-covering to my daily dress- usually just a bandanna or something like that- just because I felt strange being the only person with no sort of scarf on. I rarely wore a full veil unless traveling, when I used it to block out the sun and dust and provide a bit of privacy. If I wore a veil around town, people would laugh at me.
Anyway, people really respected my clumsy attempts to conform to local dress norms, and it made it a lot easier to be accepted. I had a much better reputation than other foreigners who did not do so, and that made it much easier to get my work done. I would have been absolutely fine without doing so, but it helped.
I remember right after 9-11 some really clueless (I think she was German) reporter came to my school wearing what could only be charitably described as a tea cosy on her head. She was quite bemused to at the amount of giggles she generated and why no one would take her serioulsy when she was asking questions.
It is a good idea to decide attempt to be sensitive to local customs, it is not so much a good idea to try on a conjectured and streotyped version.
Seriously! There’s a local Indian veggie restaurant we like to go to, and they are constantly showing Bollywood videos on two screens. I mean I’m not the most socially conservative person in the world - I do wear shorts and tank tops - but no way in Hell could I contemplate leaving the house showing as much belly as the women in those videos!
P.S. I’ve traveled in Turkey and Morocco, and although plenty of women in both places covered their heads and wore long, flowing, non-form-fitting clothing, nobody hassled me or really even looked at me twice with my uncovered head. I did cover my head in mosques in Turkey (as I did in Russian cathedrals), though, and generally wore not-terribly-revealing clothing; mostly what I would wear at home (long pants and T-shirts).
Nobody actually shows that much belly outside of videos. There is a shawl like cloth called a dupatta which is wrapped around to preserve modesty. Of course it can be strategiclly placed.
In Pakistan for what its worth the latest fashion until a couple of years ago were skin tight shirts.
Oh, I’m well aware that Bollywood is Bollywood. However, I have also seen Indian wedding photos of friends, clients, and acquantances, as well as plenty of online clothing catalogs (I have somewhat of a love affair with South Asian women’s clothing, and in fact my own wedding dress was made out of a sari, so I did a lot of shopping around and brainstorming for ideas). And many of those show more skin than I would be confortable with - I can’t imagine showing torso skin at all in public! (And no, I haven’t worn a bikini since I was 4 years old, either.)
I’m just constantly amazed by cultural differences in which bits of anatomy are considered unacceptable to show in public. And for that matter, back in the Dark Ages, my nice Muslim Dagestani boyfriend was visiting me in the U.S. in the summer of 1990 - back then, I used to play soccer with friends a couple of nights a week. It took quite a lot of convincing him that really, it was perfectly OK for him to wear shorts in public in the summer for any reason, let alone to play soccer!
The difference is more between daywear/evening wear than East/West.
The sorts of dresses that American women wear to the office don’t show much skin—but their evening gowns do. The everyday style of wearing saris—to the office or anywhere—doesn’t show any more skin than the average American professional daywear dress. But saris when decked out for evening wear will show plenty more skin. If you compare apples with apples.
Westerners always make a fuss about saris showing bare bellies, but the way saris are normally wrapped, they hide the belly. Usually showing no extra skin at all. From the other side, I once heard a native of India angrily denouncing an American woman for being seen “naked.” Translation: She wore an ordinary knee-length skirt. I just keep seeing how each side exaggerates its stereotypes of the other, and all I can do is shake my head.
