ABSTRACT
This chapter represents the extreme complexity of veiling phenomena around the world today, bound as they are by political, economic, social, religious, spatial and individual aspects. Veil and veiling are used as generic terms to describe practices, garments and elements of appearance, which seek to both unite and separate groups and individuals. The holy scriptures of the three Abrahamic religions – the Torah, the Bible and the Qur'an – all contain phrases that indicate veiling, or at least have been interpreted as either recommending or ordaining veiling for women. In the 1970s, new developments in veiling practices occurred, which culminated in the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979, and the consequent enforced veiling in the early 1980s. After the establishment of Soviet rule in many Central Asian states, women's movements were put under state control, and also the anti-veiling campaigns were made state-led and state-ordained. The first headscarf controversies in Europe surfaced in late 1980s.
