Public Space, Private Face

In recent years, the veiled woman has entered the popular imagination, becoming an iconic focus in the conjunction of religion and law. Social debates and legal cases concerning veiling have involved such issues as: the balance between majority/minority cultural values, human rights, the accommodation of religious norms in civil law, and developing modes of feminist critique. Veiling has become a synecdoche for Islam ¹ and a challenge to the social imaginary. ² In addition, a number of high-profile legal cases have contributed to the idea that the Muslim practice of women veiling is inherently problematic. My aim is to disrupt reductionist interpretations of the practice and to defend the view that the veil can be interpreted in many different ways (as a social or theological signifier, as a religious or cultural requirement, or as a fashion item). This multivalency is then exposed as a challenge to current legal reasoning when it seeks to distinguish between ‘appropriate’ and ‘inappropriate’ manifestations of belief.