“Societies judge women’s worthiness of safety and security based on their abidance to social norms regarding their clothing.” Women who don’t commit to “modest” clothing lose “patriarchal protection”. They are mostly viewed as worthy of punishment and discipline. Modesty is a rooted social gender-based standard that women – not men – are brought up to abide by since their childhood. This is what a qualitative study that I have conducted with support from Oxfam International has found.
The study focuses on violence against women due to their choice of clothing. It is based on in-depth interviews with 60 women from six countries from the Middle East and North Africa: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt and Tunisia. It addresses social standards regarding modesty and decency, which control women’s clothing and appearance.
According to the study’s results, women don’t experience varying levels of violence; however, controls imposed on women’s clothing by social norms and the consequent exposure to violence was a common phenomenon among participating women in all six countries. All sixty women without exception agreed that they were exposed to one or more forms of violence, due to their perceived non-commitment to social norms regarding clothing.
Most institutions which women are expected to seek help from either commit violence against women directly or tolerate and justify it. This shows that violence is structural – not exceptional or transient. Participants mentioned that their families’ duty was essentially to “police” their looks and attire and discipline them if they break the rules of descent clothing. Most participants also expressed their distrust in institutional and legal structures, not to mention their hesitation towards reporting their subjection to violence.
Social norms regarding “modesty” and what is considered a “descent” look limit women’s ability to effectively participate in public life and move freely and safely. Furthermore, the prevailing religious discourse essentially helps produce and reproduce patriarchal social standards regarding women’s clothing and justifies violence practiced against them.
The study also found that women are subjected, based on their clothing, to various forms of specific and explicit violence. The dangers of the cumulative effects of clothing-based violence specifically lies in putting women in a semi-permanent state of self-censorship and limiting their full participation in public life. Narratives show that most forms of violence that is justified by clothing are either accompanied with attempts to impose the hijab on women or disciplining them for taking it off. Women who were most subjected to explicit violence were younger, with no independent or sufficient economic resources, living with their families, and sometimes within the vicinity of extended families.
The study also showed that social status, age and gender identity played a role in women’s various experiences with violence. For example, women’s ability to purchase a car or pay for “transportation on demand” greatly helps them avoid harassment in the street. It also increases their ability to relatively free themselves from social censorship of their clothing. Additionally, gender-compatible women in “caste protected” areas, who don’t need to walk or rely on public transportation, are less likely to be subjected to daily violence than counterparts living in poorer areas, with non-standard gender identities, and less financial resources that would enable them to escape violent contexts.
Participants’ stories show the high emotional and economic toll of clothing-related violence against women. Clothing-based restrictions drive some women to avoid public places as much as possible and think twice about what they wear, even their shoes, if they are forced to survive street violence. Most participants from countries covered in the study mentioned that they tried to avoid public transportation due to their feeling of insecurity while using them.
The study also highlighted the costly economic consequences of censorship of women’s clothing and violence against them as they affect the forms of women’s participation and experiences in the labour market. Some participants mentioned being subjected to discrimination in the labour market based on their clothes and appearance. Participants also mentioned that the toll of not abiding to clothing standards was deprivation or risk of deprivation from education.
The study also addresses women’s day-to-day resistance of these restrictions. It shows that this resistance manifests for example in women wearing what they like secretly – away from the family and surrounding environment. They also try to avoid relatives and intruders or write anonymously about their experiences with such restrictions. Women’s daily resistance also included “humouring” social norms regarding their clothing within their strategy of “negotiation with patriarchy”. Finally, the study observed how transgender women resist with their bodies, which resemble in themselves a constant rebellion against limitations and restrictions imposed by the patriarchal system.