[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The Great

[European guest]

Hello from a European. I'm looking for some information, maybe some of you Iranians here have got it. Amir Taheri writes in an article that some Iranian schools have said girls don't have to wear the veil inside. Do you have any more information about this, maybe a link? It would be useful with the ongoing "banning the veil" debates in Europe.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/Taheri20030819.shtml

The hijab debate in Europe and the US comes at a time that the controversial headgear is seriously questioned in Iran, the only country to impose it by law.

Last year the Islamist regime authorised a number of girl colleges in Tehran to allow students to discard the hijab while inside school buildings. The experiment was launched after a government study identified the hijab as the cause of "widespread depression and falling academic standards" and even suicide among teen-age girls.

The Ministry of Education in Tehran has just announced that the experiment will be extended to other girls schools next month when the new academic year begins. Schools where the hijab was discarded have shown "real improvements" in academic standards reflected in a 30 per cent rise in the number of students obtaining the highest grades.

Meanwhile, several woman members of the Iranian Islamic Majlis (parliament) are preparing a draft to raise the legal age for wearing the hijab from six to 12, thus sparing millions of children the trauma of having their heads covered.

Another sign that the Islamic Republic may be softening its position on hijab is a recent decision to allow the employees of state-owned companies outside Iran to discard the hijab. (The new rule has enabled hundreds of women, working for Iran-owned companies in Paris, London, and other European capitals, for example, to go to work without the cursed hijab.)

[asher]

Euro, thanks for the insights and the link.

What are your thoughts on the debate in Europe? I think banning the headscarf, veil, or any religious attire is, generally speaking, the wrong way to go.

First, as a matter of principle: the freedom of religious expression ought to be protected. In the US, this is considered a first-amendment issue. The only exception is in the military, where dress and grooming standards are very strict - and even then, military regulations grant exemptions allowing religious Jews and Muslims to wear skullcaps.

Second, as a matter of politics: this isn't the way to "get tough" on religious extremism. It will only allow extreme factions to claim they are being "persecuted". Also, by identifying religious garb with terrorism, it will likely alienate religious moderates.

In recent years, public schools in some areas of the US have reintroduced the requirement of school uniforms for students (largely abandoned since the 1960s). I believe there was a case recently where a Jewish boy in one such district was forbidden to wear a skullcap to school as a consequence of the uniform regulations; how that case ended up I don't know, but it's likely the ACLU got involved and I'd be willing to guess the Jewish student probably won in the end. Americans take their first-amendment rights to free speech and religion very seriously.

European governments are right to treat religious extremism as a serious threat; but they should think long and hard before banning religious attire in state institutions.

[European guest]

[asher]

I'm familiar with the Taheri article you're referring to; I think he compared it to the Nazi "brown shirt". This may be correct, and I do not pretend to be familiar with the realities of European life. Perhaps the closest American parallel would be to "gang colors". (There was a period during the 1980s when, in some areas of the West Coast, it was unsafe to go about in public wearing red or blue clothing for fear of being mistaken for a "Blood" or a "Crip" by the opposing gang.)

My main concerns are (1) the possibility of a "slippery slope" of regulations encroaching on religious expression, and (2) selective enforcement of existing regulations. If the authorities can provide reasonable assurances that legitimate forms of religious expression will be protected, I suppose there should be no objection.

In any case, you asked for Iranians to reply to your post, and I'm not Iranian; so I will refrain from further comment.