Mystery of the Veil

How long does traditional tribal thinking permeate the Middle East and other parts of the world? And why do Muslims cling to tribal tradition and claim that Allah commands the veil when the Quran only instructs women and men to dress modestly? Why has the instruction become so exacerbated as to demean women?

In the earliest times, circa 2000 BCE, the Assyrian kings gathered beautiful women from their conquests and sequestered them in harems. The Egyptians, Ottomans, Mughals, and Chinese also treasured their harems, private pleasure property of the monarch. The harem was the exclusive residence for the king’s pleasure. To assure that wishful observers did not taint the women, the inmates were covered so that “none could wish to know them.” They were indeed locked in a “gilded cage”––that wasn’t always effective––even trusted eunuchs found a way to inveigle neglected harem women.

Covering the face is both a protection and an invitation. Ironically, we learn that veiling the face has not always accomplished the miracle of anonymity. Today, we note that tribal men have realized that fact and have added to the full burqa a screen that fits over the eyes. With this new costume innovation, women now appear as imprisoned apparitions, creatures without recognition and without meaning. They are, in fact, non-entities: the walking, working, obedient non-living.

Originally, men invented the veil to protect their property. Throughout the world, it was necessary to protect the women from assault and rape. In the twelfth century BCE, Ramesses III—who is known as the last great pharaoh—took pride in the fact that he had cleared the marketplace and the streets of foreigners and marauders so that now women could walk safely without cover of a veil. He was proud to announce that he had freed women from harm at public venues.

Unfortunately for the Greeks, who developed the greatest and most ideal government in the Western world in the fifth century BCE, didn’t learn appreciation for women from the Egyptians. From the earliest times, Egyptians honored their mothers and grandmothers and loved their wives. Contrarily, the Greeks not only veiled their women but also purposely hid them from view of the community. A woman was not allowed to leave the house unveiled and without a guardian, an escort who would see to her safety. The guardian was also needed to guard her dowry. That is, they protected it from “misuse.”

In ancient Greece, even the most revered philosophers, teachers, and leaders hated, disdained, and/or ignored women. It is shocking that even the early medical expert, Galen, 129–216 CE, touted as the Father of Medicine, hated women. He wrote treatises on childbirth, yet his understanding of reproduction and concern for the human mother were absent. To Galen, woman was simply a birth vessel, an entity for objective study like a laboratory captive.

What was it about Greek men that caused them to take such a negative view of people who would be mothers of their children? Greek wives bore children, built a home, fed, clothed, and nursed the family—and all who served the family––to health. They personally prepared the dead for burial. They did not eat meals with their husbands, and most disgustingly, they were not named until they died. Greek men gathered in the agora, harangued with decision-makers, exercised in the gymnasium, and played with the hetairai and lower-class prostitutes. The much-celebrated symposia, gatherings of musicians, entertainers, lovers—both men and women—and elaborate gourmet fare, were for the men. Because of the lascivious nature of the entertainment, wives, and respectable women were not allowed.

If the ancient Greeks had no reason to refer to the “Original Sin” of Eve,  what other excuse did they have to disdain women? Why has the primitive condition—the suspicion, the hatred, and the abuse in some lands lasted for millennia?  Greek myths clearly show that men had much to fear in women for their magical powers over men, particularly sexual. Did Greek men fear that if women were free to work in society, go to market, sell their wares, or travel, they would learn that the entire world did not cloister their women? Were they afraid women would connect with each other and rise up against the treacherous seclusion and demand freedom?  For that matter, in current events unfolding, will newly-encumbered Afghan women and men rebel even at the cost of life itself? This is a serious point to ponder.

As non-persons, Greek women were not able to spend their own dowry money, inherit money or lands from their families, or conduct legal business on their own. Their wishes were entirely at the mercy of the man who governed them: the father, husband, son, or guardian. Freedom in that “democracy” was not for women. In the land that developed democracy––that is, government “of the people”––women were not allowed to vote or take part in any governmental matter. Further, they were not to be seen and not to be heard. They were not considered a part of the people––the demos.

Not much has changed in today’s conquering neo-tribal groups like the Taliban, ISIS-K, Al-Qaeda, and other similar communities that invade and push newly-struggling democratic emerging countries, like Afghanistan, backward to primitive mores and rude standards for women.

At what point will the people––women and men––demand freedom? Moreover—just as important—why do active women’s groups in the Western world continue to keep silent about the mistreatment of women elsewhere? Why is there no overwhelming cacophony of women’s outcry in the free world?

Excerpts from Power Women: Lessons from the Ancient World.

P.D. Sargent, September 12, 2021