Abaya's and Hijab's

The August 23 & 30th double issue of Newsweek has a short and interesting article on page 66 and 67 about two books that discuss the controversial topic of the wearing of the Hijab or Abaya which is the fabric many women here wear to cover and hide themselves.
I've always thought like most Westerners it was a form of repression of the women, but there is another perspective that could lead to interesting conversation. What if the covering up was a matter of not allowing others to see your personal beauty? What if it was a matter of a woman being accepted for her mind and intellect and not her looks? What if the woman feels as one of the authors felt after moving to Cairo from Boston that she wanted to cover up so only her husband could see her beauty and others wouldn't stare at her.
In the western world many of us certainly lament the amount of skin women, girls and even young girls show, well here they may value their privacy and personal self more so they decide to remain covered and only visible to their husband. I certainly don't want to get into the deeper discussion of repression of women in the Arabic society, but reading about other perspectives as to why women cover up is enlightening.
I never think that the woman does it because she wants to, but if she wants to only allow her husband to see certain features it's her right. The point that when a woman chooses to wear an abaya she becomes more protected in small ways by almost everyone she comes in contact with. It's evidence to others that she is cared for so in one author's case her Arabic tutor began sheltering her from the male students when she started wearing the head scarf and she terms it as "affectionate respect".
As one of authors puts if after moving to Yemen from NYC to take a job she hated feeling unsexy in yards of fabric, but then later decides she's "rather taken with this whole modesty thing. Why should I let a man who is not my lover see any part of me?" Interesting idea and way to look at it I think.
If you get Newsweek or see it lying around you might enjoy the article. I drove a young Emirate woman back from a swimming class that didn't offer segregated swimming and we had a nice talk about her life growing up. She sat in the back seat, not in front with me and she made me learn how to pronounce her name properly. It was just like speaking with one of my daughter's friends only she was wearing an abaya with jeans underneath it. I can tell you from my short experience here that those young women are not stared at by boys or men, they are treated a little differently because of their choices and how they dress.

QOB - "There are more English speakers in India than there are in the United States". That came off a Snapple Kiwi Strawberry cap.