Sunday Times 2
Survey says: Muslim women, cover your hair, not your faces
An important issue in the Muslim world is how women should dress in public.
A recent survey from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research conducted in seven Muslim-majority countries 
(Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey), finds that most people prefer that a woman completely cover her hair, but not necessarily her face. Only in Turkey and Lebanon do more than one-in-four think it is appropriate for a woman to not cover her head at all in public.
The survey treated the question of women’s dress as a visual preference. Each respondent was given a card depicting six styles of women’s headdress and asked to choose the woman most appropriately outfitted for a public place. Although no labels were included on the card, the styles ranged from a fully-hooded burqa (woman #1) and niqab (#2) to the less conservative hijab (women #4 and #5). There was also the option of a woman wearing no head covering of any type.
Overall, most respondents say woman #4, whose hair and ears are completely covered by a white hijab, is the most appropriately dressed for public. This includes 57 per cent in Tunisia, 52 per cent in Egypt, 46 per cent in Turkey and 44 per cent in Iraq. In Iraq and Egypt, woman #3, whose hair and ears are covered by a more conservative black hijab, is the second most popular choice.
In Pakistan, there is an even split (31 per cent vs. 32 per cent) between woman #3 and woman #2, who is wearing a niqab that exposes only her eyes, while nearly a quarter (24 per cent) choose woman #4. In Saudi Arabia, 63 per cent prefer woman #2, while an additional 11 per cent say the burqa worn by woman #1 is the most appropriate style of public dress for women.
In several countries, substantial minorities say it is acceptable for a woman to not cover her hair in public. Roughly a third (32 per cent) of Turks take this view, as do 15 per cent of Tunisians. Nearly half (49 per cent) in Lebanon also agree that it is acceptable for a woman to appear in public without a head covering, although this may partly reflect the fact that the sample in Lebanon was 27 per cent Christian. Demographic information, including results by gender, was not included in the public release of this survey.
Even as people in many of the surveyed countries express a clear preference for women to dress conservatively, many also say women should be able to decide for themselves what to wear. This attitude is most prevalent in Tunisia (56 per cent), Turkey (52 per cent) and Lebanon (49 per cent) – all countries where substantial percentages are open to women not covering their heads in public. But nearly as many in Saudi Arabia (47 per cent) also say a women should be free to choose how she dresses. Smaller, but sizable percentages agree in Iraq (27 per cent), Pakistan (22 per cent) and Egypt (14 per cent). What the survey leaves unanswered is whether respondents think social or cultural norms will guide women in their choice to wear more conservative or less conservative attire in public.
Courtesy pewresearch.org