#paranji

[brookoli-blog]

Uzbek women in classroom wearing their paranji (veil),1967.

[rgr-pop]

Europeans had long seen the veiled Muslim woman as a unique sign of the backwardness and depravity of Muslim civilization. Not only did they point to female seclusion and veiling as evidence that Islam was inherently antagonistic toward women, but they cited oppressive gender relations as justification for colonial efforts to transform indigenous societies.

- Adrienne Lynn Edgar, "Emancipation of the Unveiled:  Turkmen Women Under Soviet Rule, 1924-1929." (From Russian Review Jan. 2003)