Muslim women have been wearing the Islamic veil (or hijab) in Montreal for a long time. But for a few years now, we have also been seeing more and more young women proudly wearing the abaya, a long traditional dress that covers the entire female body except for the face and hands. Obviously religious, this garment is accompanied by a very long veil and the ensemble is, let’s say it, particularly ostentatious.
In France, the abaya and the qamis (its male equivalent) have been banned in public schools since August 2023, with the wearing of these religious garments being considered “a political attack” on the secularism of French public institutions, a clear sign of “proselytism”.
In downtown Montreal, and with much consternation, one can also come across women wearing the chador or the niqab, the latter being a full veil covering the entire female body, including the face, with the exception of the eyes. Particularly remarkable and imposing, these garments are in no way an invitation to communication or a sign of “openness” to others.
Wearing these clothes seems to me to be more a form of proselytism, that is, “a zeal deployed to convert others to one’s ideas, to try to impose one’s convictions” in the public space of Quebec.
It happens that these women who strictly wear a full veil walk around, if necessary, with their daughters, who are also veiled. Recently, I came across a family in downtown Montreal whose mother, a teenage girl and two little girls all wore a veil. I have come across others, very young, in the city.
Seeing them walking around dressed like this, one is entitled to wonder if these veiled young girls still on the threshold of childhood are also part of the “diversity” celebrated by Canadian multiculturalism. Furthermore, what can we do, in Quebec, as an egalitarian society, to protect young girls from these clothing choices (which necessarily fall under parental authority at this age) and which seem to me to be perfectly sexist and discriminatory?
Clothing habits and identity
As adults, will these young women continue to wear the hijab or any other religious clothing they have worn for a long time? It is very likely. Well-established in their habits, wearing the veil will seem completely normal to them.
It is even very likely that this garment, through simple habituation, becomes “second nature” and appears to them as a key element of their identity, or even a trait of their “personality”, when in reality it is an object external to themselves and not a trait of their character.
However, a religious garment is much more than a simple piece of fabric. This fabric is loaded with symbolic and doctrinal value. The veil carries a meaning, conveys both a political and religious message, inevitably referring us to a system of beliefs, laws and religious values. And, whatever the type, size or format of the Islamic veil (hijab, abaya, niqab, chador, burqa, etc.), all these opaque veils essentially serve to ostracize women, to hide their bodies, to make them invisible in public space.
If these clothes were only an expression of their faith, their piety, Muslim men would then wear a headscarf, would also cover themselves from head to toe. However, we are told that men do not have to veil themselves or hide their hair since “man” was created “in the image of God”, while “woman” is said to be “the glory of man”. And I say that we are in Quebec and we hold steadfastly to our secularism.