MODES OF CULTURAL ANALYSIS – SS430N

CSSS
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
SUBMISSION OF SYNOPSIS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Submitted to : Prof. Susan Vishwanathan

Submitted by : Bondita Saikia
Enrollment no : 20/65/HS/014
Registration no : 200810023124
BOOK – SEEING LIKE A FEMINIST BY NIVEDITA MENON
TITLE – WOMEN BEHIND VEIL : CULTURAL INFLUENCES OF GHOONGHAT AND
BURQA
Ghunghat Nikalna refers to a practiced where a woman covers her face from all males senior
to her own husband, practiced mostly in Northern parts of India, controls the activities of
women within a particular community transcending household space too. It is a means of
limiting interaction of women with senior males who hold the widest power in a community.
It is depersonalizing tool dismissing women’s existence in the public context. It presents a
contradictory visual image of women. Culturally speaking, ghunghat emerges as an
equivalent means of patriarchal control which retain its hold over women despite dramatic
internal politico – legal and socio – economic shifts. The main paradigm and strength of this
custom is based on social ‘approval’ and its imposition lies in the hands of women
themselves, because, women themselves continue to support a ‘rural culture’ which is highly
constrictive for them. The notion of izzat (honour) is attached to the custom of ghunghat
which sets a bar on women’s modesty and deferential behaviour, she is not expected to make
direct eye contact with the senior males. On the other side, enforcing such custom by senior
females over junior women crystallizing her own position in the family hierarchy.
In Islamic religion, the practice of veiling their women stands firm. Veiling became more
widespread in Islam because the cultural practice was supported by Qur’anic verse, attaching
the desirability of modesty, hierarchy, power etc. Both, burqa, hijab and ghunghat is used as
an oppressive tool to reduce the voice of women. There attached an unhealthy obsession with
women’s bodies to legitimize certain traditional norms and cultural needs. We recently
witnessed how the Taliban fighters spray – painted posters of women models, who were not
covered in burqa or hijab on the walls outside a beauty shop after they seized power in Kabul.
Cultural violence is understood when certain existing prominent social norms make direct
and structural forms of violence against women seem acceptable. Such cultural tradition on
customs are often used to justify crimes or abuse of women including cases of honor killing
or deprivation of certain facilities for women like education.
In a society where male ego and pride is very sensitive and simultaneously fragile, the
concealment of women has remained one essential aspect of male control to date. The
‘purdah’ system, be it burqa or ghunghat sharply demarcates the task between male and
female and crystallized the culture of household with women while men sets foot in the
public spaces. ‘Burqa’ and ‘ghunghat’ represents two faces of the same coin. Both of them
are results of persistent constructive cultural aspect of patriarchal oppression which separates
the role of men and women.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Sharma, U. M. (1978). Women and Their Affines: The Veil as a Symbol of

Separation. Man, 13(2), 218–233.
 Sasson, Jean (2001). Princess : A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia.
Bantam Dell.
 Wagna, Wolfgang & Sen, Ragini & Permanadeli, Risa & Howarth, Caroline (2012).
The Veil and Muslim Women’s identity: Cultural Pressures and Resistance to
Stereotyping. Culture and Psychology. ResearchGate, 521-541.
 Sara, Slininger .(2014). Veiled Women : Hijab, Religion and Cultural Practice.
Oxford Islamic Studies Online.
 Chowdhry, P. (1993). Persistence of a Custom: Cultural Centrality of Ghunghat. Social
Scientist, 21(9/11), 91–112.