Looking Beyond the Veil: Women’s Health in Muslim Communities

I grew up in the prayer halls of my mosque, running on the stained carpet, and the air sweet with the perfumes of the women and girls who prayed devotedly to God. The women and girls who wrapped their sisters’ heads with scarves, held their children close to their chests, bowed to their grandmothers, and worked quietly, cloaked, behind the scenes to keep our mosque’s programs running seamlessly. If these women and girls knew one thing, it was selflessness.

Their selflessness came with precarious health, as I overheard conversations amongst the older women, the foundational force in my community. Body aches, long commutes to the hospital, and even if the hospital was within reach, they relied on their sons’ and husbands’ schedules to get there, lack of energy, irregular periods, irritability, and fatigue. Every vague complaint was suffixed by “...and I don’t have time for myself” and a faraway expression. Yet, there was no impetus to problem-solve their collective concerns. Their health problems were a nuisance, but that was about it. They did not care about it heavily enough to do something about it.

My observations of the Muslim Afghan, Indian, and Pakistani women at my mosque were only the tip of the iceberg. Women from other Muslim countries also approach their health problems half-heartedly. In Egypt, the Giza Study from 1999 showed that of the women in the study, half of them suffered from reproductive tract infection (RTI), “56% had genital prolapse, and 63% were anemic” – yet the women viewed these health detriments as “normal” (Roudi-Fahimi). The women in this study did not address these problems because “as long as they were able to have children and do their daily work,” they deemed health problems like the ones mentioned as insignificant (Roudi-Fahimi). It doesn’t help that the countries and communities that these women hail from do not emphasize healthcare rights for women, let alone basic health necessities. Pakistan, for one, does not have an effective primary care system for women, with only 0.8% of the nation’s budget going into the healthcare sector to begin with (Jafree et al.). Both the community and governmental failures have only added to the women’s health crisis in Islamic society.

Unfortunately, Muslim women’s silence on the vital issues they face has drawn Western and outsiders’ focus to more superficial, “unorthodox” traditions that the Muslim community practices – the veil. The veil is a multi-faceted concept. It would be naive to write off the veil as “empowering” for all women – because that’s just not true – but it’s just as wrong to slap the label of “victim” on a woman solely due to her veil. Regardless, the veil is a part of Islamic cultures and communities, and at the end of the day, we must respect a woman’s choice. I don’t believe Western media does this; I think they get caught up on the idea of modesty equating oppression. And in doing so, the large-scale issues of women’s health are kept within the women’s veils.

A good example of this is during the war on terror in 2001 when the United States justified gunning the grounds of Afghanistan to “save” the “women of cover” (Abu-Lughod). Undoubtedly, the setback of women’s rights to their dress was completely unacceptable – but the West believes that the violations stop here. The breach of women’s rights violations was beyond dress – violations were also entangled in the healthcare and education system. After 20 years of the Taliban’s insurrection, the national healthcare system fell through due to lack of funding, disproportionately affecting the women’s health sector. Many female doctors and studying female doctors-to-be were revoked of their rights to work or pursue an education, thereby leaving the majority of the country’s women and girls “vulnerable to disease and other consequences of inadequate medical care” (Abbasi). Without a steady stream of students and practicing female physicians, the women of Afghanistan left with Extreme detriments to their health and a lack of regard for their situation. Yet, the West’s focal point remains on their dress and opened the conversation for wrongful criticism of the veil and the region's culture.

There is still light at the end of the tunnel – as time has progressed, there have been improvements in women’s health and cultural exposures that call into question the bizarre cultural expectations placed upon women in Islamic and South Asian communities. For example, the women’s health circumstance in Saudi Arabia has significantly improved by giving women autonomy to make healthcare decisions without a male guardian. In terms of treatment, there has been a shift in remedy by focusing on preventative health measures such as in-depth physical and reproductive examinations rather than treatment after the illness has manifested.

If we put as much time into focused action on improving healthcare and education rights for women in these regions as we do dissecting and arguing about whether the veil is good or bad, progress would be made at ten times the speed it is now. Please do not let the veil veil you from seeing the insidious health and education violations that Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Muslim women are burdened with. 

Works Cited

Abbasi, Fereshta. “A Disaster for the Foreseeable Future.” Human Rights Watch, 12 Feb. 2024, www.hrw.org/report/2024/02/12/disaster-foreseeable-future/afghanistans-healthcare-crisi.

Abu-Lughod, Lila. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” American Anthropological Association, vol. 104, no. 3, Sept. 2002, pp. 783–790.

Jafree, Sara Rizvi, et al. “Protocol for a systematic review of barriers, facilitators and outcomes in primary healthcare services for women in Pakistan.” BMJ Open, vol. 11, no. 3, Mar. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043715.

Monzer, Lynn. “Navigating the Future of Women’s Healthcare in Saudi Arabia: Insights and Challenges.” Atlantic Council, 30 Oct. 2023, www.atlanticcouncil.org/commentary/event-recap/navigating-the-future-of-womens-healthcare-in-saudi-arabia-insights-and-challenges/.

Roudi-Fahimi, Farzaneh. “Gender and Equity in Access to Health Care Services in the Middle East and North Africa.” PRB, 1 Apr. 2006, www.prb.org/resources/gender-and-equity-in-access-to-health-care-services-in-the-middle-east-and-north-africa/.