ethnicity, and economics (Kabeer 1994, Hashmi
2000). Since the birth of Bangladesh in 1971, eco-
nomic development, nationhood, Islamic identity,
and gender relations have been intertwined (Siddiqi
1998). Though living in a predominantly Muslim
state, women struggle with an increasingly politi-
cized identity, which extends to their public identity
in the work environment and their dress. Though
“political Islam is conventionally associated with a
highly visible code of conduct for women, espe-
cially in the realm of dress and comportment and
in family relations,... the particular conditions
under which Islamization has been sponsored by
Bangladesh, by an impoverished state confronted
with multiple sources of foreign aid and an increas-
ing reliance on women’s labor, have ensured that
the state leaves untouched issues regarding women’s
deportment, dress, and working conditions”
(Siddiqi 1998, 205–27). Having formerly lived
among the Hindu majority in India, Bangladeshi
women continue to observe Hindu practices of
female seclusion or purdah to safeguard their
honor. Bangladeshi women wear head coverings as
a comparable and yet portable expression of seclu-
sion while in public, which to a degree circumvents
traditional Muslim and cultural customs of the
region. Seemingly constrained Bangladeshi Muslim
women have redefined former social practices such
as purdah with contemporary interpretations of
their social reality.
Similar to Indian and Bangladeshi Muslim
women, Kashmiri women’s identity and modesty
continues to be politicized in the pursuit of state
sovereignty. India and Pakistan vie for economic
and political control of Kashmir and its people.
Islamic influence in Kashmir is appreciated in the
revival of the material culture and social customs
that resonate with the Muslim experience of
Afghans, Pakistanis, and Persians. Kashmiri Mus-
lim women’s modesty or ™ayà±as ™ijàb and purdah
is visually, regionally, and traditionally expressed in
the form of the Kashmiri shawl. Though Kashmiri
shawls communicate a strong historic and aesthetic
weaving and embroidery tradition, more recently
the wearing of a shawl expresses religious and
political sentiments.
Pakistani women participate in a range of formal
and informal educational opportunities and conse-
quently a range of visual appearances are present in
private and public contexts. This reflects the vary-
ing individual and familial acknowledgment of
socioeconomic and religious realities and their
experiences. Since the partition of India, Pakistani
women participate in the public sphere in demand-
ing positions in political, educational, and eco-504 modesty discourses
nomic spheres of influence. Never without their
dupattas, Pakistani woman appear “unveiled and
veiled” in all their permutations, side by side in
major cities (Haeri 2002, 8). Haeri reports that
“unlike Iranian women, Pakistani women are not
mandated by the state to veil.” They wear the mod-
est yet beautifully color-coordinated two-piece suit,
known as shalwar kameez, which is almost always
accompanied by a duppatta. In Pakistan, women’s
attire combines modesty with beauty, while allow-
ing for individual taste and financial resources to
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E. Tarlo, Clothing matters, Chicago 1996.Mary-Catherine DalySub-Saharan Africa: Somali SocietySomali women’s identity, their appearance in
general and their modesty in particular, provides a
common unifying cultural and religious focus in
their life. In Somalia, women’s identity is closely
linked to patrilineal descent groups, clan, and line-
age relationships as well as extended and nuclear
family units rather to than a unified Somali national
identity (Luling 2002, 223). In part this lack of
national identity for both men and women may be