the domains of their visits are separate from men,
as dictated by prevailing social tradition and
Islamic norms, they nevertheless formulate publics
invested with power and social value. Honor is not
limited to men; women are also active in boosting
the prestige and good reputation of their families.
Rather than assuming fixed notions of public and
private and equating them with one group or
another, Ghannam (2002) argues that it is crucial
to always question who is defining these two con-
cepts and how the distinctions between them are
negotiated by gender and age groups in different
contexts. Various actors ranging from family mem-
bers (a brother, a husband, or a mother) and local
men and women (a neighbor or a friend), to gov-
ernment officials (a police officer or a judge) and
religious figures all struggle to define and redefine
the social spaces that are accessible to men and
women. Women’s access to the mosque, for exam-
ple, has shifted. Studies show that during the
Prophet’s lifetime, women were allowed free access
to the mosque (Ahmed 1992). Over time, various
rulers and religious figures have facilitated or
restricted women’s access to the mosque. Currently,
women have free access to it in most Muslim coun-
tries. In Egypt, the government and most religious
groups do not prevent women from attending the
mosque. In fact, there are many religious figures
and activists who strongly advocate women’s atten-
dance of weekly lessons, Friday sermons, and daily
prayers at local mosques. Other groups, motivated
by a specific understanding of Islam or by social
norms of shame and honor (as is the case in some
parts of Upper Egypt), make strong arguments
against women’s participation in mosque-related
activities and emphasize that it is more religiously
sanctioned for women to pray at home.Islam and the public/private
split
Several scholars see the public/private opposition
as inherently Islamic (Mernissi 1987, Abu-Lughod
1987). They argue that the fundamental differences
Islam envisioned between men and women have
been translated into spatial distinctions between
the domains allocated to each side in the housing
unit and the community at large. This argument is
perhaps best exemplified in the common discus-
sions of seclusion and veiling (or more accurately,
the ™ijàb, which refers to different styles of cover-
ing specific parts of the female body, most fre-
quently the hair but sometimes also the face and
hands), both of which have historically attracted
the attention of Western travelers, writers, colonial
authorities, and policymakers.686 public/private dichotomy
Some authors argue that before the arrival of
Islam women were not segregated from men but
enjoyed sexual freedom and played an active role in
public life (Mernissi 1987). The arrival of Islam
introduced new restrictions on women’s move-
ment, marriage choices, and participation in public
activities. Because Islam conceptualizes female sex-
uality as powerful and potentially destructive, it
instituted seclusion and veiling as strategies to con-
trol and manage these threats. Fatima Mernissi
argues that to be able to cross the boundaries that
separate the public from the private, Islam urges
women to prevent any potential social disorder
(fitna) by veiling themselves. Veiling in this con-
text desexualizes the woman and renders her invis-
ible in the street, the domain of men (Mernissi
1987, 143).
Various studies have added complexity to this
sole emphasis on Islam by looking at the continu-
ities between pre-Islamic and Islamic traditions.
Leila Ahmed (1992), for example, shows how veil-
ing was a tradition that predated Islam and that
marked social divisions. Elite women donned the
veil before the arrival of Islam to distinguish them-
selves from slaves and “improper” women. Other
scholars examine factors such as class and tribal
structures that shape the distinction between the
public and the private in contemporary Muslim
societies. Seclusion and veiling, for instance, were
mainly practiced by upper-class Muslim families
while peasants and the urban poor could not afford
to conform to such ideals (Tucker 1993, Altorki
1986, Cooper 1998, Abu-Lughod 1987). Studies
also show that notions such as purdah (segregation)
in Pakistan are more informed by specific regional
cultural norms (such as shame and honor) that are
shared by other religious groups and that cannot be
explained mainly by Islamic values (Weiss 1998).
At the same time, Muslim women are a heteroge-
neous group and may give diverse meanings to the
same practice. For example, they may cover their
hair in different ways and for a variety of reasons.
Some see the veil as part of their religious duties.
Others see it primarily as an obligatory social tradi-
tion or as a practical tool for allowing them to go
out to work while maintaining their honor and
respectability. In contexts where Muslims are a
minority and may feel excluded from the dominant
culture (as is the case in France), veiling may be
highlighted as a signifier of the religious and eth-
nic collective identities that Muslims aspire to
maintain. All of this makes Islam one powerful fac-
tor among several in the construction of gender
distinctions and the making of public and private
spaces.