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Women's Issues in Religious Education . Edited by Fern M. Giltner. Birmingham, AL: Religious Education Press, 1985. viii + 190 pages. $12.95 (paper).

Texas. Fernea is known both for popular accounts of her experiences in North Africa such as A Street in Marrakesh and for more scholarly editing projects such as the anthology Middle Eastern Muslim Women Speak. "A Veiled Revolution" was filmed in Egypt, the first Arab country to see women marching in political demonstrations, taking off the veil and attending free public schools. Today a considerable number of educated Egyptian women are choosing to design a new conservative Islamic dress for themselves. The film, which explores this phenomenon through interviews—some in English, some with subtitles—with a spectrum of women including a doctor, students, and a former U.N. delegate, has an unusual advantage in its use of visual images: each woman is herself a portrayal of her own individual idea of dress proper for a Muslim woman. Men are scarce; one young man who advocates extreme conservative dress for women sits comfortably in his blue jeans. The film presents a great diversity, even among those women who embrace the idea of a special dress. Some base their views on practical reasons: an engineer points out that in her work she has to get down on the floor and finds long loose garments most functional, while others consider Islamic dress protective, a sign that they are not available and are to be treated with respect. Other women refer to the teachings of the Prophet: one young woman, covered except for narrow slits for her eyes, is asked whether her costume isn't terribly hot and replies that the fires of hell are hotter yet. Women choosing to retain modern "Western" dress, though they may be in the majority in many Islamic countries, are a minority in this film, and on the whole they present a weaker case. Because Islamic claims are presented in such absolute terms, to question or disagree is difficult, especially for younger women. Instead we usually find them situating the problem within themselves—"I lack faith," or "I am too weak." The film does begin and end with women studying the Qu'ran in the mosque, and suggests, rather optimistically, that "To understand the law is perhaps the first step towards reinterpreting it." Although "A Veiled Revolution" has been criticized in some quarters as laying too much emphasis on a trivial matter, there is no doubt that the social and economic implications are great. The sort of man a woman marries, the kind of job she gets or even whether she can hold a job, the extent to which she feels free to move easily outside her home are all affected by her dress and thus by her attitude toward religious authority and discipline. For this reason the film would be useful not only in courses on world religions or women in religion, but also in general or introductory courses in which the interrelation of religion and society is examined.