Student journalists and Professors Cecile Holmes and Scott Farrand spent eight days immersed in the rich history and culture of Jordan at the end of the Spring 2006 semester. The study trip was hosted by Jordan’s tourism board.

For most, this was a first encounter with the people of the Middle East and the traditions of the Muslim religion. Graduate student Kelly Mitchell shares her perception of the role of women in Jordan, in Islam and behind the veil in the following essay.

Beauty beyond the veil
by Kelly Mitchell

“Look how beautiful she is,” said one newlywed Saudi Arabian groom about his Jordanian bride.

I stand so close to the Jordanian border with Syria that a talented baseball player could surely make the ball reach the other side. I can see the Sea of Galilee in the distance with my peripheral vision, although it is a little hard to distinguish. As I stand looking at all of this, columns erected in a past century surround me. It’s at this moment that I focus in on a pair of almond eyes surrounded by black.

I have to admit, I didn’t see it. This woman was covered from head to toe in a black ibayah, headscarf and veil. As I looked her over with my American eyes, it was impossible to see her body shape because of the ibayah, and nobody could discern if she had any zits or if her makeup was on correctly. I’m sure the fashion magazines would be sorely disappointed. Because of this, how could I possibly agree that she was beautiful? The new groom was insistent though and so proud.

It was at this moment that I remembered my reason for being in Jordan. Three professors and six collegiate women in their early twenties were there on an expedition to uncover a new culture and to understand it. The groom, he saw beauty behind the black covering his wife. And during my week in Jordan, I tried, and I think I succeeded, to look beyond the veils.

When I met the newlyweds, we were at Um Qais.

But as I looked at the happy couple, I noticed a discrepancy. There was another couple there and that woman did not have on her veil. Apparently, since they were among family and their pictures would remain private, she could remove it. There were two other Saudi women in the gift shop and one explained that each Middle Eastern country has their own customs for what women should wear. So now, as I stood surrounded by scarves, jewelry and wooden camel carvings, I became intrigued. Can the women choose? Sadly, I had not asked this before now.

Jumping back a few days before Um Qais, even before I boarded the plane in New York City to fly to Amman, I looked around as we waited to board. With the exception of my group, all of the women I saw had their hair covered. Some women were very conservative, wearing loose fitting robes, whereas others were dressed in very stylish clothes. From what I could tell at the time, most women wore the veils. What I didn’t realize was that some choose not to wear any traditional clothing.

Professor Curt Ryan, one of the faculty on our trip to Jordan, teaches at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. He said that it’s a personal choice for women as to what they wear, and some do it to show their Islamic heritage.

But there is some social pressure to wear the veil.

That evening, after visiting Um Qais, we met a group of local Arab Christians, a minority in predominantly Muslim Jordan. We all sat around a large oval table talking about issues that one is warned not to discuss in another country: religion and culture. One of the Arabs said there is no pressure for the Christians to wear the veil. She said not wearing a head covering draws attention sometimes, but if people see a cross then that answers their questions as to why a woman is not veiled. At the same time, there is social pressure for a Christian man not to marry a Muslim woman because the kids will follow the religion of the man. On the same note, a Muslim man could marry a Christian woman. This protects the Muslim religion and keeps it growing.

Later in the week, we met with an imam, an Islamic religious leader, who said he recently had a meeting with Christians. Their opinions on many points, such as the status of women, children and the environment, were closer than he expected. He spoke on the subject at length while we sat in King Abdullah Mosque with Youssef, our guide, translating for him.

In Islam, women are very important, he said. There is an obligation to be happy to have daughters, to see them as a great blessing and not to differentiate between sons and daughters. As for marriage, the imam said it should be the husband of a woman’s choosing. The father can give her advice, but it’s ultimately her right to choose.

He said that when a woman is married and a mother, the woman has the highest status in the household, and she is regarded as bringing joy to the home. Some men think women should work outside of the home, but the more important job is staying home, the imam said.

When I looked around the country, I actually saw very few women alone, and even fewer without a male companion. But that was not the case at the University of Jordan. There were more females than males there and they were all dressed differently. They did not distinguish themselves by the clothing choices they made. There were not cliques who wore veils and those that did not. I did not see a conservative crowd and a liberal one.

On one of our excursions we visited a store where they made mosaics, a large tourist item in Jordan. I looked at both men and women literally working side by side. At one table, two girls sat side by side, one wearing a veil and the other not.

I don’t completely understand the culture. But by taking the time to talk to the Christians, the Muslims, the imam, and just by paying attention, I see things a little differently. I think Professor Ryan was right. There is a social pressure, as in a pressure from your family or town, but ultimately, it is like a Christian wearing a cross. The veils are a sign of cultural distinction, I think.

I still look at the photograph I took. The couple is striking against the landscape. She is covered in black, and he in white, and both have a very dark tan coloring. He is smiling with his arm around her. But what I didn’t originally see are the crinkles on the sides of her eyes. She was smiling too. And, yes, now I can admit her eyes are beautiful.

Kelly Mitchell is a graduate student at the University of South Carolina working on her Master of Arts in Journalism. Currently working on her thesis, Kelly plans to graduate in May 2007. She loves to travel internationally and has now been to twelve different countries.