Defining ‘Modern’ Malay womanhood and the coexistent messages of the veil

Abstract

The gender constructions and performances of Malay women are often perceived by outside researchers as 'shrouded under a veil' of increasing Islamic conservatism. Urban Malay women, however, argue that women actively engage in the construction and performance of gender identities. Based on research conducted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during 2001 and 2003, this article argues that women advantageously alter, transform and utilise the constructs placed upon them by Islam, by ethnic identification and by conceptions of 'modernity'. Often one image of 'womanhood' is presented and in public e an image that is socially accepted, honoured and respected e while less publicly alternative forms of 'womanhood' articulate individual goals and aims. Using an agent-oriented perspective, this article further includes an analysis of women's individual renegotiations of larger cultural constructs and the ways in which the tudong, or headscarf, has become a symbol by which individual women express their understanding of social position and personal freedoms in an industrialised Islamic context.

Behavioral Intention Towards “Halal Hotels”: Religiosity or Ethnicity?

“…Specifically, the decision on halal hotels is totally a different scenario from the earlier study in the case of wearing the hijab or head cover among the Malay Muslims women in Malaysia [8]. In the context of halal hotel, the Malay Muslims in Malaysia do not choose or recommend a halal hotel because they are of Malay ethnicity but because they are Muslims.…”

“…Therefore, the individual's sense of identification with a group encourages participation towards a brand or in a brand community [62]. In this study, behavioral intention towards an Islamic tourism "brand" which gathers much attention in the Islamic marketing domain which is known as halal hotel is proving to be influenced by social factor (subjective norm) as the Malays community may on some occasions evaluates and judges certain behavior as a social expectation rather than as to fulfill the Islamic religious obligation such as in the case of wearing the hijab or head cover [8]. Thus, the stronger the subjective norm (e.g.…”

“…Therefore, the findings of this study are generalizable to the Muslim market as a whole. For instance, observations showed that wearing the hijab or head cover has increasingly becoming a social expectation and a fashion trend for the Muslims women rather than as to fulfil the Islamic religious obligation [8]. In a similar vein, this study attempts to find the answer to the issue of whether intention to choose halal hotel is either primarily motivated by religiosity or ethnicity values.…”

Changing Gender Norms in Islam Between Reason and Revelation

“…During the 1979 Revolution in Iran, many women donned the veil to depict their resistance to the secular, West oriented regime of Pahlavi (Najmabadi 2001;Af shar 1999;Moghadam 2003). The veil is considered as the most visible symbol of Islamization, which demonstrates itself in gender relations and the family (Mouser 2007;Stivens 2006). Mernissi (1987) criticized veiling as a reassertion of patriarchy and considers that traditions such as veiling, segregation of the sex es, and pushing women to the domestic sphere, derive from a desire to control the potential threat for the social order posed by women's sexuality.…”

VEILING: Between Social Imaginary and the Politic of Multiculturalism In Indonesia and Malaysia

“…40 However, even though there is only one state requiring veiling for muslim women, Mouser emphazised that veiling is a "social expectation for Malay women" with much social pressure. 41 This is why Hochel argues that majority of Malaysian women wearing veils and who are not are just minority. 42 This social pressure was also found in a comment from Mursyidul Am from PAS party, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat saying that women who are not wearing veils are deserved to be raped.…”