Women more excited about scarf in Algeria, says study

Women in Algeria wear scarf to have more freedom in life, to continue studying and to go to work, a new study finds.

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• The study was conducted by the National Centre for Media on Women and Child’s rights. It involved more than 2,000 people in the country.
• It shows that women are more excited about wearing scarf than men. Six male teenagers out of seven are for the scarf while five female teenagers out of six said they are for the Muslim dress.
• According to the same study, Algiers and the Kabylie region are the most tolerant areas about how women’s look. A total of 16 percent of teenagers in Algiers, 14 percent of adolescents in Kabylie, 14 percent of men and 13 percent of adults in the capital said they are against the scarf. Some 65 percent of women in Kabylie are for not putting on the scarf.
• Algerian women tend to wear new scarf styles imported from the Middle East especially Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan.
• In 1960-1970, people in Algeria were attached to their traditional dresses.
• “Most of women over 40 put on the scarf before they were 30 or they wore it when they were between 13 and 17 years old.”
• The study says women living in the countryside tend more to wear the scarf compared to women living in the big cities. “A total of 84 percent of female adults and 48 percent of female teenagers wear the scarf whatever it looks like compared to 90 percent of female adults and 75 percent of female teenagers in the countryside.
• According to the study, most of women put on the scarf to be freer in their life and enrolling in universities.
• Educated women with scarf represent between 20 and 60 percent while cultivated women in Algeria represent between 1 and 12 percent of the society.