Are they veils or chains?

 

 

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

Here is the story.

 

It is a question that Muslim women who wear traditional Islamic head coverings often face in the United States. They know that many Americans do not understand such veiling or consider it repressive - not an unexpected reaction in a society in which women spent the better part of a century casting off social restrictions, along with floor-length skirts and corsets.

 

But in her book "The Face Behind the Veil: The Extraordinary Lives of

Muslim Women in America" (Citadel Press, 299 pages, $22.95),

Missouri-born journalist Donna Gehrke-White found that a growing number of Muslim American women voluntarily wear a head covering - known as a hijab - and find that choicee spiritually empowering. She also interviewed women, just as devout, who have never worn veils and say they never will.

 

Gehrke-White, a reporter at the Miami Herald, grew up in St. Joseph, Mo., and is married to Tim White, an editor at the Herald who grew up in St. Louis. They have two sons.

 

She began writing about Islam after Sept. 11. In this book, she delves beyond the mystery and misconceptions associated with veils to put a personal face on a complex group of women bound by their faith.

 

To find the 50 women profiled in the book, Gehrke-White interviewed Muslim women from across the nation, ranging from immigrants who brought their faith with them, to native-born Americans - some of them former Christians - who sought out Islam. There are single women, wives and mothers, Doctors and soccer moms, Young and old. They are as diverse as their veiling, which might consist of a head-to-toe burqa that conceals everything or a brightly colored head scarf that makes a fashion statement.

 

The stories vary widely - from very successful career women with supportive families who belong to Americanized mosques to women who were oppressed and abused by husbands who took advantage of their religion's laws.

 

Gehrke-White identifies five subcultures:

 

* New traditionalists: Whether they have careers or stay at home, these women choose to wear a hijab, even if previous generations of their families did not.

 

* Blenders: Women who consider themselves spiritual but do not wear a hijab; many are second-generation Americans and professionals.

 

* Converts: American women who converted to Islam and enthusiastically wear the traditional attire.

 

* Persecuted: Women who immigrated to escape violence or oppression in their countries, sometimes from their own husbands.

 

* Changers: Women who run for office, work for equal rights or humanitarian groups.

 

Wearing a hijab in the United States can prove difficult, Gehrke-White says. At the very least are the stares in shopping malls - magnified after the terrorist attacks - and sometimes discrimination and missed job opportunities. She interviewed one woman who gave up her dream of working in television news after being told she would never go on camera wearing her head scarf.

 

"For her, it was non-negotiable. She was willing to make that sacrifice," Gehrke-White said.

 

She estimates that 3 million Muslim women live in the United States and that population will continue to grow, fed by immigration trends.

 

While researching and writing the book, Gehrke-White said she became very aware of the pressures exerted by American society to "fit in."

 

"When you really get down to it, we like individuality, but we like everybody to be the same," she said.