although i see your rationale for asking this one, it doesn't quite seem to work. i say this because your argument seems very similar to some "feminists" arguments about what it means to be a liberated woman in american society. we have the choice to have children or not, to work or be stay at home moms. just because someone makes a choice about these things, is it a direct reflection on another person's situation in a different culture where women are not afforded these rights?

no. it's not the same argument, but you can see the similarities, no? i don't think we have this responsibility for all the ills of the world that you seem to see. I don't think there is some onus on the female Muslims in this country to deveil simply as a form of protest to more repressive outlooks in other countries. If they choose to, fine. But honoring culture and tradition- even if it is born out of a sexist past- does not necessarily constitute the perpetuation of said sexism. IMO, at least. I I also fail to see how even if every american Muslim women decided not to wear the hajib, how that would liberate women elsewhere...