Forever concerned that we might be under-dressed to walk the streets in Egypt, we were taken aback when the club bouncer at one of Cairo’s “it” spots pointed to our hijabi friend and told us that there was a “no hat policy”. There are, of course, a number of issues here, though once we’d established that the headscarf isn’t really a “hat”, he admitted there was indeed a “no headscarf” policy as well. A quick google search indicates that this is in fact a common problem, not only for hijabi women in Cairo but also at venues along the north coast, Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada. This is despite the fact that 90 percent of Egypt’s 80-million population are Muslim, and that 90 percent of those Muslim women wear the headscarf. The reason behind the policy wasn’t explained to us and we were left to assume that it is a misguided attempt to “protect” hijabis from the inevitable debauchery on the inside. On reflection, however, it seems more likely that the “no hats” policy is driven by something more sinister. It seems, in part, to be an issue of image; in…
