Women of Tunisia, 1913

      Far be it from me to claim an intricate knowledge of the fine points of Islamic law. However, I understand that men are required to cover themselves from at least the navel to the knee, and women all except their hands and face. For women, I gather that the head scarf is obligatory, but the face veil optional, its use dependent on custom. In rural areas, where women need to work extensively outside the home, it is rarer than in the cities. You will find many websites contrasting the bare heads of educated Muslim women in the 1960s and '70s with their scarf-covered sisters of today. But what was it like a hundred or so years ago? Well, the whole of the January 1914 issue of the National Geographic was given over to an account of North Africa, especially Tunisia, by a Frank Edward Johnson, and although women were only part of the story, they did appear in many of the photographs. As far as I can tell, the photographers were male. In other words, it is not as if some female photographer gained access to naïve inhabitants of the harem. 

     Here we have a Jewish woman from Tunis. According to the author, in this community fat is considered beautiful, but that the traditional costume was, in 1913, gradually being replaced by Paris fashions. What a pity! It was described as consisting of a satin breeches, accompanied by a pink silk jacket embroidered with silk and gold thread and, of course, the strange peaked cap. It is too bad this costume disappeared before colour photography arrived. In contrast, the Jewish men dressed much like their Muslim compatriots.

  This woman belongs to the Ouled Nail,  a tribe of professional dancers, who move into the towns to ply their trade and gain enough wealth to marry and settle down in their village. The author states that they were looked down upon because they went unveiled, and because they danced for a living. He failed to mention that they were also prostitutes.

     You might think this specimen is a bit over dressed for her occupation but, although she displays more jewels than some of her other tribeswomen, they are typical. Her necklaces are of gold coins, her amulets of gold and silver, along with a golden crown set with turquoises and coral.

    The rest of the photographs in this article are of respectable women.

     We now turn to Algiers. Here are women strolling to the cemetery on Friday, the Islamic day of prayer. On such occasions, men were excluded, and the women removed their veils and gathered for picnics.

     Veils were clearly optional outside of the cities. The lady on the right, called Malbrucka, was the daughter of the author's host, a cadhi, or Muslim judge. The author commented that normally only women with no social standing to lose would be allow themselves to be photographed, but these two young ladies were prepared to pose because they were completely confident of their high rank.

   This is the sort of photograph for which the National Geographic was famous.

   

    "Will he come?" says the caption, and then adds: "One of these great attractions of these daughters of the desert is the exquisite grace of their carriage and the unconsciously beautiful poses they adopt when at rest."

     You will note that it not just the veil which was optional in this part of the world, and the costume was not exactly what most of us would expect in the Muslim world.

     And have a glance at the size of those feet!

    "An Arab matron of mixed blood"

    The way her eyebrows are made up to meet in the middle is an indication that she is married.

    You may draw your own conclusions.

     This "daughter of the desert" is probably a Berber. The tattoos on her chin and cheeks are tribal markings. 

    The caption says: "The women of the Nomad tribes who wander in the south of Tunisia are singularly beautiful."

     I am not disposed to dispute it.

     Finally, this has nothing to do with Tunisia in 1913, but I thought it worth recording. It comes from an article about French Morocco in the February 1955 issue. The young lady concerning is the daughter of a wealthy aristocrat in Fès and, although her sister attends a French school and wears Western clothing, she herself attends an Islamic school.

    To quote the authors: "With eyes like this, a veil need not be a disadvantage."

    Can't say I disagree.