Veils and Gender: Provocative Male Gaze

The study explores the negotiation experiences of Muslim women in India regarding the affectations of veiling as it intersects with social, religious and political contexts. The article uses a secondary-data approach, synthesising peer-reviewed literature, national statistics, international agency reports and a sample of media and policy texts (2000–2025) to describe a range of dominant themes identified from public debates and lived experiences through an intersectional feminist and discourse-analytic lens. Our key findings highlight (a) the pluralism of motives for veiling (religiosity, cultural identity, fashion, safety), (b) the duality of veiling as an expression of agency and a tool of coercion, although a single relevant social domain can determine which function prevails, (c) the influence of caste and minority status and class structuring the experience of veiling vis a vis linked vulnerabilities and (d) the stigma of veiled women within public policy and media debate leading to greater exclusion. This article calls for new, context-sensitive approaches to the study of veiling and suggests that qualitative and mixed-methods research on Muslim women in minority settings deserves more attention. This article explores the practice, representation and resistance of veiling among women in India. This study has its foundation in two concerns: the veil is often treated as a simple, singular symbol rather than a practice with multiple meanings; and public and policy debates do not attend well to the ways the intersection of social location (class, caste, minority status) structures both the motivations women veil and the outcomes they experience.