hareem (part
             of the house where women are secluded), then even if they did not commit
             any shameful act, it would not be due to any virtue in them, but to the fact
             that they did not have the freedom to do otherwise.
             Amin accuses the veil of being a barrier to women's development and
             education (P. 85), arguing that it deprived her from interacting with the
             society and learning how to live. He illustrates by comparing the ignorant
             peasant with the elite urban lady who can speak French and plays the piano,
             and concludes that the ignorat peasant would be more capable of coping with
             the difficulties of life than the elite urbanite due to the seclusion of the latter.
             In his introduction, Talat Harb states that the main purpose of writing his
             book was to defy Amin's argument against the veil. Harb was called "father
             of Egypt's economic independence" and has established the first national
             bank in Egypt in 1920. So when someone in his caliber - though it was early
             ...