Religion Down Unda

A particular interest of mine is religion--how people practice their faith, how they identify with others in their religious/spiritual community, and how they express their faith (whether through words, behavior, or dress).  I've been talking to Australians a lot lately concerning the practice of religion in Australia.  People here attend services, although public expression of faith doesn't occur often.  Those who go to church, mosque, synagogue, or what have you, do so in their own time and without much mention in their every day lives.  In the United States, it's not uncommon to hear people talk about how their family goes to services during the week or weekend.  Australia is largely a Christian nation.  There are hardly any Jewish people here; one of my roommates confessed recently she's never known a Jew in her nineteen years living in Australia.  This seemed strange to me, as I've met and gotten to know many Jewish people at Colgate.

The high density of Muslims in Wollongong has been very surprising as well.  I'm not sure if it's because the Muslims at Colgate are seemingly hidden within the student population, but I find it so interesting the number of girls who wear traditional Muslim clothing around campus and in town.  All the time, I see girls wearing hijab's and niqab's.  According to Muslim history and tradition, it is widely thought that girls must cover their face and hands.  This is suggested in the Qur'an; however, many current day Muslim women don't cover their face and hands in public.  Because Islam is such an individualistic religion, it is acceptable for people, particularly women, to interpret the Qur'an to mean different things (yes, covering the face and hands is compulsory or no, it is voluntary). 

Above is a hijab.  Below is a niqab.  Niqab's cover every part of the face except a woman's eyes.

There is another type of head dress, called a burqa, that women can also wear.  In Saudi Arabia, women are required to wear the burqa. A burqa is a head to toe covering; the only opening is a mesh cover over the eye area.  I haven't seen any women wearing burqa's in Australia, but definitely the other two types of veils.  One of my fellow Colgate students is in a Chemistry lab with a woman who wears a niqab.  Following very traditional Islam, this student doesn't speak to any men in the lab.  My Colgate classmate (and friend), Claire, said it is extremely hard to work with her because she is limited in who she can talk to and it's hard to hear her speak through her veil.

This leads me to wonder, what are the experiences of Muslim women like in Australia?  There seems to be a substantial number of Muslim women here (veiled at least, not including Muslim women who don't veil) but is it enough for them not to feel like a minority?  How is their college experience different than mine because they wear a veil that covers their face?  Maybe I should ask some of them.