The prohibition of women's veiling in the Region of Gora

english

2025

volume 30, issue 117/118

act on the ban of wearing the vail   Gora region   Gorani people   Muslims   secularization

Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče Koper
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

This paper examines the application of the Act on the Removal of the Veil (Zarand Feredža) in the Gora region in the mid-20th century. Gora is a mountainous area located between the peaks of Šarplanina, Koritnik, and Korab. In administra-tive terms, it includes the borough of Dragaš and 18 villages. The Act on the Removal of the Veil came into effect in the people’s Republic of Serbia in 1951 and can be seen as an extremely radical step by the communist government. Its application involved the prohibition of wearing garments that Muslim women used to cover their heads and bodies. With this Act, two ideals of communist governance were promoted – the emancipation of women and the achievement of gender equality. According to the memories of the people from Gora, the Act had a very traumatic effect on many women in the Gorani commu-nity. It primarily disrupted the continuity of a centuries-old tradition of wearing headscarves and terlik, which also expressed the marital status of women within the Gorani community. This paper starts from the assumption that the ban on covering represents a strategy for promoting secular political ideologies, while highlighting the limita-tion of religious freedoms. The Act on the Removal of the Veil is analysed within the framework of a state-imposed process of secularization in the local community.

04.03.2026