The Patterns of Veiling Articles among Female Academicians of Three Universities of Malaysia

Abstract

This paper focuses on the patterns of using veiling articles such as Scarf, Turban, Telekung, Mini-Telekung, Selendang, Coats, Abaya and Niqab among female academicians in three universities of Malaysia. The research was designed with a quantitative approach to data collection and analysis. The method of data assemblage was survey of all the available online profiles of the female faculty academicians of three universities of Malaysia. The three universities of Malaysia includes Malaysia University of Science and Technology (MUST), University of Technology Malaysia (UTM) and Tun Hussein Onn University of Malaysia (UTHM). The data collected was documented with the help of a checklist developed by the researchers. The data collected was statistically analysed to test the hypothesis. The increasing trend of veiling among females is likely to results in the different patterns of using veiling articles. The veil is also commonly observed among female academicians whereas the research on the using of veil among female academicians is not commonly observed. The importance of this research is that the researcher is focusing on online profiles of female academicians available at the official websites of universities of Malaysia to explore veiling patterns among them. It is observed that 90% of female academicians are Muslims as compared to 10% female academicians as Non-Muslims. It is also observed in previous research that 89% of female academicians are using veiling articles as compared to 11% of female academicians are not using any veiling articles. It is argued that 2% of female academicians in three universities are using veiling article Scarf as compared to the 10% female academicians are using Turban. It is also observed that 38% of female faculty academicians are using Telekung as compared to 48% of female academicians are using Mini-telekung. Selendang is not observed among female faculty academicians in three universities of Malaysia. It is also observed that 3% of female academicians in three universities of Malaysia are using Abaya as compared to the 15% of female academicians are using Coat. The Niqab is observed 0% among female faculty academicians. The 11% of female faculty academicians are observed not using any veiling article in three universities of Malaysia. The results show a statistically significant association between religious status and veiling patterns. Therefore, the study accepted the research hypothesis (H1) that the patterns of using veiling articles among Female faculty academicians in three universities of Malaysia are significantly associated with their religious status. The study suggests for study of the similar patterns on a larger sample of population from a large number of universities in Malaysia for more authentic findings.