The Adaptive Function of Veiling: How Women Use Religious Veiling to Secure Male Protection

This study explores veiling from an adaptive perspective, examining how the practice may serve women’s interests. The mate-guarding theory of veiling proposes that veiling functions as a cultural adaptation, reducing women’s attractiveness to prevent mate poaching and control female sexuality. Using data from the World Values Survey across ten Muslim-majority countries, this study explores the relationship between the importance of veiling and marital status as well as the number of children, hypothesizing that married women and those with a higher number of children are more in need of paternal investment. The results indicate that veiling is more important for married women and those with more children, suggesting that veiling functions as an adaptive strategy to conform to male mate preferences and thereby potentially secure paternal investment. Higher religiosity was also positively associated with veiling, while higher education levels were negatively associated. The study contributes to the understanding of veiling as a complex adaptive behavior shaped by both social and reproductive factors.