Arabic Customs for Women
The Arabic speaking world is a diverse place with a variety of differences in the realm of politics, customs and the specifics of religion. While there is no hard and fast information about customs that can transfer perfectly from Arab culture to Arab culture, there are a few general customs surrounding women.
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Hijab
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The religion of Islam has an effect on general Arab culture even if individuals are not specifically Muslims or living in a religious country. According to conservative Islamic principles, women should wear some coverings called "Hijab." This covering can take the form of a headscarf that wraps around the woman's hair and sides of her face, a looser draping of a scarf around the woman's head or a more inclusive covering of the woman's face. Different women in different countries choose whether to wear Hijab, and the kind of covering varies in what they don.
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In more conservative Arab societies, women and their honor are carefully guarded by their male family members. The resulting customs, some of which are law in the most conservative societies, can vary from women not being allowed in public without a family member or husband to looser restrictions that strongly discourage contact between a woman and another man if a family member is not present. When you are in a culturally conservative area, according to the cultural advice the Army gives soldiers, it is best to play it safe by not directly interacting with a woman unless you are introduced or she initiates contact.
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Wali
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In some conservative areas, women may make use of a "Wali," or guardian, for the process of arranging a marriage. The Wali acts as the woman's agent on the market of eligible bachelors, screening potential suitors to weed out individuals he deems to be "undesireable" on the spot and further vets the rest by inquiring about their characters and past. For those the Wali deems to be good prospects, he gives supervised time with the woman he is representing, and he makes official marriage arrangements if the woman accepts a suitor's proposal.
Final Word on Marriage Proposals
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Contrary to widespread, negative rumors about Arab culture, it is not a cultural norm for a woman's family to force her to marry a particular individual. While there are, tragically, some areas of the Arab world where this happens, it is the action of oppressive and immoral figures and not any kind of official Arab culture. In Arab culture, as following from Islamic law, a woman has to consent to marriage before it can happen. She can do this by speaking an acceptance or by simply not objecting. However, according to the rules on which much of Arab culture is based, if she objects, the marriage is not lawful.
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References
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