Assalamu Alikum
Let me paste a reply by a sister who wears a niqab, from gawaher.
I work in a place where there are some girls who wear niqab and girls who wears hijab only. There are lots of male colleagues. Frankly, those of us who wears hijab only face some problems when dealing with the men in our work, because as much as we try to put some boundaries we still feel that sometimes they forget and we forget that we are girls and they are men!
For example, when a girl who wears niqab greets her colleagues in the morning she’ll say hi, how are you and that’s it, no one can see her face, and so no can see her smiling. But when a girl who wears hijab only greets her colleagues she’ll say hi and will smile when she is greeting, and after this smile long conversations will follow!
I noticed that, men stay and keep a long distance when talking to girls with niqab, and talk to them shortly. On the other hand, they might just do the opposite with girls with hijab. In other words niqab really makes men respect women.
Its really very difficult when a girl works in an enviroument that is full of men, the girl has to be very careful when dealing with her colleagues. And I found out that niqab really helps in keeping boundaries and force men to respect the girl. Even when going out, many people keep looking and sometimes staring at our faces! They will never do that to a girl wearing niqab.
One of my friends decided to wear niqab, because she kept hearing lots of remarks about her face and her smile from her professors at college. After wearing niqab she says that she is happier because no one dares now to say anything about her! She says niqab does not only makes men respect you, but it also teaches you when to be a real lady.
I think niqab really helps in protecting women, and I’ve been in so many bad situations that are making me now consider wearing niqab.
Thank you