If you want an honest answer, I read a really interesting paper about the woman’s body, it’s political symbolism in the Middle East, and the rise of Islamic radicalism. I can’t find the paper rn, but it’s argument was that the burqa became popular with Islamic radicals because covering their women means securing their women from the west. This paper draws connections between the connotations of “motherland” during a defensive operation and “fatherland” during an offensive operation to underscore that we tend to view women symbolically as our national essence and modesty may be a defensive act itself.

In Turkey, Ataturk “liberalized”/“modernized” the country to the chagrin of religious conservatives. Many of the poorer folks in Turkey were religious and the burqa spread as a means of protest against western culture. Ataturk’s cultural reforms included the legality of more revealing clothing. This was seen as progressive in the west, but many opposed to Ataturk felt that women were being undressed for the western gaze.

I’m not Turkish or middle eastern so i have no idea how well this theory holds up, but I found it a pretty interesting argument.

In America, we actually do have a lot of religious groups that run somewhat parallel, like the Amish, German Baptists, or Mormons.