Heres a video I just found in my reccommended viewing box of an Australian woman who has studied Islam and the Quran, and she has concluded that the Hijab is NOT an Islamic garment, but it is a feminist garment that women have worn since before Islam to identify themselves as higher class and to seperate themselves from servants and prostitutes.
She says that Islam 'picked up' the Hijab from these customs, but she has not found in her studies that the Hijab is actually a requirement for muslims as part of their religion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7IrvkhUb3Y&feature=relatedOr she is a French woman presenting in Australia oops.