freedom includes the right to live how you wish

Last week Nike revealed the Pro Hijab, the first hijab designed for Muslim female athletes which will be released in 2018. A backlash against this has been reported with some claiming the product supports and normalises the oppression of women, and others saying they would now boycott Nike. This is just another example of concern for women’s rights served to cover an aversion to Islam.

The Islamic text, the Koran, calls for both men and women to 'cover and be modest'. Muslim women may choose to cover their hair and face to avoid some men from looking at them. It is not mandatory to wear the various forms of coverings (for example - Burka, Hijab, Niqab), but some women wear them due to their interpretation of the Koran and religious obligation and other women wear it for cultural reasons. This is no different to other religions where interpretations of religious scriptures cause members of that religion to choose a particular action. Regarding clothing, Christians dress more modest in religious buildings and during religious sacraments such as weddings, baptisms and the Holy Communion ceremony. In Judaism, women wear the tichel, which is a headscarf worn either during prayer and religious rituals or some choose to wear them every day.

In 2008, I arrived in Istanbul airport from Madrid in my short shorts and a jacket to some odd looks. It was my first time to you Europe at 23 and didn’t really think about where I was going and the fact that Turkey was a predominately Muslim country. It was the first time I saw women in Burkas and Niqabs, face and head veilings. I stared a little at those people as it was something different for me and they stared a little at me, because I was dressed a bit different to everyone else. In the past, I considered if the banning of the burka might be a good thing. Not because I ever had an issue with Islam but as a feminist I considered that the wearing of the burka and other head and face veilings was due to woman being forced to by men and by their culture. But if I don’t want men and/or a particular society to decide what a woman is to wear, then why should I be. The footage of the woman on a French beach in August last year being approached by armed French police and making her remove some of her clothing as part of a controversial ban on the burkini was confronting. In 2016, there were armed men asking a woman to remove clothing. The law had in 2016 defined what a woman was allowed to wear.  That exact premise should shock everyone. It should make us all stand with the women affected. But it doesn’t, and the only explanation is that the woman is Muslim.

Why are people in the West so concerned with how some Muslim women want to dress? We would be outraged if a law was enacted telling us how to dress, what to wear or not wear, but hey it’s ok for us to do the same to others. Don’t tell me you are concerned about these women’s rights when in Australia, the United States and Europe there has been many cases of women wearing face and head veilings being harassed and assaulted for what they were wearing. Don’t tell me you’re outraged at the treatment of women within Islam. Because you don’t care about women whose lives are affected by human rights violations in Muslims countries? In Australia a ban on Muslim immigration has been cited by many and a survey in 2016 showed almost half of Australians showed support for such a ban. In the US a ban on Muslims has also been stated by the President, other politicians and supported by many. Bans proposed in both countries applied to women too. Which means banning women that are could be in fear of being persecuted based on their gender. More than half of the world’s refugees are women. In origin countries, women and children are overwhelming the majority of refugees. Displaced and refugee women are more likely to face harassment, sexual violence, exploitation, abuse, humiliation and lack of access to education, health services, shelter, food and water. On top of all of this, a ban on Muslim women is one of the most outrageous and baseless propositions. As I have noted in previous posts, overall the chance of a being murdered in a terrorist attack caused by a refugee is 1 in 3.64 billion. When was the last time you heard of a Muslim woman committing a terror attack against in a western country? You don’t, so the chances of a Muslim woman committing a terror attack is between 1 and not going to happen.

When starting an opposition to the wearing of face and head coverings, you really need to ask if you know if they are not choosing to wear the face veils themselves. Women who actually wear face and head veilings have said it is through their own interpretation of the religion, about being modest away from certain men or for cultural reasons. Women around the world wear makeup, dress how they wish, dye their hair and many regularly get Botox. Whilst no one is forcing the majority of women to do any of those things, are you really freely choosing to do it or it is because we live in a society that demands looking good to “land a man”, be popular or get a certain job? It wouldn’t be permitted to suggest those women are not free to choose how they look and dress, or the law was changed to limit those freedoms, because that is an outrageous notion.

Banning women from covering their hair and face does not solve the problem of oppression. It actually further persecutes women and limits their freedom to practice what they believe and dress how they wish. It may also lead to isolation of those women affected because they may not be able to go out and leave their homes. So every person that wants to backlash against Nike or support the ban of the burka that’s your prerogative. But just know, it’s not because you care about Muslim women and their freedom. It’s because of your fear of Islam and a natural reaction to be scared of what is different. That is on you to change. Inform yourself, get educated and learn to demonstrate empathy. Because if you really think women wearing face and head veils should not be told what to wear by anyone else, then you shouldn’t be doing that either. If a women should be free to show her body, then she should also be free to cover it.