FARIHA NAQVI-MOHAMED

34, businesswoman, lifestyle blogger and columnist for the Montreal Gazette

On deciding to wear the hijab at age 16:

“I come from a very secular family, so growing up, my family was not very practising. Nobody in my immediate family wore the hijab and they still don’t. And I came out of the blue and said that I wanted to. And contrary to what a lot of people might think, I actually had to fight my family to wear it. I had periods of time where they wouldn’t speak to me because I wore it. They saw it as a step backward. For me, it empowers me. I’m a strong feminist and this is how I choose to show my feminism, is I get to choose

what I show the world. And for me that is very empowering.”

On the assertion that hijabwearing Muslim women can’t be feminists:

“I am a proud feminist and wearing a hijab and being a feminist are completely compatible for me. Feminism is about empowering women and giving them choice and I was born and raised in Quebec and this is my choice, this is my decision to dress the way that I do. I am not a fan of anyone telling any woman how to dress and how not to dress. So I think that’s really important, especially in our current political climate, that we give women the choice — It’s 2018 — to dress or not dress how they choose. No government should be dictating to us what we wear or what we don’t wear.”

On politicians and media commentators talking about Muslim women but not with them:

“I’m tired of having our story told by others, I’m tired of having other people talk about us and what the Muslim community might or might not be feeling. I think that in 2018 we’re past that. We need to pass the mic. Don’t tell me what I’m feeling, ask me what I’m feeling … I want to tell my own story.”

I’m a strong feminist and this is how I choose to show my feminism.