‘Discrimination against hijab-wearing Muslim women at all-time high’
Many women face pressure to remove head scarves, claim organizers of World Hijab Day
“Hijabophobia” is at an all-time high “due to the current political climate,” as a result of which hijabwearing Muslim women face increasing discrimination in everyday life, the organizers of World Hijab Day said.
“Muslim women are being pressured to remove their hijab to ‘show solidarity’ and make political statements, while parts of the world enact legislation that prevent hijabi women from participating in society,” WHD told Arab News on Wednesday.
It had called on women of all backgrounds to “take a stand against hijabophobia by donning a headscarf ” on World Hijab Day, Feb. 1, to help raise awareness of the Muslim tradition and women’s rights.
“The theme for World Hijab Day 2023, #UnapologeticHijabi, is bolder and stronger than ever before: Muslim women unapologetically wearing the hijab proudly,” the organization said.
“Due to the current climate, Muslim women wearing the hijab are portrayed as oppressed, submissive and backward, and the hijab is used to justify discrimination and abuse against them.
“This can lead to a lack of understanding and empathy toward Muslim women, and can make it harder for these women to fully participate in society and access opportunities.”
WHD said women who choose to wear the headscarf, whether for reasons of modesty or religious observance, face challenges integrating into educational and workplace environments.
“In some cases, there may be religious discrimination, or a lack of understanding and acceptance of the hijab,” the organization said. It added that “in schools, some hijabi students may face
discrimination or harassment from classmates or teachers, or be barred from getting an education altogether, such is the case in Karnataka, India.”
This was a reference to a decision by the High Court of Karnataka in February last year that banned thousands of Muslim girls from wearing religious garments in school. WHD also cited examples of discrimination it said hijab-wearing women face in the workplace, and bias during the hiring process. “Experimental studies suggested that the chances of being hired, and so gainfully employed, were on average 40 percent lower among Muslim women wearing the hijab than they were among otherwise similar Muslim women not wearing the hijab, in the West.
“For example, a 2022 study found that in the Netherlands, almost 70 percent of job applications that included a photograph of an unveiled woman received a positive callback for jobs requiring high customer contact. But for applications with hijab-clad photographs, the positive rate was 35 percent.” WHD, which was founded in 2013 in New York by Bangladeshi American woman Nazma Khan, said: “Muslim women in European countries are more likely subjected to hijabophobia in public spaces and the labor market.”
In particular it referred to a
December 2020 study by US-based think tank the Pew Research Center, which found: “Women in 56 countries experienced social hostilities — that is, harassment from individuals or groups — due to clothing that was deemed to violate religious or secular dress norms, according to the sources analyzed for a recent Pew Research Center study of 198 nations.”
The study said that women were targeted for violating secular dress norms, including wearing a hijab or other religious garb, in 42 of 56 countries in which sources alleged that social harassment took place between 2016 and 2018.
The theme for World Hijab Day 2023, #UnapologeticHijabi, is bolder and stronger than ever before: Muslim women unapologetically wearing the hijab proudly.