The hijab has liberated me from society's expectations of womenhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/28/hijab-society-women-religious-political?INTCMP=SRCH Extended family showered me with graces of "mashallah", perhaps under the impression that I was now more devout. Some, to my surprise (and joy), didn't bat an eyelid. I was grateful because, ultimately, I firmly believe that a woman's dress should not determine how others treat, judge or respect her.
I do not believe that the hair in itself is that important; this is not about protection from men's lusts. It is me telling the world that my femininity is not available for public consumption. I am taking control of it, and I don't want to be part of a system that reduces and demeans women. Behind this exterior I am a person – and it is this person for which I want to be known.
Wearing the hijab has given me a new consciousness of this. Though my mode of expression may appear Islamic, and my experiences carry a spiritual dimension, there is no theological monopoly on women's empowerment; I really believe that a non-Muslim woman could do this if she chose to. My motivations have been explicitly political, and my experiences human.
I posted the quote above because I think it gets to the heart of the individualistic nature that one has to take in regards to feminism. I know we have heard the tripe that the hijab itself 'protects' women, lollypop with flies on it, etc etc and while this article may echo that it doesn't sound triumphalist in the sense that the hijab is presented normally. It's presented to me an indiviual's method of rejecting precieved pressures on her. It just so happens that as a Muslim she went the hijabi route instead of burning bras, or whatever women do.
This second article is aimed at the idea that the hijab itself ( and by extension Islam liberates women)
Egypt's women have had enough of being told to cover uphttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/29/egypt-women-cover-up-copticAnd the Islamists have made it worse. A Coptic Christian woman said to me "we and our Muslim friends who do not cover our hair get yelled at by men passing by telling us 'just you wait, those who will cover you up and make you stay at home are coming, and then there will no more of this lewdness'". It was, she said, as if they were gloating over the fact that we were being pushed off the streets. Another woman told me that girls and women wearing mid-sleeved clothing had been slapped on their bare arms by men on bicycles shouting slurs. Another told me she had been spat on by men telling her to cover up. Another told me that she had her hair up in a pony tail and a young man pulled it so hard that she thought her head was going to fall off. Another recounts how she was pushed and elbowed by a passerby telling her to cover her nakedness (she was wearing a mid-sleeved blouse and trousers).
Take the example of Bishop Bishoy, one of the nominees for the papal seat of the Coptic Orthodox Church (Coptic Christians in Egypt account for roughly 12% of the population). In a recent religious event which was attended by the governor of Damietta, high-ranking officials and politicians, he said that Christian women should dress more modestly like their Muslim sisters and that they should follow their example. In view of the fact that the great majority of Muslim women are now veiled, this can only mean that he wishes Christian women to cover their hair too. In the streets of Egypt, many Coptic women have been told "Our Lady Mariam [referring to St Mary] used to wear a tarha [long scarf covering the hear], why can't you follow her example and cover up?".
Many Coptic women were infuriated. It is bad enough that thanks to the Islamists and a hostile government, they are now subjected to the most virulent of anti-Christian sentiment in their day-to-day life but to also get it from a high-ranking authority in the Coptic church is too much. They had no illusions why Bishoy made such a statement: he wants to win over the Islamists by showing he is willing to comply with their dress code for women.
The hijab can only be treated as an object for which people project their own fears, wants, and desires about appearance onto. There is nothing inherently misogynistic or liberating about the hijab. It's just a piece of cloth. And sometimes a piece of cloth is just that, a piece of cloth.
Topic: Two sides of the same coin