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Hijabophobia is a type of religious and cultural discrimination against Muslim women who wear the hijab. [1] The discrimination has had manifestations in public, working and educational places.
Hijabophobia is a term referring to discrimination against women wearing Islamic veils, including the hijab, chador, niqāb and burqa. It is considered a gender-specific type of Islamophobia, [2] [3] [1] or simply "hostility towards the hijab". [4] The term is applied to discourse based in colonial representations of Muslim women as victims oppressed by misogynistic cultures in academic circles. [1]
According to The Gazette , hijabophobia began as a French national phenomenon, citing the 1989 headscarf affair (French : l'affaire du foulard). [5] In France, according to Ayhan Kaya, Islamophobia is mixed with hijabophobia. [6] In a 2012 paper, Hamzeh posits that 'hijabophobia' encapsulates the sexist aspects of Islamophobia, in which Muslim women bear the brunt of anti-Muslim attacks. [7] : 25 Other studies referred to the way that the Islamophobia is laced with hijabophobia, creating a scapegoating system in which Muslim women are stimatized for using a hypervisible Islamic symbol. [8] [9] The practice of Hijab is also viewed as a submission to the patriarchal discourse that the US media and Western communities stoke it as a part of the Islam religion. In a nutshell, Muslim women veils interfere with the culture of Western communities as being a symbol of extremism, backwardness, and oppression. [10] [11]
Political scientist Vincent Geisser argues that hijabophobia became more widespread after the September 11 attacks, as evidenced by the number of laws regulating and restricting the hijab in public places and governmental offices. [12] A study found that Muslim girls in London perceived discrimination when wearing the hijab outside their immediate communities, and felt social pressure to not wear the hijab. [7] In addition, according to the ACLU, 69% of women who wore the hijab reported at least one incident of discrimination, compared to 29% of women who did not wear the hijab. [13]
A ruling by European Union's top law court, European Court of Justice, on 14 March 2017 [lower-alpha 1] allowed the employers "to ban staff from wearing visible religious symbols" [14] such as the hijab. The decision was criticized for disguising what Muslims described as "a direct attack on women wearing hijabs at work". As a result, by 2017, two women from France and Belgium were dismissed from work since they refused to remove their hijabs. Samira Achbita, a woman from Belgium, was dismissed from working in her company (G4S) as a result of the court ruling. [14] OpenDemocracy argued that the ruling was ostensibly based on the employer's wish "to portray a position of neutrality", and hence the court ruling was a normalization of hijabophobia. [15]
There are instances where Muslim dress have been banned in public spaces. The Muslim burqa was banned by local laws in Spain in 2010, though these laws began to be overturned by the Spanish Supreme Court in 2013. [16] Similarly, in 2016, France's Council of State began to overrule a ban on the burkini by over thirty French municipalities as Islamophobic. [17] FIFA's ban of the head cover in 2011–2014 is an example of hijabophobia. [2] In 2018, Austria banned full-face coverings in order to limit the visibility of orthodox Islam. This was criticized by police who were put in the position of charging people for wearing smog and ski masks. France and Belgium have enacted a similar ban since 2011. In 2015, a partial ban was introduced in the Netherlands and the German parliament banned face coverings while driving in September 2017. [18] Hijabophobia also influences the hospitality industry in Malaysia. Hotels believe employees that wear the headdress appear less professional; therefore causing islamophobic policies to be implemented. [19] On February 16, 2021, The National Assembly of France voted in favor of an “anti-separatism” bill that aims to reinforce the secular system in France by banning the wearing of hijabs for women under 18 while in public. In response, #handsoffmyhijab has been spreading across social media platforms. [20]
In 1994, the French Ministry for Education sent out recommendations to teachers and headmasters to ban Islamic veil in educational institutions. According to a 2019 study by the Institute of Labor Economics, more girls with a Muslim background born after 1980 graduated from high school after the ban was introduced. [21]
In October 2018, Austria banned headscarves for children in kindergarten. The ban was motivated by protecting children from family pressure to wear the headscarf. [22] According to an Austrian teacher's union, a ban for pupils aged up to 14 years should be considered, as that is the religious legal age (German : religionsmündig). [22]
In Quebec, public servants, including teachers, are banned from wearing religious garments, such as a kippa, hijab or turban at work. [23]
In January 2022, a number of colleges in South-Indian state of Karnataka stopped female students wearing a hijab from entering the campus. The issue has since then snow-balled into a major political controversy in India. [24] On 15 March 2022, through a highly controversial verdict, the Karnataka High Court upheld the hijab ban in educational institutions as a reasonable restriction of fundamental rights. [25] [26]
In 2019, Decathlon, a French sportswear brand, made the decision to not sell hijab sportswear in France, following opposition to the clothing line from figures such as health minister Agnes Buzyn, who voiced her distaste for the garment on a radio show. [27]
Hijabophobia has led female athletes to be ineligible in sporting events due to wearing a hijab. One example is FIFA's 'hijab ban' crisis. The Iranian women's national soccer team was disqualified from the 2012 Olympics because the players wore hijabs. [28] Another example is unravelling in the French soccer league, as it is the only international body to exclude hijab-wearing women from practising the sport. [29]
In modern usage, hijab generally refers to various head coverings conventionally worn by many Muslim women. While a hijab can come in many forms, it often specifically refers to a headscarf, wrapped around the head, covering the hair, neck and ears, but leaving the face visible. Many Muslims believe that Muslim women are required to observe the hijab in front of any man they could theoretically marry. This means that hijab is not obligatory in front of the father, brothers, grandfathers, uncles or young children or regarded as mahram's.
A burqa or a burka is an enveloping outer garment worn by some Muslim women which fully covers the body and the face. Also known as a chadaree or chaadar in Afghanistan and Pakistan, or a paranja in Central Asia, the Arab version of the burqa is called the boshiya and is usually black. The term burqa is sometimes conflated with the niqāb even though, in more precise usage, the niqab is a face veil that leaves the eyes uncovered, while a burqa covers the entire body from the top of the head to the ground, with a mesh screen which only allows the wearer to see in front of her. The burqa should also not be confused with the hijab, a garment which covers the hair, neck and all or part of the chest, but does not cover the face.
The French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools bans wearing conspicuous religious symbols in French public primary and secondary schools. The law is an amendment to the French Code of Education that expands principles founded in existing French law, especially the constitutional requirement of laïcité: the separation of state and religious activities.
Islamic clothing is clothing that is interpreted as being in accordance with the teachings of Islam. Muslims wear a wide variety of clothing, which is influenced not only by religious considerations, but also by practical, cultural, social, and political factors. In modern times, some Muslims have adopted clothing based on Western traditions, while others wear modern forms of traditional Muslim dress, which over the centuries has typically included long, flowing garments. Besides its practical advantages in the climate of the Middle East, loose-fitting clothing is also generally regarded as conforming to Islamic teachings, which stipulate that body areas which are sexual in nature must be hidden from public view. Traditional dress for Muslim men has typically covered at least the head and the area between the waist and the knees, while women's islamic dress is to conceal the hair and the body from the ankles to the neck. Some Muslim women also cover their face. However, other Muslims believe that the Quran does not mandate that women need to wear a hijab or a burqa.
A niqāb or niqaab, also called a ruband, is a garment, usually black, that covers the face, worn by some Muslim women as a part of an interpretation of hijab. Muslim women who wear the niqab do so in places where they may encounter non-mahram (un-related) men. Somewhat controversial in some parts of the world, the niqab is most often worn in its region of origin: the Arab countries of the Arabian Peninsula – Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates, where it is common and considered as culturally belonging to the region, though not compulsory.
Islamic feminism is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full equality of all Muslims, regardless of gender, in public and private life. Islamic feminists advocate women's rights, gender equality, and social justice grounded in an Islamic framework. Although rooted in Islam, the movement's pioneers have also utilized secular, Western, or otherwise non-Muslim feminist discourses, and have recognized the role of Islamic feminism as part of an integrated global feminist movement.
Fadela Amara is a French feminist and politician, who began her political life as an advocate for women in the impoverished banlieues. She was the Secretary of State for Urban Policies in the conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) government of French Prime Minister François Fillon. She is a former president of the organisation Ni Putes Ni Soumises.
Islam is the second largest religion in Norway after Christianity. As of 2021, the number of Muslims living in Norway was 169,605. The majority of Muslims in Norway are Sunni, with a significant Shia minority. 55 percent of Muslims in the country live in Oslo and Akershus. The vast majority of Muslims have an immigrant background, and very few Norwegians are Muslim.
In France, there is an ongoing social, political, and legal debate concerning the wearing of the hijab and other forms of Islamic coverings in public. The cultural framework of the controversy can be traced to France's history of colonization in North Africa, but escalated into a significant public debate in 1989 when three girls were suspended from school for refusing to remove their headscarves. That incident, referred to in France as l'affaire du foulard or l'affaire du voile, initially focused the controversy on the wearing of the hijab in French public schools. Because of the wide-ranging social debates caused by the controversy, l'affaire du foulard has been compared to the Dreyfus affair in its impact on French culture.
The British debate over veils began in October 2006 when the MP and government minister Jack Straw wrote in his local newspaper, the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, that, while he did not want to be "prescriptive", he preferred talking to women who did not wear a niqab as he could see their face, and asked women who were wearing such items to remove them when they spoke to him, making clear that they could decline his request and that a female member of staff was in the room.
Hijab and burka controversies in Europe revolve around the variety of headdresses worn by Muslim women, which have become prominent symbols of the presence of Islam in especially Western Europe. In several countries, the adherence to hijab has led to political controversies and proposals for a legal partial or full ban in some or all circumstances. Some countries already have laws banning the wearing of masks in public, which can be applied to veils that conceal the face. Other countries are debating similar legislation, or have more limited prohibitions. Some of them apply only to face-covering clothing such as the burqa, boushiya, or niqab; some apply to any clothing with an Islamic religious symbolism such as the khimar, a type of headscarf. The issue has different names in different countries, and "the veil" or hijab may be used as general terms for the debate, representing more than just the veil itself, or the concept of modesty embodied in hijab.
The Republic of Turkey has been a secular state since the constitutional amendment of 1937. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk introduced the secularization of the state in the Turkish Constitution of 1924, alongside his reforms. Over 95% of Turkey's population is Muslim, and the suppression of hijab/headscarves and other prominent religious symbols in government institutions and public schools, (similar to policies in France, Quebec and Mexico) has led to heated controversy at times in Turkey. Specifically, it has resulted in a clash between those favoring the secular principles of the state, such as the Turkish Armed Forces, and religious conservatives, including Islamists. In the 21st century, since 2003, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have worked to reverse this, and “raise a pious generation” in Turkey.
Various styles of head coverings, most notably the hijab, chador, niqab and burqa, are worn by Muslim women around the world, where the practice various from mandatory to optional or restricted in different majority Muslim and non-Muslim countries.
The French ban on face covering is an act of parliament passed by the Senate of France on 14 September 2010, resulting in the ban on the wearing of face-covering headgear, including masks, helmets, balaclavas, niqābs and other veils covering the face in public places, except under specified circumstances. This ban does not apply to the hijab, as it does not cover the face. The ban also applies to the burqa, a full-body covering, if it covers the face. Consequently, full body costumes and zentais were banned. The bill had previously been passed by the National Assembly of France on 13 July 2010. In April 2011, France became the first European country to impose a ban on full-face veils in public areas.
World Hijab Day is an annual event founded by Nazma Khan in 2013, taking place on 1 February each year in 140 countries worldwide. Its stated purpose is to encourage women of all religions and backgrounds to wear and experience the hijab for a day and to educate and spread awareness on why hijab is worn. Nazma Khan said her goal was also to normalize hijab wearing.
American Muslims often face Islamophobia and racialization due to stereotypes and generalizations ascribed to them. Due to this, Islamophobia is both a product of and a contributor to the United States' racial ideology, which is founded on socially constructed categories of profiled features, or how people seem.
Islamophobia in Canada refers to a set of discourses, behaviours and structures which express feelings of anxiety, fear, hostility and rejection towards Islam or Muslims in Canada.
Islamophobia in Norway refers to the set of discourses, behaviours and structures which express feelings of anxiety, fear, hostility and rejection towards Islam and/or Muslims in Norway. Islamophobia can manifest itself through discrimination in the workforce, negative coverage in the media, and violence against Muslims.
The burqa is worn by women in various countries. Some countries have banned it in government offices, schools, or in public places and streets.
Hijab, the traditional head covering worn by Muslim women for modesty for centuries, have been a subject of controversy in recent times in Iran. In the 1920s a few women started to appear unveiled. Under Reza Shah it was discouraged and then banned in 1936 for five years. Under Reza Shah's successor, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, hijab was considered "backward" and rarely worn by upper and middle-class people. Consequently, it became a symbol of opposition to the shah in 1970s, and was worn by women who previously would have been unveiled.
Employers are entitled to ban staff from wearing visible religious symbols, the European Union's top law court ruled on Tuesday, a decision Muslims said was a direct attack on women wearing hijabs at work.