Muslim women around the world celebrate World Hijab Day

LONDON: Some international locations proceed to deprive ladies of their proper to decide on to put on the hijab, a standard Muslim headband, each time they need, and a few ladies worry they is probably not allowed to put on it in any respect, based on the organizers of a worldwide hijab-awareness occasion.
1000’s of girls all over the world, of all religions and backgrounds, marked the tenth annual World Hijab Day on Tuesday by posting selfies on social media with the hashtag #DressedNotOppressed.
“Sadly, there are some international locations that need to ban our non secular clothes throughout their complete international locations, (and this occasion) permits us to search out extra of the voices who’re towards this oppression (within the kind) of denying our proper to put on our non secular clothes,” a spokesperson for the World Hijab Day Group instructed Arab Information.

Thanks, @Meta (father or mother firm of Fb), for celebrating tenth #WorldHijabDay#DressedNotOppressed pic.twitter.com/KlYYwogRhY

— World HijabDay (@WorldHijabDay) February 1, 2022

This 12 months, organizers of the occasion are calling on lecturers all over the world to face in unity and solidarity with Fatemeh Anvari, a Canadian Muslim instructor who in December was faraway from her classroom in a faculty in Quebec as a result of she wears a hijab. Beneath a regulation handed in 2019, civil servants in “positions of authority” within the province are barred from sporting seen non secular symbols at work.
“Canada seems to solely be doing (this) in Quebec, the place they’ve shut ties with France, (however) some international locations are extra aggressive as a complete and it might make it harder for us to assist our fellow Muslims to have the ability to dwell as they need,” the spokesperson added.

Stand with Fatemeh Anvari, a instructor faraway from her publish for sporting hijab. On World Hijab Day, Feb. 1st, males can wrap winter scarves round their necks, ladies can put on hijabs, maintain up an indication: “I Assist The Proper of Hijab, ” hashtag selfie #TeachersForFatemehWHD pic.twitter.com/B6ycO1kFIz

— World HijabDay (@WorldHijabDay) January 31, 2022

WHD stated assist for the occasion and the “Academics For Fatemeh” marketing campaign from non-Muslims has grown this 12 months.
“When folks see the probabilities of what their Muslim pals undergo, they bounce into motion,” they stated. “Muslims should even be keen to correctly educate their non-Muslim family and friends.”
As a part of the occasions marking the day, a worldwide digital convention was held at which audio system and different members mentioned points surrounding “hijabophobia,” and supplied views on the difficulty associated to youth, the office and on a regular basis life.

Encourage FM celebrated #WorldHijabDay with @ShreenMahmood (@WorldHijabDay UK Ambassador)
Watch the dialog right here https://t.co/4twxGkVXOU pic.twitter.com/0B2dkuha33

— Encourage FM (@InspireFMLuton) February 1, 2022

For the primary time, WHD this 12 months collaborated with a quantity worldwide organizations and companies — together with American Airways and Meta, the father or mother firm of Fb — in an effort to step up the marketing campaign, elevate consciousness and prolong its attain.
World Hijab Day, celebrated annually on Feb. 1, and the non-profit group behind it had been based in 2013 by Bangladeshi American Nazma Khan with the intention of training folks and elevating consciousness of why many Muslim ladies select to put on the hijab, and to encourage ladies to put on and expertise it for a day. The annual occasion, which originated in New York and was initially organized on Fb, has grown into a worldwide phenomenon.

@WorldHijabDay I’m proud to assist #WorldHijabDay 2022 in solidarity with Muslim women and girls who face discrimination for sporting hijab worldwide. I nominate all of my followers to do the identical. Be part of the dialog #DressedNotOppressed. (copy/paste this publish) pic.twitter.com/rNqtpB2n8a

— Ellie Anders Thompson (@AndersEllie) February 1, 2022

WHD stated that ladies who put on hijabs, who’re often known as hijabi, must take care of various stereotypes surrounding them, together with the concept that Islam is a violent faith, that the hijab is related to terrorism, and that Muslim ladies are oppressed and compelled to put on it.
“Talking towards this stuff as a result of they don’t seem to be true comes with criticism and backlash,” WHD stated. “All we would like is our freedom to put on what we would like and be secure doing so.”
The levels to which hijabi ladies have built-in into society differ all over the world and every nation or metropolis presents its personal specific challenges.
“If we will set examples and have hijab-wearing ladies in a single place, this could result in extra acceptance somewhere else,” WHD stated. “Tv and journalism are nice fields for Muslim illustration as a result of we are sometimes misrepresented by the media.”

Meet Haseebah. As England’s first hijab-wearing boxing coach, she helped to alter guidelines on ring apparel, opening up the game to extra ladies.

Are you aware somebody who’s made sport extra inclusive? Nominate them to be a #QBR2022 Batonbearer: https://t.co/NpOsyAVCy9#WorldHijabDay pic.twitter.com/l3GBV8r3sx

— Birmingham 2022 (@birminghamcg22) February 1, 2022

Ridwana Wallace-Laher, a British Indian hijabi from Bradford in England, is breaking down boundaries within the Islamic charity sector within the UK, which has historically been male-dominated. Just lately promoted to senior director of progress at worldwide humanitarian charity Penny Enchantment, she manages a number of of the group’s key departments, together with advertising and marketing, communication, fundraising and donor care.
“I’m in a privileged place,” she stated. “I can kind of set up myself as a task mannequin. We’ve received numerous younger females who volunteer with us, who come and work for us, so I feel it’s a really constructive factor for them to see that with the proper perspective and the proper ardour, you may simply be pretty much as good as male counterparts.”
From the charity’s perspective, Wallace-Laher stated it’s a constructive signal for Penny Enchantment to indicate ladies that it gives equality when females are so closely outnumbered within the sector. She added that she is inspired by the truth that society is evolving and persons are changing into extra conscious and extra accommodating of others.

This #WorldHijabDay I stand in solidarity with my Muslim sisters combating towards systemic anti-Muslim bigotry. @WorldHijabDay #DressedNotOppressed pic.twitter.com/yKNlzDaJEv

— Council Member Julie Received (@CMJulieWon) February 1, 2022

The mother-of-two stated it is vital that Muslim ladies don’t enable themselves to be affected by the stereotypes and stigmas hooked up to sporting the hijab. When coping with challenges, she added that it’s a case of “having that confidence to have the ability to rise up for your self and present you can be simply pretty much as good as different females, and the hijab shouldn’t be a barrier and it shouldn’t be one thing that doesn’t mean you can fulfill your position or do your job to one of the best of your capability.”
Describing herself as assured in her British and Muslim roots, Wallace-Laher stated that sporting the hijab within the UK is thought to be regular and that Muslim ladies dwelling there are privileged as a result of they’ve extra alternatives and it’s simpler to get promoted than is the case in different international locations, corresponding to France or the US.
“My message could be simply to be happy with who you might be and your identification, and put on your hijab with delight,” she added.
In a message to ladies who’ve by no means worn a hijab, Wallace-Laher stated: “You don’t actually perceive anyone till you place your self of their sneakers … it is perhaps a possibility to strive it and see how you are feeling and, very often, it’s truly fairly liberating.”