Islamophobia, Western Feminism, and Policing Women's Clothing

By Zoha Hassan

Artist Statement:

Have you ever wondered how Islamophobia in the West affects Muslim women who choose to cover? For my social justice project, I researched how the policing of Muslim women's clothing in the West is tied to Islamophobia and Western feminism. What I found is that Islam is not inherently incompatible with Western values, however, there is tension between Islam and Western feminism because of the West's reluctance to engage with Islam because of Islamophobia and their tendency to assume that Islam promotes women's oppression (Fornara 463). The West uses extreme examples of Muslim countries that force women to cover, such as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, to judge all of Islam and Muslim women's coverings. However, they do not realize that not allowing Muslim women to cover the way they want is also an imposition that promotes gender inequality (Fornara 473).

Another reason why Western countries justify their restrictions on their policing of Muslim women's clothing is that, with the rise of Islamophobia, politicians practice "political point-scoring" by competing with one another about who can be the toughest on Muslims (Gohir 28). In the case of France, their justification for banning the burqa is their claim that it violates France's secularism. However, doing so "has the very real potential of stigmatizing the entire French (and European) Muslim community for the practices of a few" (109). 

Additionally, debates about the veil in the West are based largely on assumptions about what Muslim women experience and what their motives are; they lack factual support. Research shows that "[n]o effort is made to consult these women in the process leading up to the ban" (Gohir 27). The most significant current scholarly views in my area argue that there are many reasons why Muslim women choose to cover, including religious obligations, dedication to God, to achieve a feeling of liberation, as well as even political or fashion statements (Fornara 475). Instead of challenging Islamophobia or fighting for the rights of Muslim women, Europe's increasing legislation to ban the veil "exposes European anxieties about issues of integration, unemployment, social violence, and the crisis of a common currency" (Amer 111).

After researching more about this topic, I came to the conclusion that I wanted my social justice project to help dismantle the negative stigma that surrounds the hijab (headscarf) in the West by asking Muslim women in my community, "Why do you choose to wear the hijab?". I hoped that by asking this question, I would be able to shed some light on the various reasons Muslim women choose to cover. By doing so, I could spread awareness that, unlike Western stereotypes that believe that Islam promotes Muslim women's oppression, the hijab has a different meaning and impact on each person who wears it. My goal was to demystify the hijab and humanize those who wear it.

Results of my Survey

Scroll through the gallery to read some of the reasons Muslim women in the community choose to wear the hijab! 

(Many of the women who responded preferred to remain anonymous, so I have respected their choice to do so.)

Many of the answers to my questions have a religious obligation as the main reason to wear the hijab. In addition, some women mentioned:

• the hijab helping them feel beautiful by being modest
• safety and protection
• connection to culture and community
• the hijab giving them confidence and strength
• pride in representing Islam

and much more!

Beyond the Classroom:

Some future steps I could take to share my project beyond the classroom is to connect with Loyola University's Muslim Student Association (MSA) to raise awareness about why Muslim women choose to cover, and consequentially fight Islamophobia.

Annotated Bibliography

Amer, Sahar. What Is Veiling? Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, (2015): 94-112.

This source discussed the politics, history, and general attitude towards veiling in Western Europe (mainly France) and the USA. Additionally, Amer discussed the consequences of banning the burqa in France, and some of the motivations behind it, such as secularism and current events. Amer also discusses the main places where visibly Muslim women in the United States face discrimination. This source was very thorough and discussed this topic critically. It gave me a lot of insight into what the attitude of regular French citizens is towards veiling as well.

Gohir, Shaista. "The Veil Ban in Europe: Gender Equality or Gendered Islamophobia?" Georgetown journal of international affairs 16, no. 1 (2015): 24–33.

This source explores the justifications for the face veil in Europe but also explores Islamophobia in Europe as it pertains generally to covering Muslims as well. Gohir talks about the leading advocates against the veil in Europe and its impact on Muslim women. This paper was helpful to my research because it provided insight into the political motivations behind the veil ban and the hypocrisy behind many of the justifications. Also, this source was helpful in providing context for policing women's clothing through a global and historical lens.

La Fornara, Lisa M. "Islam's (In)Compatibility with the West?: Dress Code Restrictions in the Age of Feminism." Indiana journal of global legal studies 25, no. 1 (2018): 463–494.

Fornara's paper provides religious context for the hijab and the many different interpretations that Muslims have of the parts of the Quran that imply that the hijab is a religious obligation on women. Fornara then compares these interpretations to the various reasons that Muslim women choose to cover and discusses the wide range of cases that exist in Western society. She also covers the mandated hijab in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. This source was useful to me as it was very clear on the various reasons that women choose to cover and inspired me to ask Muslim women in my own community why they cover for my project. I also thought it was very useful to see how the West uses Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan's mandated hijab to justify their policing of Muslim women's clothing in the West.