Women and Islam

Clothing can be used to symbolize culture at times. I say at times because that would sound stereotypical as I have noticed from people all over the world making that assumption especially when it comes to Islamic women. Islamic women usually cover their heads with something called the Hijab, which is some type of cloth wrapped around the head or at times even the face. This cloth's significance to some Islamic women cannot be disputed. It is sometimes used for status purposes but usually for avoiding attracting people of the opposite sex, i.e. men. Hair in most cultures is often cited as a feature that defines a woman's beauty. In most cultures women cover their heads to avoid attracting males. A good example would be my own culture, which is very identical to most African cultures. To be more specfic, in my culture women that have children are supposed to wear a scarf to cover their heads when they are visiting their in laws. The covering of women hair is a global practice that can be defined separately by means of culture. In Western culture, a woman covers her face with a veil to show that she does not have children or she is still a girl.

To return back to the topic, Islamic women have been identified stereotypically as women that cover their heads with the hijab. That is far from the truth because some Islamic countries such as Turkey permit women not to wear these covers if they choose not to. In fact people in the West have often assumed that women wearing it are oppressed and have no choice. I can agree to some extent but some Islamic women are born into the culture and grow up believing that it should be worn. They are not forced into wearing it. They just grow into the culture with their parents' backing that it is the right thing to do. It is interesting to note that most Western societies, including Turkey are secular. Turkey once banned the wearing of the hijab completely. Secular societies are usually against what is called "religious extremism". That may not be fair to other people such as the women in Islamic culture because whenever they follow their culture by wearing the hijab (not all Islamic women want to wear it therefore it is wrong to generalize that every Islamic women wants to) they are portrayed in the media as religious extremists. That is what perpetuates stereotypes. That is what creates the backlash against some people, in this case the Muslims. Muslims are not a monolith. they are divided in other aspects. Westerners often see Muslim women as objects (to the Muslim societies) and people locked up by extremism when in fact some women wear the hijab by choice. I think we as people should stop assuming that and be willing to meet more people that are Muslim and female so that we can learn more instead of basing our conclusions from what we see in the media.