Agency and Oppression
Western feminism has long regarded the hijab as a symbol of the oppression of Muslim women and the patriarchy of Islamic societies. In an article in the Clarion Project, a notable Islamophobic entity, Linda Goudsmit affirms that “ the purpose of making the hijab fashionable and familiar is to make hijabs and oppressive sharia law acceptable.”
Equating the hijab to sharia law, Goudsmit suggests that Linda Sarsour, a well known activist, reinforces doctrines that deny individual freedom and autonomy to women and the LGBT community due to her choice to cover. Goudsmit politicizes the hijab by suggesting that the acceptance of the hijab consecutively threatens the Constitution and American sovereignty by imposing sharia law and welcoming terrorism into the country. In Islamophobic rhetoric, the article highlights the debate of the Islamic veil as a symbol of oppression to the “Western” observer. Struggling with multiculturalism, Western countries such as France introduced a controversial ban on "burkinis" to enforce secularity and destroy a symbol of enslavement of women.
The increasingly popular practice of veiling among Muslim women, particularly those in countries that do not forcibly coerce the practice, has become a source of confusion and interest. Across the world, Muslim women are proudly wearing the hijab, raising the question of covering and oppression. In the Review of Politics, Nancy Hirschmann concludes “that the veil is both a marker of autonomy, individuality, and identity, and a marker of inequality and sexist oppression” (Hirschmann 472). Hirschmann makes a point to distinguish religion and oppression of women: “A feminist perspective can help us recognize that many women’s unfreedom stems not from Islam itself, but from the use and interpretation of Islam to feed into and support overtly political agendas and purposes, which in turn serve patriarchal interests” (Hirschmann 487). Challenging preconceptions of the hijab, Hirschmann also declares that the woman who wears the veil proudly demonstrates her poised autonomy and commands respect for her modesty. She does not need emotional or sexual gratification as stands alone in her purity (Hirschmann 474). The hijab empowers those women who practice it, offering an avenue of female empowerment and liberation not traditionally included in prevailing feminist thought. As seen before in the ethnographic study conducted by Williams and Vashi, the hijab seems to offer a culturally legitimate space for young women who are developing autonomous Muslim-American identities at the intersection of conflicting cultures.
In an article in AltMuslimah, Margaret Johnson focuses on the intersection of gender and Islam as Muslim women create a space for their own agency and liberation. Johnson affirms that the hijab can offer a sense of freedom not only from the narrowly-defined concept of beauty in the U.S but also the standards surrounding religious practices. When a Muslim woman covers her hair and/or body as an act of religious observance, she “no longer bows to the pressures or bends to the expectations of people and sees herself as accountable only to God” (Johnson). The hijab remains a manifestation of religious freedom and can be seen as feminist and empowering. Fighting against stereotypes of oppression and submission, Muslim women affirm agency and personal choice with respect to covering, in a context of ambient skepticism that is often endorsed by Western feminism.
Wearing the hijab can also represent rejecting a world where women have to endure objectification as sex objects. In a speech to the European Social Forum, Salma Yaqoob states that Muslim women wear the hijab to provide a sense of privacy and personhood. The wearing of the hijab denotes that as a woman she “expects to be treated as an equal in terms of [her] intellect and personality and [her] appearance is relevant only to the degree that [she] wants it to be” (Yaqoob). Redefining coercion as choice and freedom, Yaqoob also declares that wearing a hijab is a personal choice and suggest that a Muslim woman should not be reduced to the hijab. By taking away the right to choose to cover or not through various societal pressures, the dignity of the Muslim women is devalued and oppressed. While the feminist theory has questioned the forced covering of women and advocated for the right to be covered, many women view covering as a liberation. Despite Muslim women’s different approaches to resistance towards oppression, their personal choice to cover or not does not make it any less justifiable or notable. Through our research we seek to understand how women who cover understand the accusations of oppression in Islam and combat that with their own agency.
Research by Anu Dwarumpudi
Equating the hijab to sharia law, Goudsmit suggests that Linda Sarsour, a well known activist, reinforces doctrines that deny individual freedom and autonomy to women and the LGBT community due to her choice to cover. Goudsmit politicizes the hijab by suggesting that the acceptance of the hijab consecutively threatens the Constitution and American sovereignty by imposing sharia law and welcoming terrorism into the country. In Islamophobic rhetoric, the article highlights the debate of the Islamic veil as a symbol of oppression to the “Western” observer. Struggling with multiculturalism, Western countries such as France introduced a controversial ban on "burkinis" to enforce secularity and destroy a symbol of enslavement of women.
The increasingly popular practice of veiling among Muslim women, particularly those in countries that do not forcibly coerce the practice, has become a source of confusion and interest. Across the world, Muslim women are proudly wearing the hijab, raising the question of covering and oppression. In the Review of Politics, Nancy Hirschmann concludes “that the veil is both a marker of autonomy, individuality, and identity, and a marker of inequality and sexist oppression” (Hirschmann 472). Hirschmann makes a point to distinguish religion and oppression of women: “A feminist perspective can help us recognize that many women’s unfreedom stems not from Islam itself, but from the use and interpretation of Islam to feed into and support overtly political agendas and purposes, which in turn serve patriarchal interests” (Hirschmann 487). Challenging preconceptions of the hijab, Hirschmann also declares that the woman who wears the veil proudly demonstrates her poised autonomy and commands respect for her modesty. She does not need emotional or sexual gratification as stands alone in her purity (Hirschmann 474). The hijab empowers those women who practice it, offering an avenue of female empowerment and liberation not traditionally included in prevailing feminist thought. As seen before in the ethnographic study conducted by Williams and Vashi, the hijab seems to offer a culturally legitimate space for young women who are developing autonomous Muslim-American identities at the intersection of conflicting cultures.
In an article in AltMuslimah, Margaret Johnson focuses on the intersection of gender and Islam as Muslim women create a space for their own agency and liberation. Johnson affirms that the hijab can offer a sense of freedom not only from the narrowly-defined concept of beauty in the U.S but also the standards surrounding religious practices. When a Muslim woman covers her hair and/or body as an act of religious observance, she “no longer bows to the pressures or bends to the expectations of people and sees herself as accountable only to God” (Johnson). The hijab remains a manifestation of religious freedom and can be seen as feminist and empowering. Fighting against stereotypes of oppression and submission, Muslim women affirm agency and personal choice with respect to covering, in a context of ambient skepticism that is often endorsed by Western feminism.
Wearing the hijab can also represent rejecting a world where women have to endure objectification as sex objects. In a speech to the European Social Forum, Salma Yaqoob states that Muslim women wear the hijab to provide a sense of privacy and personhood. The wearing of the hijab denotes that as a woman she “expects to be treated as an equal in terms of [her] intellect and personality and [her] appearance is relevant only to the degree that [she] wants it to be” (Yaqoob). Redefining coercion as choice and freedom, Yaqoob also declares that wearing a hijab is a personal choice and suggest that a Muslim woman should not be reduced to the hijab. By taking away the right to choose to cover or not through various societal pressures, the dignity of the Muslim women is devalued and oppressed. While the feminist theory has questioned the forced covering of women and advocated for the right to be covered, many women view covering as a liberation. Despite Muslim women’s different approaches to resistance towards oppression, their personal choice to cover or not does not make it any less justifiable or notable. Through our research we seek to understand how women who cover understand the accusations of oppression in Islam and combat that with their own agency.
Research by Anu Dwarumpudi
Hirschmann, Nancy J. “Eastern Veiling, Western Freedom?” The Review of Politics 59.3 (1997): 461-88.
Johnson, Margaret. “The Hijab Is Oppression and the Hijab Is Liberation.” AltM, 27 Oct. 2016, www.altmuslimah.com/2016/10/hijab-oppression-hijab-liberation/.
Yaqoob, Salma. “Hijab: A Woman's Right to Choose.” National Assembly Against Racism, 16 Oct. 2004.
Johnson, Margaret. “The Hijab Is Oppression and the Hijab Is Liberation.” AltM, 27 Oct. 2016, www.altmuslimah.com/2016/10/hijab-oppression-hijab-liberation/.
Yaqoob, Salma. “Hijab: A Woman's Right to Choose.” National Assembly Against Racism, 16 Oct. 2004.