Indeed Muslim women in the West are still discriminated against based upon these myths. The aim of this paper is to bring the perspective of some Muslim women who cover willingly into the debate over Hijab.
THEY SAY, 'YOU DON'T HAVE TO WEAR THAT IN CANADA'
Muslim women in Hijab are regularly told by Canadians "This is Canada. You're free here. You don't have to wear that thing on you head."
Nur, a university student, discovered one day that this view of Hijab can lead people to be quite hostile. At university one day, a woman angrily approached her, asking why Nur was dressed like that, bringing herself so much attention, and bringing "backwardness" to Canada, when feminists had worked so hard for the cause of women for the last twenty years.
These women see Hijab as a benefit to society, as a protection for women, and as a source of inner peace.
Several women, especially converts who started covering in their twenties, felt men, even non-Muslim men, approached them more respectfully, did not try to flirt with them or make "leering" comments, and treated them as 'persons' not 'sex-objects.'
Halima also pointed out that male-female interactions were based on more than just the clothes: Hijab is a mode of decorous behavior as well, "when you're covered, you're not going to be a flirtatious person."
HIJAB GIVES WOMEN SELF-ESTEEM
An aspect of Hijab that came through strongly in the interviews was how wearing Hijab gives these women sources of inner strength and a high level of confidence and self-esteem.
For example, men and women learn from an early age that women (all of them) are beautiful, and this is the reason they cover. That message is good for women's self-esteem, as well as for the way men think about women.
The message compares favorable to that of the West where we see anorexia and bulimia on the increase as young women attempt to reach an unattainable ideal of female beauty.
HIJAB GIVES WOMEN INNER PEACE
Many women stressed how comfortable they felt wearing Hijab, how it made them feel good about themselves, and brought them a feeling of inner "peace".
Ellen, a convert to Islam, stresses that in Hijab she feels "like I am doing something to please Allah, you know....it makes you feel good about yourself. You feel different in a good way, because you're not exposing yourself and you know, you're not exposed to many things like you would be if you're not covering."
DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN WHO WEAR HIJAB
Muslim women in the West who cover suffer daily indignities from the people around them because of the way they dress.
The Western image that they are oppressed, or represent a terrorist religion makes it difficult for them to be accepted easily by the Canadian community.
Because Islam is not well understood in the West, some converts also have problems with their families, friends and colleagues about becoming Muslim and about wearing Hijab.
Other women face opposition from their own (Muslim) families as well, in their decision to cover. This is because in many Muslim countries, the West has been seen as the model to imitate in order to 'progress,' and they tried to shed Islam and all that was associated with it.
Hijab is associated with something 'backward,' 'low-class' people do, or as something only old women do.
Many see Hijab as ugly and as reducing the chances for a young woman to get married.
Muslims who grow up in Canada often object to Hijab, taking on the Western perception of the meaning of Hijab. Several of the women (born Muslim) in this study had battled families in order to cover.
SOME POSITIVE REACTIONS TO HIJAB
And yet, many of the women I interviewed stressed that overall they do not get too many hostile reactions and some of them also experience positive reactions from non-Muslims.
They think that Toronto (Canada) is so multicultural that people are used to seeing all different kinds of dress.
BRINGING UP THE HIJAB
QUESTION WHEN IT'S NOT RELEVANT
Sometimes Muslim women have problems with people in situations where their identity is really irrelevant to the situation at hand.
Zainab has been a patient in a hospital and had her doctor tell her she should not have embraced Islam because she became a "second class citizen."
He asked her "don't you know how badly the women are treated in Islam?"
Rania, who is a doctor, finds sometimes patients will interrupt their visit to her to ask her "Where is she from?" Or why is she "dressed like that?" Rania said that she finds that "there's the time to explain and then there's the time to just give a brief answer and go on to other things...I mean you may look like a Muslim, but you have a job to do, and let's talk about why you're here, and I'm the doctor and you're the patient okay?"
THE PRESSURE TO 'LOOK CANADIAN'
Given these kinds of negative reactions to Hijab, it is not surprising that many Muslims try to hide their Islamic identity. The pressure for Muslims to assimilate to the ways of the West is great.
Safiyah is under such pressure from her husband to "look Canadian". He did not seem to mind that she wore Hijab in Algeria, but in their first six months in Canada, so many people stared at them, that he felt uncomfortable with her in Hijab.
Although the staring didn't bother Safiyah, her husband has successfully pressured her to stop covering.
The women I interviewed referred to Canada as a multicultural and multi faith society in a positive way, and appreciate the liberty and protection Canadian law gave them to practice their religion as any other group can.
They thought as does Halima: "if Canada boasts you can practice your religious freedom of thought and beliefs, if a woman believes she should wear her Hijab why shouldn't she? She's not hurting anybody, I mean if people can go down Yonge street [a popular Toronto haunt] almost naked, why should her putting a scarf on her head bother people, even for that matter wearing a veil on face, why should that upset somebody?"
HIJAB IS A RESPECTABLE THING
Muslim women want non-Muslims to think that Hijab is a respectable thing, not degrading or "oppressive."
They like to be seen just as an ordinary person who deserves to be respected. Raneem said, "Just take me as I am you know, like they should accept me for who I am, not for the way I look and that goes for everybody."
Halima was clear in her views. She said, "I would like them to respect our choice and not exclude women who wear Hijab from certain things [like] in Quebec [...] I mean this is truly oppression, they say the woman is oppressed because she's wearing the Hijab, but the true oppression is preventing somebody from going to school because they have a scarf on their head, the larger issue is we'd like everybody to know about Islam so more people would accept it."
Sadia said her Hijab should tell others, "That I'm a Muslim, so I want them to know that, I'm doing this because I'm obeying Allah, and it's a free country and I can do what I want. And that I don't' care if I'm accepted by them or not, I'm going to do it anyway."