Recently
women’s rights as to wear a hijab or burqa in public spaces have become
a matter of discussion in many countries of the world: Turkey is one of
them.
In
the last weeks, for the first time in the history of the 90 year old
Turkish Republic, three female MPs entered the parliament wearing
headscarves, and they did not face any reaction from the opposition
parties. In this way, a very deep-seated problem was solved through
political consensus.
However,
a member of parliament who made a similar attempt in 1999 was
confronted with strong reaction from the opposition, expelled from the
parliament hall and this episode caused great tension nationwide.
However,
a lot has changed in Turkey and now women are granted their freedom to
wear hijab both in public spaces and at universities. Nowadays there is
a similar discussion underway in Singapore.
Meetings
have taken place between government officials and Islamic groups who
demand the right to wear the hijab for Muslim women who work in
professions in the public sector that require a uniform like policing,
nursing and the security services.
There
are those who think that such a practice would injure feelings of
equality and justice as well as those who say that this must be allowed
in the context of freedom of faith.
I
have no doubt that Singapore, which harbours several religious groups
and ethnic communities, will overcome this problem easily because the
Muslim minority, which is 15% of the total population, has lived freely
in the country for decades without facing any pressure or oppression.
However,
this problem is not limited to Turkey and Singapore. Whether in Islamic
or Western countries, hijab and burqa are still an important matter of
discussion.
For
example, it is mandatory to wear hijab in Iran and in most of the
Arab-owned airlines, hostesses have to wear a headscarf whether they are
atheists or from another faith.
In Saudi Arabia, women are prohibited to drive. In Europe, there are often heated discussions on this subject.
In
countries like France, Belgium, Italy and Germany, there are
limitations on wearing either the hijab or burqa in workplaces that
belong to the public sector and even in open public spaces. Especially
France, which has a Muslim population of five million, has very strict
and serious limitations on this. Therefore, a majority of covered women
has cut themselves off completely from social life.
Actually,
limiting these discussions to wearing of the headscarf is one of the
primary causes of the tension. When we see this as a matter of freedom,
no doubt, a solution will be much easier. Had the people who defended
the rights of women wearing hijab defended the rights of women wearing
low-cut dresses as much as they do regarding the headscarf issue, or
vice versa, these problems would be solved in no time.
We
should be troubled about women wearing low-cut dresses being treated as
second class citizens and being indicted as “dirty and sinful” by
bigots as much as we are about women wearing hijab being deprived of
their rights to education and not being able to work in the jobs they
want. We must consider the rights of all women within the context of
religious freedom; the rights of Muslims, non-Muslims, atheists and
Buddhists.
The
way to prevent the matter of wearing of the hijab from becoming an
artificial source of tension is not to open up discussions, marginalize
those who don't wear hijab or establish an environment of spiritual
pressure but rather to support freedom as much as possible.
It is important not to forget that the hijab is not the sole problem of women throughout the world.
For
instance, one in every three women is exposed to violence at some time
in her life throughout the world; one woman is raped every 90 seconds
and there are millions of women who are killed by their husbands; one in
every two women is illiterate in the Arab world; women are not entitled
to the right to divorce in countries like Iran; 80% of immigrants
throughout the world are women;1 and there are hundreds of problems
like these that women face. When we look at Muslim countries we see that
these problems are much more deeply-rooted.
What
needs to be done is to abandon the mistaken point of view that women’s
sole problem is wearing a headscarf and to strive for a change of
mentality that will give women the value they deserve; especially in the
Muslim world, when women are considered as second-class citizens and
even as of equivalent value to animals, it is shutting one’s eyes to
reality that Muslims are focused on a debate regarding the hijab.
Let’s
first teach the entirety of humanity “respect, love and compassion for
women”, and talk about “the importance of treating women like a
flower” as it is revealed in the Quran.
Together, let’s eradicate the mentality that humiliates women by showing the superstitions in Islamic sources as evidence.
Let
us show the whole world that women and men are equal in every way in
the Quran. If we change this crooked mentality that has turned into a
system of oppression against women through cooperation and with the
spirit of Islam, no doubt debates such as the issue of the headscarf
will disappear of their own accord.
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