Not Islamophobia in America

I generally point out instances of Islamophobia in the United States, but this is a case where it wasn't Islamophobia.  Several Muslims were arrested at an amusement park in New York, because they wanted to go on rides, but no head scarves were allowed.  This started a big confrontation and police were called in.  Now, this is not an anti-hijab rule.  This is a rule that the amusement park passed that covers hats, scarves, head scarves, whatever is on your head.  Because on certain rides they can fly off or maybe even get caught somewhere.  Unfortunately, several of the women involved seemed to think this was about their hijab.  The newspaper covering the situation also phrased it as a "head scarf ban," further inflaming the situation.

This is a secondary problem that I haven't really talked about before.  After being discriminated against for a while, some people will start to view any kind of problem as discrimination.  For instance, if you ask someone the time and they ignore you, it's not necessarily because you have a different skin color or religion.  It could be something as simple as the person didn't hear you, or was having a really bad day.  But if you face discrimination all the time, then that is the first thing you think of.

Anti-Muslim Law in Australia

Anti-Muslim prejudice is on the move again, this time to Australia.  The state of New South Wales wants to pass a law requiring a Muslim woman to show her face to police, when requested.  If she doesn't, there's a $5,500 fine (AUD) and a year in jail.

Great.  So much for religious freedom in Australia.  This is the same old tune that other countries have used:  "it's for security" or "it's because women are forced to wear a veil."  There are very few woman in Australia who wear a niqab or other face covering, and while some of those may be forced, it wouldn't surprise me if most of them were not.  And if you are wearing a niqab for religious reasons, then showing your face to some random policeman is going to be very distressing.  To use an analogy, how would you feel if a policeman pulled your wife over for speeding, then asked her to take off her blouse.  I know some of you think that's a bad analogy (it has some faults) but for some Muslim women I've met, the idea of letting a man see their face is about on par with that.  And who are we to force them to act differently?

Turkish Headscarves

I have had numerous posts over the years about headscarves, especially in Turkey.  The whole issue is explosive in Turkey.  Headscarves were banned for many years, but have been making a comeback lately.  It was a very big deal that the First Lady of Turkey actually wears a headscarf.  The Turkish Daily News has a section dedicated to the Headscarf Issue, so if you're interested, it will keep you up to date on how headscarves are affecting Turkey.

Turkish Head Scarf Ban Harms Women?

New evidence suggests that banning headscarves may actually hurt women's employment chances.  Those who choose to wear a headscarf are discriminated against, intentionally or unintentionally, by not being able to hold government jobs, or taking lower-paying jobs, and sometimes being unable to find a job at all.  Apparently this may be hurting all women's employment, as the employment rate for women in Turkey has decreased over the years, while in other Muslim countries it has increased.

Personally, I believe wearing or not wearing a headscarf is a personal choice.  It should not be mandated or banned by the government of any country.  It it based on your religious beliefs and your upbringing.  I understand why Turkey has banned headscarves, because of its foundation as a secular nation.  But I believe that ban discriminates against women.  Now we have more proof about exactly what happens because of the ban.

Women's News

Several interesting and sad tales of women in the Middle East:

An Australian woman who converted to Islam and moved to Yemen is being held in prison in Yemen. The article doesn't state what she is accused of, if anything, but she is in legal limbo right now.

The French hijab wars continue. A woman was stopped at a random alcohol roadblock. When police saw that she wore a niqab (face mask) they fined her for "driving with a reduced field of vision." According to the article, she was not the first, either.

Saudi Arabia will actually start asking for the age of new brides, when paper work is filled out. Hopefully this will help stop old men from marrying children.

Yarmulkes Oppress Jewish Men!

Religious Jewish men are forced to wear small skull caps on their heads. The more conservative are even forced to grow longer locks of hair over their ears. This is degrading and oppressive. How dare Judaism force this upon them!

If you can't tell, this is satire - I am NOT serious. This topic came up in a class recently and it got me thinking. Substitute hijab for yarmulke and Islam for Judaism. So women wearing headscarves is oppressive, but men wearing yarmulkes isn't? What about Penecostal (Christian denomination) women who are only allowed to wear skirts and can't cut their hair. Is that oppressive? Someone please tell me what the rules are so I know who's oppressed and who isn't. Oh wait - I guess I could ask individual people how they feel about wearing a hijab or yarmulke or long skirt. Nah - it's easier to just condemn their entire religions.

News Round-up Again

Gee, I take a few days off for Spring Break and hordes of things happen.

Remember that guy in Morocco who pretended to be a prince (link and update) on Facebook? Well, he's been freed.

The Foreign Minister for Switzerland, who happens to be female, caused a scandal because she dared to wear a headscarf when she visited Ahmadinejad in Iran. Gasp! Wait a minute, isn't that the law in Iran? And if she hadn't worn it, she probably wouldn't have been able to move around or even see Ahmadinejad? But I suppose it's better to condemn her because headscarves are cruel and oppressive.

Saudi Arabia has decided to "retrain" about 40,000 prayer leaders, in an effort to fight radical Islam. We'll see how that goes. And if I can find the link, Saudi Arabia has also just opened up the first all-female hotel, for women.

And in more Gulf news, Air Emirates will now allow you to use your mobile phone to make calls in flight.

Canada is having a battle over free speech. Personally, I'm kind of split over the issue. On the one hand, you have a major newspaper columnist spouting hate speech, which is his right (but should it be printed?). On the other hand, you have Muslims who are tired of hearing the hate speech. What do you do? One thing I like to do is to change the wording to focus on other groups. Sometimes words may not seem racist or prejudiced, but if you change the target group, then you can see the bigotry. If you want a good example, see this case (YouTube clip), which involves a state representative in Oklahoma saying that gays are ruining the country and are a threat worse than terrorism or Islam, and then claiming that's not prejudiced (bashing gays, not bashing Muslims). A blogger from her state switched the word "homosexuals" for the word "Jews" to show how bigoted her statement was.

Last, but not least, the BBC has video interviews with 5 Iraqis.

Update V: To Headscarf or not to Headscarf

This is the story that just won't end. The headscarves have been approved, but not everyone is following the new law. Also, headscarf means a scarf that ties under the chin, not the hijab or a some bigger covering. And the Turks are freaking out over this! I would find the whole thing amusing if I wasn't so concerned over the outcome.

Update IV: To Headscarf or not to Headscarf

The president of Turkey just signed the new law so that women can wear headscarves at the university now. More info in my earlier posts:
Post 1, Post 2, Post 3, Post 4

Update: To Headscarf or Not To Headscarf? III

Yes, more news on the headscarf debate. Parliament approved an amendment to allow them in universities. This is a very divisive issue in Turkey. And Europe is weighing in on the issue since Turkey wants to join the EU. Turkey straddles Europe and Asia, and some Turks see themselves as European, not Middle Eastern. I have a friend who lived in Turkey for a number of years. He swears that the army is not about to overthrow the government. I'm not so certain.

Update: To Headscarf or Not To Headscarf? II

Another BBC article about headscarves in Turkey. It looks like the Turkish Parliament is going to allow headscarves in universities. This brings up the issue, what happens if they pass it? Last time the government got "too Islamist" the military overthrew it. This is a thorny issue. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Update: To Headscarf or Not To Headscarf?

Just a few links on the issue. It's getting closer to a vote.
BBC
Turkish Daily News and another
Asia Times
Gulf News

More Headscarves!

I thought this was pretty neat: it's a new type of headscarf from a Canadian company called Queendom Hijabs. They have a new hijab specifically for winter - it's knit like a cap or scarf. Here's the link to it. And I'm posting the photo here too.

©Copyright 2008 Queendom

To Headscarf or Not To Headscarf?

The Turks are all in an uproar right now over headscarves, and it's not the way you're thinking. I'll forgo the argument about whether or not Turkey is part of Europe. The Turks are mostly Muslim but they have a secular government. It is illegal for women to wear headscarves at universities. And now they're mad because the government wants to change that.

Analysis
Personally, I think forbidding the headscarf is discriminatory. I can see a lot of Americans thinking it might be good to ban the headscarf. But what if someone wanted to ban wearing necklaces with crosses on them? Or ban the long skirts that Penecostal women wear? It's the same principle with headscarves. Turkey has gone so secular in some matters that religion scares them. They're Muslims who are afraid to let women wear headscarves while attending college classes.

AUC Must Allow Niqab

The American University in Cairo (AUC) must allow the niqab now. The hijab is a headscarf that shows the face, while the niqab shows only the eyes. AUC had banned the niqab for security reasons, but a court just ruled that that impinges on personal freedoms, so they must allow women to wear a niqab. The university is worried about security and Islamic extremism. Personally, I believe people should be allowed to wear what they want to wear.

Egyptian Hijab

This one goes out to all those people I keep talking to who tell me that Islam is horrible and forces women to cover up. Two anchorwomen in Egypt want to wear the hijab on TV. So what's the big deal? Well, the TV station (state-owned) won't let them. They went to civil court and state court and both courts said they could wear a veil on TV, but the TV station still won't let them do it.