Tag: hijab

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STUDY: Minority students experiencing hardships after Bill 21

Graphics by Lily Cowper

A joint study from Concordia and McGill highlight that religiously expressive minority students have faced career uncertainty, discrimination, and a worsened perception of Quebec since the enactment of Bill 21

Teachers like Bouchera Chelbi, a Muslim woman who chooses to wear the hijab, has noticed changes in Quebec since the enactment of Bill 21. Grandfathered in after the legalization of the bill, Chelbi now has no chance to move up in her career as she is unable to be promoted due to Bill 21. 

Enacted in 2019, the bill prohibits the wearing of religious garments and symbols for workers in the public sector in government-run institutions like courthouses or schools.

“It changed a lot about my future plans, I can longer dream about having a higher position, I cannot change school boards. It changes a lot for me,” Chelbi explained.  

As a member of the Coalition Inclusion Quebec and someone who is heavily involved in challenging the law, Chelbi feels that it has impacted her on both a career and personal level. Though leaving has crossed her mind, the priorities of being a wife and a mother have made her stay in the province.

“It makes me feel like I don’t fit anymore in the community. Before the bill, I used to feel like I was free as any other woman in Quebec but after, it felt like suddenly I was a second-class citizen.”

A study conducted by researchers from Concordia and McGill has uncovered harsh realities for the next generation of students, particularly minorities, entering the workforce, many of whom will likely be affected by Bill 21’s legislation. Students who wore religious symbols were at a higher risk of experiencing higher discriminatory treatment as well as job prospect uncertainty, prompting many of those surveyed to admit intending to seek work out of province once their diplomas are obtained. Those surveyed felt that Bill 21 had affected their future career decision, especially due to experiencing an uptick in discrimination since the passing of the legislation.

Meir Edery, a third-year law student at Université de Montreal who wears a kippah, felt that Bill 21 has affected him, like many others who wear religious garb. “The law felt like a personal attack. Truthfully, it felt like something that the government was putting forward to show the population that these people are not wanted and valued as a part of society.”

Kimberley Manning, an associate professor in political science at Concordia and one of the authors who helped conduct the study, was interested in researching the effects of students studying in sectors affected by Bill 21. 

The majority of the 629 participants surveyed highlighted worsened perception of Quebec since the bill’s legislation, creating more divisiveness rather than its intended unification. “Our findings are suggesting a rise in discrimination. People who wear religious symbols are reporting that they’ve experienced more discrimination since the passage of the law,” said Manning. 

The law’s notion was intended to secularize the province, providing neutrality in government institutions. Manning, however, has noticed from the study’s findings that it’s also affecting minorities who do not express themselves religiously. 

“This goes way beyond the individuals wearing religious symbols. [It] is clear that people who do not wear religious symbols are experiencing discrimination in the wake of the passage of this law,” she explained. 

“There is a great deal of confusion about this law, I think that our research findings and research findings from another study that was done by a professor out of UQAM are suggesting that among the general population there is confusion about what this means.”

This confusion has created a bypass for many people to single out minorities, regardless of whether or not the Law applies to those accused. One respondent reported a teacher telling an 11-year-old that she could not wear her Hijab due to the law, something which is patently false.

The results showed 51.8 per cent of those surveyed said that they are extremely likely to look for work out of Quebec as a result of Bill 21, while 77.9 per cent of respondents were considering leaving the province for employment options elsewhere. “I’ve decided to take the Ontario bar exam because I will likely go work in Ontario, where I feel more welcomed as a religious minority,” said an unnamed female law student at McGill.

As someone who will soon enter the job market for the first time in his life, Edery has to consider his future, as the bill prevents him from taking certain opportunities. “When I was looking at my career options, I knew that I was limited and it’s the first time I’ve ever been limited because of the expression of my religion and that stung, because in the 21st century that shouldn’t be happening to anybody.”

 Chelbi referring to feeling like a second-class citizen is a shared sentiment according to Manning’s study. Though a minority of people surveyed were in favour of the bill due to having once faced religious extremism from their native country, 70 per cent of respondents have developed a worsened perception of Quebec. 

“That’s really significant, again this is a motivated group who responded to the survey but when you triangulate our results with the results from the recent polling that’s not insignificant. I think it’s really important that our policymakers pay attention to it and consider the negative impact this is having on people’s lives.”

Teachers like Chelbi will continue to challenge the government in regards to the law for future generations of students hoping that they can work in a Quebec that favours religious expression.

Source: The Impact of Law 21 on Québec Students in Law and Education: STUDY BY ELIZABETH ELBOURNE (MCGILL), KIMBERLEY ENS MANNING (CONCORDIA) ZACKARY KIFELL (MCGILL)

Illustration and infographics by Lily Cowper

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Let the girl run

I’ve always wondered why people make such a big deal about others wearing their religious clothing and/or accessories. It’s not like it’s hurting anyone, and we live in a country where our fundamental rights include the freedom of religion and freedom of expression.

So imagine how shocked I was when I read an article last week about a Muslim athlete being disqualified from a district level race in Ohio because of her hijab. Can you imagine?

Noor Abukaram, a 16-year-old Muslim athlete was disqualified from a race because she wore a hijab. And that’s not the worst part. According to an article on BBC, the officials who inspected her team never said anything about her hijab before the race. They waited until she was finished running to inform her that she was disqualified because her coach didn’t file for a religious waiver, and her hijab was considered unfit for the dress code.

Why is it that people are so focused on what someone wears, rather than focusing on that person’s personality and abilities? This girl worked hard to be a part of her team and to participate in that race, so why are people penalizing her for wearing a hijab instead of recognizing her athletic ability? It’s not as if her hijab is going to make her faster than everyone else or give her any advantage.

It’s unfortunate, but I feel that sometimes when you wear a religious symbol or religious clothing, some people don’t see you as the person you are, but they see you as your religion and sometimes, the stereotypes that go with that religion. I’m not saying everyone sees it that way, but I know that some do, and they’re missing out on getting to know someone that could be the nicest and kindest person they’ll ever meet.

It’s sad, really. Instead of encouraging and supporting our youth, people are getting in their way and hindering them. We should be pushing them to reach their full potential instead of fussing over their religious clothing.

I understand that there are rules and regulations, but there should be some degree of understanding seeing as how there is nothing in the rulebook that says anything specifically about hijabs. There is a rule saying that if you have any religious clothing you must wear, a waiver must be filed with the association. However, according to a spokesman for the Ohio Highschool Athletic Association (OHSAA), runners aren’t supposed to wear headwear, but they don’t always enforce it, allowing runners to wear hats when it’s cold out. So why can’t Abukaram wear her hijab?

I think Abukaram handled the situation like a champ. She showed that she understands the need for this to go public, because if it doesn’t, it’ll keep happening time and time again. She isn’t giving up.

This isn’t the first time that something like this has happened. Last year, a basketball player was asked to leave a game because she was wearing a hijab. In 2016, 16-year-old Amaiya Zafar was disqualified from the Sugar Bert Boxing National Championships because she wore a hijab and refused to take it off. These are only some among many other similar instances in the past couple of years.

“They don’t need to alter the course for me specifically. I’m running just like everyone else, I’m starting on the same start line and finishing on the same finish line,” Abukaram told the BBC.

I agree with her. She doesn’t need any special treatment or advantages. What she needs is to be treated the same as everyone else, to be allowed to participate regardless of her religion and the clothing that goes with it.

I think it’s time to re-examine the rulebooks and guidelines and make some changes. The current rules don’t take into consideration that women wearing hijabs would be involved in these sports. It’s time to make them more inclusive.

Graphic by Victoria Blair.

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Western political discourse needs to evolve

Graphic by @spooky_soda

The debate surrounding the hijab should be seen as more than just conservative versus liberal

As the debate about the place of hijab rages in Western nations, Arab feminists and scholars are still rarely consulted or referenced when analyzing this important issue, especially in Western public spheres. As a highly political Arab in Canada, every single time I participate in a debate about the hijab, I feel that I’m sorted into one of the camps that dominate Western political discourse: liberal vs. conservative.

When I tirelessly try to convince the debaters that Arab intellectuals and feminists have dealt with the issue of the hijab from every standpoint possible, long before it started gaining momentum in the West, and that their intellectual endeavor was neither liberal nor conservative, the reaction I get is shock, and most commonly, disbelief.

The question is how can Western people believe that there are other theories, which can extend beyond the fruitless debate between “people should wear whatever they wish to” versus “the state and public spaces should be religion-neutral”? Meanwhile, the media is using these lines of thought to provide a Western framework for cultural translation of a non-Western issue.

Yes, I am writing this article because I refuse to be “Westernly” dichotomized, with all the preconceptions that are attached to each camp. The issue is deeper than this though, and it is very layered and nuanced. One can infer from this forced dichotomy that Arabic intellectuals are not sophisticated enough to empirically and scientifically analyze a social phenomena like this. Or, at least, analyze it to the level of complexity needed to relax the political anxiety that people in the West have. The focus on complexity is perhaps connected to the focus on academia as a source of intellectual authority in the West.

When I was able to get over the dispiriting part of this feeling of intellectual inferiority, I started looking for ways to further analyze this Western belief, and then professor and literary critic Edward Said came to my aid. His famous concept of Orientalism teaches us that Western colonialists planted the idea that the East is primitive and needs rescuing, but not in the traditional sense; they need to be rescued intellectually.

Therefore, Orientalism can explain why Western media rarely quote famous Arab feminists, such as Nawal El Saadawi, who adamantly argues against wearing the hijab and supports the French ban on religious garments. Nawal gives a nuanced and complex analysis of the idea of choice, and how religion, with all its pressures, can prevent Muslim women from taking an independent choice. Be it political, economic, spiritual, or even the societal and state pressures, which she faces on a daily basis in Egypt—she was imprisoned multiple times for being a radical feminist.

Nawal has been dubbed the Simone de Beauvoir of the Arabic/Islamic world due to the sheer amount of research and work that she has done on the topic of women’s rights. In spite of this, she among other Muslim/Arab feminists, will continue to be excluded at worst and marginalized at best from the Western political discourse. This will continue as long as the political climate and discourse does not go beyond the subtle Orientalist thought, which prevents Westerners from achieving a successful cultural translation. It is about time to start thinking outside the box of liberal vs. conservative. This is where change happens.

Graphic by @spooky_soda

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Opinions

Don’t you dare judge the hijab

A rebuttal to a disturbing and misinformed article regarding the burkini ban

Last month, The Concordian published an opinion piece entitled “Advocating for a full ban of the controversial burkini.” The argument made by the contributor was typical. It claimed that Muslim women who wear the burkini are disempowered and are prevented from “taking full control of their bodies.” After reading the article, I was infuriated, annoyed and disturbed to say the least, and I’m tired of these stereotypes surrounding Islam.

A 2016 study released by the Environics Institute, a Canadian-based social science research centre, revealed the number of hijab-wearing women has increased over the last decade in Canada, particularly among younger adults between the ages of 18 and 34. Also, 52 per cent of Canadian Muslim women wear the hijab or other headscarves in public, according to the same study. Many women choose to wear the hijab—they don’t wear it simply because they were coerced into doing so by their religion, as the article implied.

The idea of the hijab as a tool of oppression is widely held throughout the Western world. In my opinion, the hijab isn’t a symbol of oppression. Oppression exists because of various socio-economic reasons, and it exists in countries outside of the Muslim world.

Graphic by Florence Yee

I won’t argue that oppression isn’t a problem in Islamic countries. There are a lot of countries under Islamic law that impose restrictions on women which are completely unjustified—but these are not issues that stem from Islam. For example, in Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive. Many people blame Islam for this policy but in the Qur’an, it is stated nowhere that this is true.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are led by predominantly male political and religious leaders who—in my opinion—misinterpret the Qur’an and implement made-up rules that allow them to control women. It’s a question of culture, not religion.

In the article that was published, the writer chose to use a verse from the Qur’an that says that women should conceal their bodies and only reveal themselves to their husband. The thing is, there’s a huge double standard when it comes to Islam and the idea of sexism. For example, in the Christian bible, there are also verses where women are deemed inferior to men. I could take any religious quote from any religious text and distort the meaning, thus taking it completely out of context.

When the Qur’an was first written, it actually gave a lot of women in the Arab Peninsula rights they didn’t have before. For example, the fourth chapter of the Qur’an is titled “An-Nisa” or “Women” and discusses women’s issues and inheritance laws. Women were allowed to inherit property during this time, and were entitled to child support if they chose to divorce.

To a Muslim woman who chooses to wear the headscarf or to dress modestly, the hijab means to be free. She is choosing to put the attention not on her physical beauty, but on the other assets that make her who she is: her brain, her wit, her thoughts. The hijab emphasizes a woman’s personality, and she is simply asserting that her physical appearance shouldn’t play a role in her social interactions. Also, women who choose to wear the hijab might be doing so because of their own personal relationship with God. There are various reasons for women to dress modestly not just because they feel forced to do so.  

When I defend the hijab, I’m usually told that I have internalized sexism and that I’m allowing women to be oppressed by Islam. But that’s not true. I’m an intersectional feminist, which means that I advocate for those of various social identities and those who are oppressed or discriminated against because of their race, sexuality, etc. While I agree a woman shouldn’t be forced to wear something she doesn’t want to, I also defend the idea that a woman shouldn’t be told not to wear something just because it might offend a few Westerners.

The hijab is another form of female expression, not oppression. Here in Canada, women are allowed to dress however they want, and Muslim women absolutely have the right to wear the hijab if they chose to do so.

Read the article ‘Advocating for a full ban of the controversial burkina’ here: theconcordian.com/2016/09/banontheburkini

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