WHEN western feminists and human rights activists attack Islam they often zero in on the most obvious target: The hijab.
The hijab is also the object of derision among bigots who feel it’s their duty to attack Muslim women on the street as some sick form of retaliation for the misdeeds of extremists worldwide.
A new assault on the headscarf has emerged that provides us an idea of how some Western women apply pressure on Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, to discard the scarf as a path toward freedom of oppression. In other words we must conform to the Western ideal of a free society in order to live full, unshackled lives. We are victims of a patriarchal culture and Western women are here to shine a light on how to escape our miserable lives.
This latest assault occurred when American chess champion Nazi Paikidze announced that she is boycotting the 2017 Women’s World Chess Championship games in Tehran because Iranian law makes it mandatory for women to wear the hijab.
Paikidze said she refuses to wear the headscarf and will not attend the games. She also started a petition online to “stop women’s oppression” and urged the World Chess Federation to reconsider its decision to have Iran host the competition.
“I understand and respect cultural differences,” Paikidze told reporters. “But, failing to comply can lead to imprisonment and women’s rights are being severely restricted in general. It does not feel safe for women from around the world to play here.”
The movement appears to be growing as a number of chess champions have chimed in to condemn the federation’s selection of Iran as a venue for the matches. Former Pan-American champion Carla Heredia told the Telegraph of London that, “No institution, no government, nor a Women’s World Chess Championship should force women to wear or take out a hijab.”
I can’t tell whether Paikidze and Heredia are naive, willfully ignorant or have a deep-seated hatred of Muslim women because their support of a boycott does not help but hurts — not to mention offends — hijab-wearing women everywhere. I can’t speak for Iranian women, but I know there is always a way around those dress codes that allow women reasonable freedoms and choices that go along with their beliefs. Women worldwide are subject to unreasonable laws that affect their daily lives.
In Saudi Arabia women get around male guardianship rules and elicit support from their families to achieve whatever goals they set for ourselves. They individualize and make fashion statements with their abayas and wear the hijab a million different ways. Western culture has had a huge impact on the daily lives of Saudi women. It’s not uncommon to see young Saudi women with colorful, fashionable abayas and hijabs in malls.
The well-meaning Western do-gooder should keep in mind that a vast majority of Saudis, and perhaps Iranians, choose to wear the headscarf. It’s been part of the Muslim faith since the founding of Islam and we see no need to change it because in 2016 the West suddenly finds it oppressive.
This obtuse and condescending behavior of non-Muslims damages the gains Muslim women have made in the past decade. Conservative governments in predominately Muslim countries will only double-down on the day-to-day pressure on Muslim women and prohibit them from leading normal lives. They will point to Western meddling in our culture, traditions and religion and frame it as a war on Islam.
Boycotts, petitions and attacks on hijab-wearing women serve as a recruiting tool for Daesh. Families will think twice about sending their daughters or sisters abroad for a Western education, denying young women the right to learn about other cultures. The boycott Paikidze advocates is the perfect tool for conservatives to further subjugate women.
Supporters of the boycott should re-examine their position and consider that the Women’s World Chess Championship games in Tehran is a perfect venue for Muslim women to showcase their skills and intellect and the fact that wearing the hijab matters little in how they live their lives. Exposure to the Western women is a learning process for Muslim women living in the Middle East. The championship games encourages tolerance. The boycotters are insisting on divisions.
Sabria S. Jawhar,
PhD Assistant professor of Applied and Educational Linguistics Languages and Cultural Studies Department, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences National Guard Health Affairs
This article was first published in Arab News
