The Muslim Student Alliance of UC Santa Cruz held an event titled “Women in Islam” last month for discussion and education that sought to challenge the one-dimensional, homogenous image of Muslim women perpetuated by the media’s representation of them in fundamentalist governments.
Those who spoke at the event, including students and keynote speaker Maha ElGenaidi, suggested that such fundamentalist governments have misinterpreted Islamic teachings for political control but that the actual Islamic faith, when interpreted correctly, can be liberating for women.
ElGenaidi, president and CEO of the Islamic Networks Group in San Jose, said Western feminism disregards Muslim feminists who adhere to religion and wear the hijab. She explained that she feels liberated rather than oppressed by wearing her hijab. She chooses to wear it because it forces people to judge her for her character and piety instead of by her appearance, she said.
“What they don’t realize is that the hijab that I wear is by choice [and] it is not something I do because I’m forced to,” ElGenaidi said. “In fact, I do it in spite of what male members of my family want from me. For me, I see it as far more liberating than having to worry about my physical appearance and having to dress in a way that is pleasing to society.”
Bettina Aptheker, a professor of feminist studies and history at UC Santa Cruz, said both Western societies and Muslim societies are oppressive to women, and pointed out the Western obsession with thinness as an example of how both Christian and Muslim societies are repressive in their own ways.
“I think [wearing the hijab] is entirely a question of what women want to do,” Aptheker said. “It has become symbolic of oppression, but it’s not more symbolic of oppression than many other Western traditions that we do, including the terrible obsession with thinness in the West. Women, in general, in all these different societies are very oppressed and struggle against it.”
Reprinted with permission from the City on a Hill Press.