Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu on Hijab Row: 'Why Do You Always Target Girls, “Let Them Live the Way They Choose To”
New
Age Islam News Bureau
28
March 2022
• Saudi
Arabia Allows Women To Perform Umrah Without Male Guardians
• Bahrain:
Indian Restaurant Sealed After Veiled Woman Denied Entry
• Middle
East Initiative Aims to Help Women-Led Arab Businesses Grow
• Nationwide
Protests If Afghan Girls’ Schools Stay Shut: Women’s Rights Activists
• Afghan
Women Restricted To Three Days Entertaining In Parks
• ‘Stigma
Attached to the Hijab Is Not New’: Muslim Women Speak about Discrimination in
Mumbai’s Public Spaces
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/universe-harnaaz-sandhu-hijab/d/126672
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Miss
Universe Harnaaz Sandhu on Hijab Row: 'Why Do You Always Target Girls, “Let
Them Live the Way They Choose To”
Miss
Universe Harnaaz Sandhu
-----
Mar
27, 2022
Miss
Universe 2021 Harnaaz Sandhu has appealed to the society to stop targeting
girls, including on the issue of hijab, saying “Let them live the way they
choose to.”
A
three-judge Bench of the Karnataka High Court recently dismissed the petitions
which sought permission to wear hijab in classrooms of educational institutions
saying headscarf is not an essential religious practice and uniform dress rule
should be followed in educational institutions where it has been prescribed.
In
a clip that has gone viral on social media, a reporter asked Sandhu about her
views on the issue around hijab. The video is part of an event held here on
March 17 in the honour of the Miss Universe 2021's homecoming.
Before
she responded to the query, the organiser intervened and asked the reporter to
abstain from asking any political questions and suggested the media to rather
ask about her journey, success and how she has been a source of inspiration.
The
reporter responded, saying “Let Harnaaz say the same things.”
The
Chandigarh-based model then expressed her anguish over how often girls are
targeted in society.
“Honestly,
why do you always target girls? Even now you are targeting me. Like, even on
the issue of hijab the girls are being targeted. Let them (girls) live the way
they choose to, let her reach her destination, let her fly, those are her
wings, don’t cut them, if you must (cut someone’s wings) cut your own,” Sandhu
said.
She
further asked the reporter to ask her about her journey, the hurdles that she
faced, and the success at the beauty pageant earlier this year.
Recently,
a video surfaced showing a Muslim student in hijab offering namaz in a Madya
Pradesh university and that has led to a controversy.
The
video, shared on social media, shows the student offering namaz inside a
classroom in Dr Harisingh Gour Sagar University, a central institution.
A
right-wing group, Hindu Jagran Manch, has complained to the university
administration to act against the student. The university said it has ordered
an investigation.
The
Karnataka High Court on March 15 dismissed petitions seeking to allow wearing
hijab inside classrooms.
The
hijab is not an essential religious practice, the Karnataka High Court had said
as it backed a ban on wearing hijab in classrooms.
The
Supreme Court on Thursday refused to accord urgent hearing on the pleas
challenging the Karnataka High Court verdict.
Source:
Hindustan Times
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Saudi
Arabia Allows Women To Perform Umrah Without Male Guardians
Umrah
pilgrims arrive at the King Abdulaziz airport in Jeddah in a file photo.
Image
Credit: Okaz
-----
March
26, 2022
Tawfiq
Nasrallah
Dubai:
Saudi Arabia will allow women aged 18 to 65 to perform the Umrah pilgrimage
without a male guardian, known as a “mahram,” on the condition that they are
part of a group, local media reported.
The
new decision, announced by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, requires women
applying for Umrah or Hajj pilgrimage to be partially vaccinated (one dose).
They must also be free of any diseases. Residents from inside the Kingdom and
Saudi citizens, who had not performed Hajj during the last 5 years, can
register for this year’s Hajj.
In
2021, the Hajj ministry officially allowed women of all ages to make the
pilgrimage without “mahram,” on the condition that they must be part of a
group.
The
decision is part of social reforms rolled out by Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman, who is trying to open up the Kingdom’s oil-reliant economy. Since he
became the crown prince, women have been allowed to drive and travel abroad
without a male guardian.
Umrah
is sometimes known as the lesser pilgrimage or the minor pilgrimage, in
comparison to the annual Hajj pilgrimage of Islam. It is a visit Muslims take
to the Grand Mosque in Mecca, outside of the designated Hajj pilgrimage dates.
The word “umrah” in Arabic means to visit an important place.
Hajj,
one of the five pillars of Islam, is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims and
a must for able-bodied people with the means to do so at least once in their
lifetime. It is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, which is considered as
holiest city for Muslims.
Source:
Gulf News
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Bahrain:
Indian restaurant sealed after veiled woman denied entry
27th
March 2022
An
Indian restaurant in Bahrain was shut down by authorities after a veiled woman
was denied entry into the restaurant.
The
incident took place at the Bahrain Lanterns – an Indian restaurant located in
the Adliya area of the country’s capital Manama.
Following
the incident, the restaurant issued a formal apology on their social media
handle.
The
apology that was issued on Instagram said that the restaurant that has been in
service for 35 years and has welcomed people of all nationalities in the
Kingdom, regretted the mistake, made by the manager.
The
veiled woman had gone to the restaurant along with her friend when the incident
took place.
“Was
surprised that my friend was not allowed to enter the restaurant because she
was wearing the veil,” expressed the woman’s friend who had accompanied her to
the restaurant, in a video shared on social media.
“Restaurants
are supposed to avoid making such decisions because it is in a country where
Muslims are the majority,” she added.
The
Daily Tribune reported that the incident came to light after videos of a
restaurant staff blocking a veiled woman from entering surfaced on social
media.
The
official letter also informed that the manager, an Indian, has been suspended
from service.
“Everyone
is welcome to Lanterns as how it has been for more than 35 years that we have
been serving all nationalities in the beautiful kingdom of Bahrain. Lanterns is
a place for everyone to come enjoy with their families and feel at home. In
this instance, a mistake has been made by a manager who is now being suspended
as this does not represent who we are. As a goodwill gesture, we welcome all
our Bahraini patrons to Lanterns on Tuesday 29th of March to have complimentary
food on us,” the statement posted on Instagram read.
As
per reports the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibition Authority has launched a probe
into the issue and directed all tourism outlets to avoid any policy that
violates the law of the Kingdom.
“We
reject all actions that discriminate against people, especially regarding their
national identity,” the authorities were quoted by local media channels.
The
incident caught the attention of Indians as the southern state of the country,
Karnataka witnessed tensions over the Hijab ban in the state, followed by
incidents of harassment of Muslim traders in various parts of the state.
Karnataka
has witnessed an increase in similar incidents of communal disharmony in the
last few months as legislative assembly elections approach the state in 2023.
Source:
Siasat Daily
https://www.siasat.com/bahrain-indian-restaurant-sealed-after-veiled-woman-denied-entry-2297444/
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Middle
East initiative aims to help women-led Arab businesses grow
March
28, 2022
DUBAI:
Women-led startups across the Middle East and North Africa are receiving a
helping hand thanks to a new initiative to provide them with the advice,
finance and mentorship they need to grow.
She
Wins Arabia is a collaboration between the International Financial Corporation
(IFC) from the World Bank and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to support
incubators, accelerators and venture capital funds through capacity building
and training.
The
initiative, which is part of IFC’s wider commitment to closing economic gaps
between women and men in MENA, will work directly with regional women-led
startups and businesses to support them in building their business plans and
refining their pitches to potential investors.
“There
are several challenges faced by male and female founders globally, which are
all centered around access to capital, markets and talent,” said Miriam Kiwan,
head of strategic partnerships at ADGM.
She
cited a lack of awareness in the MENA entrepreneurship ecosystem about
gender-specific challenges faced by women-led startups.
“Perhaps
the most challenging one is access to funding, which is due to limited access
to financial services and bank loans, an extremely low level of female representation
in the funding ecosystem, and the persistence of gender biases linked to female
and minority founders,” she said.
A
recent OECD report revealed that female company founders receive 23 percent
less funding than male founders, despite achieving 35 percent higher returns on
investment and generating an average of 12 percent higher revenues than male
founders.
In
a region where only 6 percent of private equity and venture capital funding is
directed toward female-led enterprises, according to the IFC, initiatives such
as She Wins Arabia can play an important role in empowering women
entrepreneurs.
Moreover,
many incubators and venture capital funds do not yet tailor their workspaces,
products and services for women entrepreneurs. “We need to focus on developing
regional programs to improve the number of female fund managers through
mentorship, VC programs and angel investor programs,” Kiwan told Arab News.
“We
must reduce unconscious bias and create an equal startup ecosystem through
capacity building and engagement of various players across the ecosystem,
including incubators, accelerators and investors.”
Kiwan
says building the required capabilities and skills within women-led startups is
crucial for facilitating their access to the market, through inclusive
procurement policies and ensuring their success.
“As
a tech ecosystem enabler with a focus on diversity, it is important for ADGM to
support initiatives such as She Wins Arabia to advance gender parity across its
ecosystem and improve gender-less investing in the region,” she said.
Supported
by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative and the government of the
Netherlands, the project will be implemented in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan,
Morocco, Tunisia, the UAE, the West Bank and Gaza, as well as Yemen.
It
will culminate in a competition to enable women-led startups access to support
and finance across the region, and to network with funds, incubators and
accelerators.
“Female
founders play an important role in contributing to economic growth, wealth
creation and job creation,” Kiwan said, pointing to a recent Boston Consulting
Group report that claims supporting female entrepreneurs can raise global gross
domestic product (GDP) by about 3 to 6 percent, and boost the global economy by
$5 trillion.
More
broadly, she said: “Women and girls represent half of the world’s population
and they hold tremendous potential in impacting regional economic development,
helping achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the coming decade and
contributing to the Fourth Industrial Revolution in reshaping our social
fabric.”
Echoing
Kiwan’s opinion on empowering female entrepreneurs, Sammar Essmat, gender lead
for the Middle East, Central Asia and Turkey at IFC, says women have huge
potential to add to the region’s economies.
“A
2015 (McKinsey) study found that MENA economies lose out on an estimated $2.7
trillion in additional GDP because of gender gaps. That’s the cost of a missed
opportunity and, together with our partners, we are working to eliminate it,”
she told Arab News.
As
a leading tech hub, ADGM seeks to provide a progressive ecosystem that supports
innovation and entrepreneurs regardless of their gender, with 30 percent of
their tech startups in different sectors led by women.
“Closing
the gender gap in entrepreneurship is an important part of leveraging this
opportunity. In fact, the GDP of MENA countries is estimated to rise 30 to 40
percent if women are better integrated into the economy,” Essmat said.
Fortunately,
the MENA entrepreneurship ecosystem has improved and is slowly becoming a
leading hub for founders. In regional universities, girls vastly outperform
their male peers. In the UAE alone, women account for about 70 percent of
university graduates, although the figure drops after women reach mid-career due
to organizational cultures and the gender pay gap, among other issues.
“Entrepreneurship
offers women better opportunities and alternatives to employment, if some of
these challenges are removed,” Kiwan said. “We have collaborated with key
regional and international entities to advance our gender equality agenda and
ensure equal opportunity for female entrepreneurs.”
The
IFC’s approach to advancing gender equality in the region also focuses on
increasing access to finance, skills and digital technologies for female
entrepreneurs, creating more and better jobs for women, and working alongside
the World Bank to remove legal barriers to women’s economic participation.
Many
gradual reforms had been introduced in Saudi Arabia since it ratified the
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women in
2001. The announcement of the Vision 2030 reform plan in 2016 gave a further
fillip to women’s empowerment.
Besides
changes to laws and regulations governing their lives, Saudi women have been
allowed to enter new fields such as commercial aviation, state security,
economy, tourism and entertainment. Beyond Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the
importance of gender equality — equitable or fair representation of men and
women — is also being recognized in Arab countries whose leaders and
governments have come to regard it as an economic and strategic imperative.
“Support
and mentorship dedicated to women-led startups, those of which actually receive
funding being a minority for the region, is an excellent initiative to help
encourage more women to move into the entrepreneurial space,” said Dana
Al-Jawder, CTO of MAGNiTT, a leading venture data platform for startups across
the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Turkey.
“The
best catalyst for improved growth in this segment is further success stories
from great leaders, like those such as Mona Ataya, founder and CEO of
Mumzworld.com, and Nadine Mezher, co-founder of Sarwa, the first and
fastest-growing investment platform and personal finance app for young
professionals in the region.”
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2051581/middle-east
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Nationwide
Protests If Afghan Girls’ Schools Stay Shut: Women’s Rights Activists
March
28, 2022
KABUL:
Women’s rights activists pledged on Sunday to launch a wave of protests across
Afghanistan if the Taliban fail to reopen girls’ secondary schools within a
week.
Thousands
of secondary school girls had flocked to classes on Wednesday after the
hardline Islamists reopened their institutions for the first time since seizing
power last August.
But
officials ordered the schools shut again just hours into the day, triggering
international outrage.
“We
call on the leaders of the Islamic Emirate to open girls’ schools within one
week,” activist Halima Nasari read from a statement issued by four women’s
rights groups at a press conference in Kabul.
“If
the girls’ schools remain closed even after one week, we will open them
ourselves and stage demonstrations throughout the country until our demands are
met.” The Taliban should be building more schools for girls in rural areas
rather than shutting existing facilities, said the statement, which comes after
several women’s activists were detained in recent months.
“The
people can no longer tolerate such oppression. We do not accept any excuse from
the authorities,” it said.
On
Saturday, about two dozen schoolgirls and women staged a protest in Kabul
demanding the reopening of the schools.
“Women,
teachers and girls should come out on the streets and protest,” said student
Zarghuna Ibrahimi, 16, who attended the press conference.
“The
international community should support us.” The education ministry has so far
not given a clear reason for its policy reversal, but senior Taliban leader
Suhail Shaheel said that some “practical issues” were still to be resolved
before reopening the schools.
Separate
days at parks
Since
storming back to power the Taliban have rolled back two decades of gains made
by Afghanistan’s women, who have been squeezed out of many government jobs,
barred from travelling alone.
The
Taliban had promised a softer version of the harsh Islamist rule that
characterised their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.
But
many restrictions have still crept back, often implemented locally at the whim
of regional officials.
Some
Afghan women initially resisted the curbs, holding small protests where they
demanded the right to education and work.
But
the Taliban soon rounded up the ringleaders, holding them incommunicado while
denying that they had been detained. Since their release, most have gone
silent.
On
Sunday, the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice ordered
that men and women should not visit parks in Kabul on the same days.
Women
are now permitted to visit parks on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, while the
remaining days were reserved for men, a ministry notification said.
“It
is not the Islamic Emirate’s order but our God’s order that men and women who
are strangers to each other should not gather at one place,” Mohammad Yahya
Aref, an official at the ministry, said.
“This
way women will be able to enjoy their time and freedom. No man will be there to
trouble them,” he said, adding that religious police were already implementing
the order.
Source:
Dawn
https://www.dawn.com/news/1682172/nationwide-protests-if-afghan-girls-schools-stay-shut-activists
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Afghan
women restricted to three days entertaining in parks
27
Mar 2022
Ministry
of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan announced that women can only go to parks three days a week while
men are given four days.
“All
the owners and officials of parks are hereby informed that Sunday, Monday,
Tuesday are allocated for women and men can go to parks on, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Women should observe Islamic hijab.” Reads part
of the press release.
The
Ministry has instructed all Mujahideen (Taliban affiliates) not to enter Parks
with weapons and military uniforms on the days allocated for men lest they will
be held accountable.
Meanwhile,
the Ministry asked families not to get closer to strangers while doing family
picnics or camping.
Earlier,
the Ministry had banned form seating those women who have not observed Islamic
hijab while the women were not allowed to travel more than 45 miles alone.
Source:
Khaama Press
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-women-restricted-to-three-days-entertaining-in-parks-675887657/
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‘Stigma
attached to the hijab is not new’: Muslim women speak about discrimination in
Mumbai’s public spaces
28
March,2022
The
Karnataka High Court’s verdict to uphold the state government’s decision
prohibiting Muslim girls from wearing hijabs inside classrooms did not
just impact the academic lives of girls
from Udupi’s Government College, but also the everyday interactions of Muslim
women in other states too. A matter that gained national attention and sparked
multi-faceted debates on social media triggered real world consequences in
Mumbai too, with incidents of discrimination against women wearing the hijab or
burkha making news recently.
Mid-Day
Online spoke to Dr Rukhsar Parvez Mandviwala, who was denied a seat on a train
from Nalasopara to Mira Road in a general compartment, despite being in line
with an eight-month-old baby; an incident that was brought to light by her
spouse Dr Parvez Mandviwala on Twitter.
“Noticing
my discomfort, a gentleman had vacated his seat and called me to occupy it
instead. But as I was walking towards that vacated seat, the people sitting
next to it blocked the seat and did not allow me to sit there. Instead, they
called some other ladies who were standing at a distance wearing saris and
asked them to occupy it. I felt offended and confronted them. I asked them if
they did so because I was wearing a hijab. They did not reply and chose to look
away and began grinning. The other passengers of the train also kept mum. So I
remained standing.”
After
the tweet went viral, the government railway police and a member of a political
party reached out to them, offering to help them with filing a complaint, but
the couple refused to do so as they believe the issue is not about one
injustice done to one woman, but “the bigotry that is taking over our
collective psyche”.
“As
members of the medical profession, we have been groomed to fight the disease,
not the patient. This is a social malaise. Hatred is being spewed in society
because of Islamophobic narratives being peddled through films and social
media, and by some TRP-hungry bigots masquerading as news anchors. This was but
an expression of that misplaced bigotry and hatred,” says Dr Rukhsar
Mandviwala.
In
another incident, Dr Batul Hamid, principal of Viva College of Law in Virar
resigned on March 16 in protest against on campus discrimination and alleged
harassment over wearing hijab. In an interview to Mid-Day, Hamid stated that
she felt targeted by the management and staffers only after the Karnataka
verdict.
“The
atmosphere in the campus gradually started to turn hostile and suffocating to
me and it made me uncomfortable. All the good work I had done over the past two
years was disregarded and I was taunted for wearing a hijab. I felt they were
compelling me to resign. I decided to keep my dignity and resign instead,”
Hamid said.
Hostility
in public transport
Multiple
Muslim women state that not being able to access public transport in Mumbai on
an equal footing is not a new challenge for them, but something they have
always experienced even before the hijab issue in Karnataka became a national
matter of concern. From being subjected to prejudices and stigma based on
religious markers to facing outright discriminatory comments and accusations,
they have observed it all, either personally or towards fellow community
members.
Nilofer
Patel, a pre-primary school teacher from Mira road, shares her experience of
Mumbai local train journeys and listening to demeaning comments such as
“illiterate”, “they don’t know when and how to travel on trains”, “their
burkhas always make others uncomfortable in a crowded train”, “they hide their
dirty clothes under burkha” and “they have so many kids and travel with all of
them in the train” from other women in the ladies compartment.
“I
did not respond thinking maybe it’s my mistake. I never thought of talking
about it with my husband. Not everybody posts on social media about daily
discrimination. This has come up now because a few women had the courage to
speak up. We had taught ourselves to live with it,” says Patel.
Afiyah
Qureshi, a city-based media professional, narrates another train incident from
last year, when she and her mother, who was wearing a black scarf resembling a
hijab, were questioned by a fellow commuter in the First Class compartment of a
local going to CSMT about their tickets and were asked to shift to other
compartment.
“I
was taken aback and told her that we have the tickets. Shortly after, I
eavesdropped on this lady's conversation with a fellow passenger. "You
gotta ask these hijabis, they create a lot of ruckus while getting off in
Mumbra." She had assumed we were going to deboard in Mumbra just because
Mom had her head covered in a certain way. She also thought we didn't belong to
the First Class and ought to switch compartments.”
“This
is just an example of internalised hatred for women wearing the hijab. They are
often denied a seat on the train or bus, and are generally considered to have a
poor background. I've also observed that women are often more prejudiced
towards hijabis than men,” she adds.
Self-restriction
and deepening fears
To
protect themselves from mentally and emotionally disturbing conversations and
attitudes that make them feel isolated, sources this author spoke to say the
only way out has been self-censorship or refraining from expressing their
religious beliefs. Whether it is while socialising with friends and colleagues
or engaging in a professional activity, comments arising out of religious or
community stigma always follow, which entrenches and encourages discriminatory
beliefs among a group of people.
For
Qureshi, one such act of self-censorship was in her food choices. Sticking to
vegetarian food when hanging out with former colleagues became the only way to
avoid comments ridiculing her for eating ‘halal’ meat or enquiring about the
restaurant’s food standards. Moreover, choosing not to consume alcohol as a
practicing Muslim is another factor that made her felt isolated among certain
groups.
“This
(self-restriction) is literally the code by which every sensible Indian Muslim
has to live every day, if they wish to protect their sanity- try to be as
transparent as possible and blend themselves in to their surroundings,” she
says. Patel echoes a similar sentiment. “We are always made to believe that we
have to suppress ourselves if we have to live here.”
Patel
had to stop herself from being too expressive or vocal about any issue on
WhatsApp groups of friends and colleagues. She says lecturing about secularism
and women’s empowerment is one of the common ways people of other faiths employ
to look down upon the Muslim faith and identity.
“In
some cases they act secular, but in our case they completely neglect us.
Wearing sindoor or turban is normal, but burkha is not normal for them. There
has always been a section of people who have hated burkha thinking that it
hurts uniformity,” says Patel.
“Any mention of divorce and I'm immediately
reminded about how Talaq is pronounced in Islam, leading the conversation to
the Triple Talaq issue. If I advocate for the hijab, it is seen as a sign of
patriarchy and conservatism. I feel very uncomfortable and experience low-grade
frustration when such things are brought up. It's very triggering for a person
to be made to feel that their faith is invalid,” adds Qureshi, who was also
disallowed from offering prayers during Ramadan at her former workplace despite
prior information and was ushered to a space where no one could see her
praying.
While
accessing public transport and social expression always came with its own
challenges for women wearing a hijab or a burkha, the Karnataka HC verdict has
only worsened their fears about potential prohibitory rules which will make it
difficult for them to avail education and employment opportunities. Patel
believes people who hate the burkha are encouraged by the verdict to further
“discriminate and eliminate Muslim women from places of education and work”.
“I
fear in the coming days my school and management will ask me not to wear a
burkha in the school. This will jeopardise my job, irrespective of my degree
and educational qualifications. Someone not wearing a burkha or a hijab will
become more eligible than me for a job,” says Patel.
Source:
Mid-Day
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/universe-harnaaz-sandhu-hijab/d/126672