Can I see your hair? Choice, agency and attitudes: the dilemma of faith and feminism for Muslim women who cover

Abstract

This paper argues that the current climate of Islamophobia has burdened Muslim women who cover with additional problems in terms of their politics, their lived experiences and their life chances. It is the contention of this paper that the myths about the hijab have created a modern-day form of Orientalism that objectifies the women who cover and otherizes them as oppressed, perhaps exotic and possibly dangerous. Such stereotypical views, at times articulated by Western feminists, create stumbling blocks that bar the way to the feminist ideal of respect unity and community of goals.

Keywords:

• Women and Islam
• Islamophobia
• hijab
• Orientalism
• identities

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Haleh Afshar

HALEH AFSHAR, OBE, is Professor in the Department of Politics and Centre for Women's Studies, University of York