Why Wearing The Hijab Is A Woman's Personal Choice

Shelina Janmohamed on why wearing the hijab is a woman’ s personal choice

- Shelina Janmohamed

“What does your hair look like?” As a Muslim woman who wears a headscarf, it’s a question I get asked a lot. In a world of adverts, where models shake their glossy tresses, people wonder, often to the point of obsession, why one would choose to cover their locks. After all, we are in the fourth wave of feminism, with many patriarchal blocks slowly tumbling down. And of course, hair is pretty.

The headscarf has become a symbol of controversy: An icon for banning burkinis on beaches, a war over Muslim women’s bodies by oppressive Daesh and Taliban types, and equally by those who want to ‘free’ Muslim women from their alleged religious oppression, and see no irony in forcing women to do this. It has come to have many meanings. But the meanings that matter most are the ones that inspire Muslim women to wear the hijab. And the thing is, for many women there are different meanings.