Behind her hijab

As the hijab hullabaloo refuses to die down, some Muslim women tell Toprit Saifi about the challenges they face in different spheres of life and how they are subjected to harassment and veiled attacks because of their choice to wear a hijab

What started as a small protest in early January by a few Muslim girls who were denied entry to the Government Women’s Pre-University College in Udupi as they were wearing hijabs, soon took centre stage as other colleges also followed suit in different parts of the state. As the hijab hullabaloo refuses to die down, some Muslim women narrate how they are often subjected to harassment, turned down for jobs, targeted, and looked down upon because of their choice to wear a hijab.

Taking exams is a nightmare

Defending choices has always been an uphill struggle for women, and it was no different for Shama, a Delhi-based homemaker. She was asked to take off her hijab while she was appearing for her last paper during her BBA final exams back in 2015. She had already undergone the usual checks but this time a team of three male invigilators objected to her hijab and demanded to check her again. She refused to be frisked by the men and requested for a female instead. However, they did not listen to Shama and warned her of dire consequences. “Tere saath bahut bura hoga," a man from the group shouted and wrote cheating on my paper," Shama says. Thinking that the matter would be resolved, she complained about the incident to her college and the University of Mysore to which it was affiliated at that time. However, much to her dismay no action was taken on her complaint and she flunked the exam. She bore the brunt of defending her ‘dignity’ and questioning the people who ‘harassed’ her for wearing a hijab as per her religious obligation.

This cost her a year and she had to take the exam again in 2016. "I have always topped in my class and scored more than 85% but I failed this time," Shama adds. She had already taken a provisional admission in Jamia Millia Islamia University which she had to forego as she could not clear the exams. She waited for a year to reappear in the exam and to get enrolled in an MBA course again.

Writing government exams is even more troublesome for hijabi women who are forced to remove their hijab to take the exam. Huma Masih, a Delhi-based freelance content writer, had to go through this experience twice. The first time it was when she wrote the Rajasthan Eligibility Exam for Teachers exam in 2015 and again when she took the National Eligibility Test exam in 2016. On both occasions, she was forced to remove her scarf in order to write the exams. However, Huma did not succumb to the pressure and instead questioned if there were any guidelines about removing the hijab before taking the exam. “I was allowed to write the exam only when I threatened to take the matter up with the director of the centre. While I took the exams in hijab, my friends at the same centre were not allowed to write the exam till they took off their headscarf,” she said.

Asking hijab-wearing girls to remove their scarf in public and the humiliation that follows often leaves a deep impact on young girls. Faizia Iderisi from Faridabad, Haryana, attempted the NEET exam in 2018 and did not take the exam again despite her family’s persistent efforts. The 22-year-old explicitly refused to reappear for the exam and go through the same ‘insult’ again. “It is appalling to see women go through such incidents because of their choice to wear a hijab which is a part of their faith,” says Firdouse Qutub Wani, an advocate in the Supreme Court of India. She says that the Constitution of India allows each one of us to practice our religion and nobody can stop people from practising their religion freely and independently.

Asked to choose between job & hijab

Getting a job for hijab-wearing women is also fraught with challenges. Many times, women are asked to remove their hijab for a job. Bushra (name changed), a 2021 nursing graduate, reached the second round of a job interview at a heart institute in Okhla, Delhi when a recruiter laid a condition in front of the 24-year-old to remove the hijab in case she gets selected. “My hijab would not be a hindrance in my work,” she tried to convince the recruiter in vain. “The hospital is frequented by a large number of Muslims who live in nearby areas. You can easily spot women in hijab or burqas there,” she informed. She is now working with a hospital, “that not only accepted my choice of wearing a scarf but in fact suggested a colour of hijab that would go well with my uniform,” she adds.

Ghazala Zia, a Delhi-based pharmacist, too faced problems and was turned down for jobs when she refused to remove her hijab. After she got rejected by a few colleges because of her hijab, she started applying in corporates. A Gurgaon-based company offered her a job but it too told her that she can't wear the headscarf to the office.

Nazia Iderisi, a 25-year-old aspiring teacher, started interning with a Faridabad-based school in 2019. The training was going smoothly until the fourth day when a manager of the school asked her to come without a hijab to continue the internship. “The manager said I was the only one who wears a hijab and it disturbs the ‘uniformity’ in the school,” she informed. Nazia told the manager that she wears a hijab to Al-Falah University as well and nobody objected there. “When in
Rome, do as the Romans do,” the manager said. Since it was mandatory to do the internship, she decided to do it from a school run by an acquaintance in Rajpur village of Uttar Pradesh. Nazia finished her B.Ed programme in 2020 and has decided to teach in a Muslim school after she came to know about the so-called ‘dress code’ at various schools she applied for a job in Faridabad.

Dubbed as ‘oppressed’ and ‘suppressed’

It is not uncommon for Muslim women to be labelled as ‘oppressed’ and ‘suppressed’. Narrating an incident, Firdouse shares, once she was invited as a speaker at an event organised on International Women’s Day. After the event, a woman sporting a short hairstyle approached Firdouse and praised her for inspiring other women. However, she got startled when the woman questioned her about the hijab and told her that it symbolises ‘oppression’ and she should stop wearing it. “Is it the freedom that I want to choose or what you want me to do,” Firdouse countered? Trying to school the woman about the importance of choice, she told her “I did not judge you for your haircut. I could have said that you aren’t proud of being a woman and that is why you have cut your hair short. I didn’t question you because I respect your choice.”

In yet another incident, a woman asked Firdouse why she wore a hijab and questioned “doesn't it make you look communal?” Before Firdouse could answer the lady, one of her non-Muslim colleagues jumped in her support and said, "Don't mangalsutra, sindoor, and bindi, make it evident enough that you are a Hindu? Does this make you communal?" Overwhelmed by her colleague’s befitting reply, Firdouse admits that there are people who support her choice of wearing a hijab and have always made her comfortable.

Lamenting the current situation in our country, Firdouse adds "It is entirely my choice to wear a hijab and it is not ‘oppression’. Had it been oppression, we would not have been fighting to allow us to exercise our choice to wear what we want.”

Fear of being identified & targeted

Women who wear hijab live under the constant fear of being identified and singled out. “I can easily be spotted because of my attire and could be lynched or somebody might misbehave with me,” says Huma Masih, a Delhi-based writer. She has stopped travelling alone and is always accompanied by a male member whenever she goes outside Delhi.

Nazia complains about being looked down upon in a condescending way. She adds that it is indeed very discomforting to get those glances and “It makes me feel as if I have committed some crime to deserve those looks,” she said.

Calling hijabi women names isn’t something unheard of which has become quite common. Firdouse didn’t even get surprised when a man passing by called her ‘Mullani’ in the corridors of the Delhi High Court chambers. However, a lawyer came to her support and asked the man to behave or else leave the premises. "I think we should uphold constitutional values and learn to respect each other's sentiments. This is what our country actually stands for," adds Firdouse.