Opinion: Don’t Tell Muslim Women What to Wear
Editor’s note: Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is the author of “The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television.” Follow her on Twitter @FridaGhitis.
(CNN) — When a police officer demanded that she cover her hair, Amira Osman Hamed simply refused. “I’m Muslim, and I’m not going to cover my head,” she declared. For that, the 35-year-old Sudanese engineer was arrested last August and charged with “indecent dress.”
Now Hamed faces a possible sentence of 40 lashes if a court convicts her when she faces the judge on Monday. Still, she refuses to wear a headscarf.
Frida Ghitis
Frida Ghitis
Hamed’s determination to challenge arbitrary rules restricting women’s freedom is part of a wave of energy pushing against those limits, notably (but not exclusively) in Muslim countries. In Muslim-majority states in Africa, South Asia, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere, women are relentlessly demanding more equal treatment.
To some, the matter of whether or not to cover one’s hair may seem like a trivial issue. But the right to decide what one wears is a basic freedom. And strict rules by the government or by religious authorities dictating women’s attire are almost always the tip of the iceberg — the most visible portion of a structure that constricts women’s freedom, taking away their right to make other important choices about their own lives.