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Ramia Chaoui does not want to go alone to the demonstration of this International Women’s Day in her city, Barcelona (Spain). But not only because it is more pleasant to attend in good company, but because she knows that she will be exposed to contempt or worse by some non-Muslim women. This happened last year to other Muslims like her who took to the streets to demand equality for women.

This time they have organized themselves in advance to go together and create what Chaoui calls a “safe space”. “Among all the things that affect me as a woman, like the rest, I also want to claim my presence on the streets and my space and my place”, this insurance consultant and Youtuber, better known as Ramia Schannel on social media, explains.

“Feminism is not having one [unique] conception of being a woman but rather granting women the ability to be anything they want and to give them the opportunities to make the choices for themselves”

— Hajar El Jahidi, European Forum of Muslim Women

“Feminism is not having one [unique] conception of being a woman but rather granting women the ability to be anything they want and to give them the opportunities to make the choices for themselves”, says the advocacy coordinator of the European Forum of Muslim Women based in Brussels, Hajar El Jahidi.

This Canadian-Morrocan woman makes clear that the situation described by Ramia Chaoui is not an exception: “There are feminist groups that often forget or exclude minority groups such as women of color or religious minorities.” Jahidi assures that “we are impacted by gender inequality the same way as other women”, in addition to facing discrimination because of their faith.

“The feminist movement in Greece has tried to impose another oppression, telling us what we should do and what not”

— Anna Stamou, Muslim Association of Greece

Anna Stamou is director of an export and import company in Athens. She is also the marketing director of the Muslim Association of Greece. “All women, regardless of their religion or ideology, have been discriminated against the men priority,” she recalls and asks for unity for women.

Stamou does not feel identified with the feminist movement in her country, though, because she says that “they have tried to impose another oppression, telling us what we should do and what not. The feminist movement in my country considers Muslim women oppressed, brainwashed and unable to form their own opinion.” Even so, this 8th of March she will participate in the mobilizations and the strike for the International Women’s Day, to stand up for women’s equality rights.

>>> You may also read: Muslim and feminist? These women show it is possible<<<

Neither submissive nor stupid

It is the demand for equality that Muslim women ask not only towards men, but towards some non-Muslim women who insult them or believe that they can not be feminists. They repeat for the umpteenth time that the veil or hijab is a personal and religious option. They do also condemn those policies in countries where women are forced to wear it.

The recently appointed High Representative of the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), Miguel Ángel Moratinos, even highlighted this week on Twitter that in his fight for equality for women he will also include “the perception of Muslim women.”

“I do not accept that other women educate me, because I believe that I have enough tools, knowledge and critical thinking for me to rethink myself the questions of how I choose to lead my life and my spirituality,” explains Chaoui, from Barcelona.

“I do not accept that other women educate me, because I believe that I have enough tools, knowledge and critical thinking for me to rethink myself the questions of how I choose to lead my life and my spirituality”

— Ramia Chaoui, assurance consultant

The chairperson of the Citizen Platform Against Islamophobia and CEO of the Halal Institute in Spain, Isabel Romero, says that “of course” she takes part in the feminist strike and will be demonstrating. She asks “to leave us alone with what we wear or what we do not wear. If there are Muslim women who decide to cover themselves with the hijab, because they think that is part of their religious commitment, they are not hurting anyone.” By the way, she does not wear a headscarf.

Not dressing with a veil, the discrimination suffered by Romero is minor, she admits. But the tables turn when others learn about their faith: “I have been a professional for many years and at the moment in which I identify myself as a Muslim woman, it seems that I can only comment from that axis (and) it seems that I cannot give an opinion on economy, society or anything, just because I am Muslim.”

“I have been a professional for many years and at the moment I identify myself as a Muslim woman, it seems that I cannot give an opinion on economy, society or anything”

— Isabel Romero, Citizen Platform Against Islamophobia

Faced with the image of a submissive woman, Romero emphasizes that different rights of women such as divorce or inheritance have already been established in the Quran. The Islamologist and professor of the University of Barcelona, ​​Dolors Bramon, who is not a Muslim, also considers that the sacred book of Islam was revolutionary for women’s rights. She explains it in her book Ser mujer y musulmana (Being a Woman and Muslim)  (Ed. Bellaterra) and explained it HERE on Salam Plan.

Aurora Ali is secretary general of the Muslim Association for Human Rights, based in Spain. “Muslim women are not clothes”, she answers to those who believe that headscarf and feminism are not compatible. “Wearing the hijab right now is an act of bravery, a feminist claim, because ‘it is my faith and I am going to wear it and I decide on my body’, ” she claims. Like Romero, she recognizes that on the street she has the “privilege” of not being an object of hatred because she is Muslim, since she has chosen not to wear hijab.

“As soon as they see that you are a Muslim woman the hate speech is directly the typical one of: ‘your country’, ‘in Saudi Arabia’, ‘in Iran’ … Then the attacks follow and then the terrorist insult, after [calling you] ‘submissive'”

— Aurora Ali, Muslim Association for Human Rights

She says that she has suffered the so-called “gender Islamophobia” on social media. “As soon as they see that you are a woman, you are a Muslim, then the hate speech is directly the typical one of: ‘your country’, ‘in Saudi Arabia’, ‘in Iran’ … Tatata, tatata”, she lists with glut. And she adds: “They start with this, then the attacks follow and then the terrorist insult usually comes, after [calling you] ‘submissive’. And this happens to virtually every woman who is visibly Muslim in their social networks. ”

She confesses that it is precisely that comparison of Muslims to terrorists the insult that has hurt her most, but not when getting it on Twitter or Facebook, but from the Administration in training courses against violent radicalization and terrorism. She cannot go into detail on this, due to a confidentiality clause she signed.

Double glass ceiling

Equality, equality, equality. It is the concept cited by all these women when asked about their claim this International Women’s Day. They also fight for the empowerment of women, the end of the so-called “patriarchy“, against glass ceilings to reach high positions or the discrimination in the labor market, in society … struggles equal to those of other feminists which for Muslim women sometimes become double as difficult, though.

The most common discrimination that visibly Muslim women -meaning the ones who wear a headscarf- face twofold is found in the labor market, according to several interviewees of this article and data which confirm that.

“The real fight for social justice exists when we fight for another human’s rights even if we don’t agree with or understand them”

— Hajar El Jahidi, European Forum of Muslim Women

Women wearing a headscart in the photo of their CV only received an invitation to a job interview in 3% of cases in Germany, according to a study on “Forgotten women” carried out in 2016 in eight European countries by the European Network Against Racism (ENAR). In Belgium, 44% of employers admitted that wearing a hijab could negatively influence the candidate’s selection.

Faced with incomprehension or rejection of Islamic feminism, the spokesperson of the European Forum of Muslim Women Hajar El Jahidi asks not to be marginalized: “The real fight for social justice exists when we fight for another human’s rights even if we don’t agree with or understand them.”

“It’s time for women especially to come together a lot more, to stand together in solidarity against all of these issues and not just speak but to act together and stand up for each other,” executive director of the Islamic Society of Britain, Julie Siddiqi, has asked on a video released by the British NGO Tell Mama. European Muslim women also want equality… and inclusion in the feminism movement.

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La entrada Muslim European women claim their place in feminism se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

Ramia Chaoui shows and speaks about all kind of things there: from make-up or how she got to know her husband to sharing the traditions of her other homeland, Morocco, or the problems Muslim people -like her- face in Spain.

She was recently invited to open a high-level meeting to counter Islamophobia, organized by the European Commission in Brussels. “We need to stop asking people like me how to integrate, because we don’t need to integrate in our own home”, she requested in front of the Justice European Commissioner, Vera Jourova, and other politicians representing European countries.

“We need to stop asking people like me how to integrate, because we don’t need to integrate in our own home”

She speaks with Salam Plan on the phone from Barcelona before going to work. For all those afraid of Muslims, Ramia points out “Islam is totally compatible with democracy, it just needs to be well understood”. For her, “being Muslim is trying to be a better person for oneself and for the others and everything that surrounds us”.

In your videos, you always greet by saying “salam zyonat”. What does that mean?

“Hi, beauties”. “Zeyn” is like beauty. I liked to open with something in Arabic, which also represents another part of my identity and my culture. I like to say hello that way, because it defines me. “Salam” means “peace” and is part of the Muslim greeting, and than all my videos are in Spanish, which is my mother tongue and the one I can better express myself in.

What made you open your own YouTube channel?

The lack of representation in mass media, searching for a place where I could express myself and talk about the issues where nobody listened to us, to have there my version of events without it being sweetened or censored.

Also, a little bit from an educational perspective. I listened to many questions around me about things I thought people knew well, stereotypes. Whenever I talked to new people who were hardly in touch with Muslims, I was very surprised to see the image they had about that part of the society.

>>> Follow Salam Plan- ‘journalism against hate’ on Twitter and Facebook . Soon on YouTube as well in English!<<<

On Ramia Schannel you talk about all kind of things. What are the issues you like to speak more about?

At the beginning I made a lifestyle and entertainment channel, about how to combine the spiritual life with the non- Muslim Western normal life like any other girl of my age.

Now I have changed the focus to separate it a bit from the personal sphere and take it more to the activist field [against Islamophobia], but in a lighter way, not so hardcore. I have young followers and don’t want to be preachy.

I try to make the videos entertaining but at the same time with a message or moral of the story, or to explain something about Muslims, a Muslim festivity… so that people have a window to look into the life of a Western Muslim person and how our life is.

Earlier you said that one of the reasons to star your channel was tackling stereotypes about Muslims. Which ones would you highlight?

To get turned into a foreigner, that is one of the things which annoys me the most. For example, me living in Catalonia, that people speak to me in Spanish or slowly so that I can understand them… Those kind of things which people may do with good intentions, but I belong to the people who think that we’ve been here for a long time already and migration is nothing recent.

The fact that people are surprised that you have a degree, that you speak well the language, that you don’t have any accent…

And what affects me the most is the issue with the lack of equal opportunities and the discrimination, especially in the labour field for Muslim women.

“One of the things which annoys me the most is to get turned into a foreigner. Me living in Catalonia, that people speak to me in Spanish or slowly so that I can understand them”

In fact, there is a video in your channel where you explain that you are considering to take off your hijab.

It’s something you always bear in mind. Not now, but it’s true that all these years I have been wearing it, you ask yourself and weigh up: “Wow, it is really affecting me”. But well, than you remember why you put it on in the first place and what it means to you and you try to look ahead.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t have moments of doubts and difficulties… and understanding that other women face the same difficulties and finally take it off due to social pressure.

What difficulties have you encountered due to the hijab?

Mainly, being able to do job interviews and getting a job. They will choose someone who doesn’t wear it if you are equally qualified, or not so equally: you may be a bit more prepared or may be speak more languages. Nevertheless, the scales seems to tip to the other side.

The issue about doing a traineeship to get your degree, I get many messages from girls. Many of them see themselves forced to take it off or not doing the traineeship. I think Education should come first. Later in the labour market, I can understand that a company may be free to choose who it hires. But if a company chooses to offer traineeships to the students, it shouldn’t make a difference: they’re not your workers, they’re people who come to learn and will leave.

Me personally, I have seen myself obliged to accept another king of jobs, because I couldn’t choose the same way my fellow students did. I thought that was the way it goes. Although it might not have convinced me, I took the job to have one.

“The issue about doing a traineeship to get your degree… I get many messages from girls who see themselves forced to take the hijab off “

You have more than 38,000 followers. What kind of profile do they have?

They’re mainly female, 80% approximately. Spaniards and from other European countries, also from Mexico. Between 18 and 30 years old.

What kind of questions or comments do they have?

More than that, I think they see me a bit like an inspiration. If you see you’re not the only one facing problems or suffering, you don’t feel so lonely.

What happens sometimes is that these things stay in the community or within the family, you don’t speak about them that much. And you think it isn’t happening to nobody else and that you are the unlucky one.

I think that sharing and speaking about it, helps to fight against it. I try to motivate. There are girls who have even asked me why they should study if they’re not gonna get a job anyway. Loosing motivation like this is worrying.

I try to change the approach of the youngest girls. Feeling ashamed of your culture, of your religion, because they’re always speaking bad about it, because you don’t see positive examples, no examples of people who overcome [the problems]… But to see someone who -achieving more or less- follows her dreams, trying to change a bit -as much as possible-, I think it is good for our young ladies.

“There are girls who have even asked me why they should study if they’re not gonna get a job anyway”

You just mentioned something key, I think: that some people feel ashamed due to what is happening around them.

I have seen girls in their first adolescence years telling their mothers not to pick them up from school because she wears the veil and they don’t want to be seen with them.

Or now I see my little sister, who is very proud of her culture, but I remember that when I was little, I felt ashamed and didn’t want to go to school after our holidays in Morocco with henna on my hands. I tried to wash it off, because the kids told me it was pooh and laughed at me.

On the contrary, I now see generations, the youngest, who are very proud of their culture, with henna on their hands, wearing the veil… I think we should appropriate our culture again and be proud of who we are. Because it’s true that sometimes we have tried to hide to get unnoticed, without causing a stir: go to work, feed our children, sleep and back again to the beginning.

And it’s our generation now who is vindicating more the richness of having a diverse identity, a diverse origin, being from here but also from there and being a richer person thanks to that.

“Sometimes we Muslims have tried to hide to get unnoticed, without causing a stir: go to work, feed our children, sleep and back again to the beginning”

You recently shared your experience opening a high-level meeting in front of the Justice European Commissioner, Vera Jourova, and other politicians of the EU countries. There were also other Muslim activists and civil representatives. Do you think it was useful?

I am always very optimistic. I don’t know if I’m so optimistic that I’m naïf, but I want to think that it was indeed. And if it is useless from the political point of view, I think that the civil society there are loads of things being done. I was very happy and proud to see that representation, mainly a female representation, in that meeting. Whenever I see Muslim ladies, so trained and ready to fight, I feel proud as if it was a personal achievement. Whether it is useful or not, I have learned a lot.

Ramia Chaoui holding the opening speech at a high-level meeting in Brussels. © Salam Plan

That meeting was in the European capital. There are Europeans afraid of Muslims not respecting democracy. What would you tell them?

I’d tell them that Islam is totally compatible with democracy; it just needs to be well understood.

I think there is much misinformation or confusion around terminology related to Islam. Nobody studies it in depth, the only interest is to take those paragraphs or alleyahs [Q’ran verses] out of context which may benefit someone politically to sow fear and get votes. In the end, it’s this manipulation and using Islam as a weapon to get personal benefit.

In fact, a well understood Islam promotes democracy.

“A well understood Islam promotes democracy”

Why?

For example, if we simply focus on the prophet Muhammad’s life, we can see that he always consulted people surrounding him, he always asked for advice, and that being -as we understand it- God’s envoy. One of the main pillars of democracy is the public query, what the majority thinks.

In the recent regional elections in Andalusia (southern Spain), Vox’s party got 12 seats and Muslims are a key part of their politics. In their election platform, they devote a chapter to Muslims under the title “Defence, Security and Borders”.

[She laughs slightly]. Ok, how funny, how nice. I prefer to think that the majority of people doesn’t read the election manifesto nor is very well informed of what they vote, because otherwise, we wouldn’t drift in the current direction.

The defence of Spanish unity doesn’t need to go hand in hand with harming and loosing civil rights nor with more confrontation. I believe people who voted for Vox voted for Spanish unity.

Vox stands for issues like “shutting fundamentalist mosques” or the “expulsion of imams who spread fundamentalism, the despise of women or Jihad”.

With “expulsion” I guess they mean foreign imams, but there are Spanish imams. What do we do with that? And “despise of women”, it’s them who want to repeal the bill on gender violence. I think it is a cheap, simplistic and superficial populism.

How do you think Islamophobia Will evolve in the next years in Spain?

I think there is more consciousness and people are getting to know more about Islamophobia. I think it will keep that direction. I hope politicians will be more careful in their discourses. I hope the situation will get better: the integration of so many women with veil who are already working, including me; that normalization of seeing Muslim women in each and every sphere of society.

Your channel is also for non- Muslim people who want to know more. If you were to explain in just a few words what it means to you to be Muslim, how would you describe it?

Being Muslim is being like any other person, but having in the centre of his or her daily priorities -or values- to try to be a better person for oneself and for the others and everything that surrounds us; also being beneficial and contribute to society.

>>> Follow Salam Plan- ‘journalism against hate’ on Twitter and Facebook . Soon on YouTube as well in English!<<<

La entrada Ramia Schannel, the Muslim YouTuber from Spain who advised the European Commission se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

Her dreams go beyond boxing and she is accomplishing them already as well. She studied a degree in Finance, Investment and Risk and currently works as a fundraiser at the Human Appeal NGO for Scotland. “I cannot imagine working in any other sector” than charity, she tells Salam Plan. In fact, she felt in love with boxing after organizing ladies- only classes as part of her job. She also enjoys being a DJ and host of her own radio show on Scotland’s only Community Asian Radio Station, Awaz FM.

Born and raised in Glasgow, Sannah (25) defines herself as a “curious young mind” and explains she likes “to meet people from different backgrounds and communities with their love for humanity as their common ground”. She has become an activist for different causes, especially for Muslim women like herself, and recently held a conference at the Mindful Drinking Festival in her city, when she answered Salam Plan’s questions.

“I get shocked looks when I begin to speak and people realise that I am extremely Scottish and a Muslim that wears a hijab”

The Mindful Drinking Festival vindicates the normalization of not drinking or moderating the drinking for all sorts of people. How is it not to drink alcohol in Scotland? Do you feel a social pressure to drink?

I have been born in a part of the world where drinking alcohol is a normal part of the majority’s life. I have been in scenarios where alcohol has been offered to me more than once. For example, during parties or at office evening outs at restaurants and bars.

I don’t think my faith has changed the pressure or offers I have been given. But there has definitely been a difference in reaction when some people realise you are Muslim and cannot hide their disgust in your decision.

Did you often get the question “how can you have fun without drinking”? What do you answer?

I have lost count of the number of times I have been asked this. But my simple response is that I don’t need to drink to have fun. I often ask a similar question…how can you have fun drunk? Which isn’t always taken well but sometimes gives people something to think about.

Do you miss more non-alcoholic drinks offer when you go out and about?

It can be frustrating sometimes that the options are so limited and (that there are) two or three options of soft drinks. It also sometimes baffles me that a lot of bars do not even offer mocktails, as though it is so much more effort to make when I’m not sure if it is! However, unlike those that drink alcohol, I don’t get much out of a soft drink other than my thirst quenched which is generally all I am looking for, so I’m never too upset for too long [she smiles].

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Do you have other difficulties or discrimination due to your faith?

I have never suffered from any real discrimination or discomfort due to my faith other than a shocked look when I begin to speak and people realise that I am extremely Scottish and a Muslim that wears a hijab. Before I started wearing a hijab my blond hair really confused non-Muslims and Asian people that did not venture far as they were both surprised that a white-Muslim could exist.

As a confident and enthusiastic young woman, I take it upon myself to interact with others to show how much more in common we have than what separates us.

Did you need to break many taboos to start boxing?

While a lot of people in the community were surprised about Human Appeal’s Ladies- only boxing class, the response was positive. Everyone I have spoken to, male and female, agreed it was a great idea. But I am not naive enough to think that there are not people that are not impressed. However, we have taken every measure possible to ensure the classes do not compromise faith and believe of our Muslim and Asian Community.

My biggest issue was in convincing others of the seriousness of my [exhibition] fight while having a disability and illness. Many thought my fight may be staged or that the gym was simply allowing me to live my dream. Whilst I do believe I am living the dream, the fight was very much serious and filled with risk. But I let my fists do the talking and remained focused. I may be visually impaired but when you are in the boxing ring and so close to your opponent, you use more senses than just sight.

“Whilst I do believe I am living the dream, the fight was very much serious and filled with risk. But I let my fists do the talking and remained focused”

How did you fall in love with boxing? 

After I started up the Ladies- Only Boxing Classes with the help of a colleague and volunteers from Human Appeal, I took part to promote and encourage its success. But after the first class, I found that training once a week was not enough and I began to attend more classes more regularly. My love of boxing grew from there.

Something about working alone, knowing that your success and failure is down to you and no one else, pushed me to try and prove to myself that I was capable. The ultimate way of doing this inevitably was by having my first fight, so when the opportunity arose I jumped at it. I never took no for an answer and pushed myself to be ready.

What makes the special sessions for women at the gym offer which is different from the other sessions?

The classes we provide are delivered by many experienced female coaches and the whole gym is shut to the rest of its members and staff at this time. Ladies and young girls can feel comfortable with wearing whatever they like as long as it is safe to work out in and can remove their hijabs if they wear one.

Those that attend have full access to the gyms facilities at this time; however, the coaches provide an excellent session which covers fitness and boxing technique. The best part is that the money made is donated to Human Appeal’s many charitable projects after paying the gym. We are currently reaching out to businesses and organisations and asking them to sponsor the classes on a month to month basis so that more money can be donated to charity.

“Knowing that your success and failure is down to you and no one else, pushed me to try and prove to myself that I was capable”

How did the idea of the women- only classes come along?

The classes simply started after a female volunteer disclosed to Human Appeal that she really wants to get back into boxing but because of her age her family do not feel comfortable with her working out alongside the men in the boxing gyms. After doing some research we realised this was how a lot of people felt and my colleague approached a gym to see if there was a middle ground. The gym was more than happy and since the classes started in February this year we have seen a lot more members from ethnic minority communities, both male and female, join the gym and taking part in other sessions that are provided.

Feedback has been very positive and we don’t feel as though we are treated any different from any other users of the gym. Our only issue has been finding a time that can suit everyone as many women have different responsibilities and cannot attend the weekly session we provide. Asking the gym to shut its doors to others is a huge ask and we are still working on expanding.

Sannah Hussain’s exhibition fight in Septembre 2018. © SK Boxing Promotions

Do you feel the hijab poses difficulties to Muslim women to do sports? Why?

Yes! Have you ever tried to work out while wearing a hijab? If you have not, I can tell you it is not easy or comfortable. It is hot, itchy and doesn’t stay put; it gets in the way and stops you from focusing on the work out. So if you cannot even train how can you compete?

Many companies now sell sports hijabs and while they may make things a lot easier they are not easy to get a hold of in the UK. They come from overseas, cost a lot and take ages to arrive and once you have it you may not like it because you never had the chance to try it on beforehand.

Although I am very welcomed in the gym, I have struggled to wear my sports hijab as I feel that I stand out and cannot fly in under the radar unlike those that don’t wear a sports hijab.

The difficulty extends to what one wears as well. As hijab is not just about covering your hair but about dressing modestly too (and) not many sports accommodate this either. Luckily as my fight was an exhibition, the gym were very flexible and allowed me to wear a long sleeved top, leggings and my sports hijab under my kit. But moving forward, what I wear could pose issues depending on the level I fight at.

“I feel that I stand out and cannot fly in under the radar unlike those that don’t wear a sports hijab”

How does Albinism and your auto-immune condition affect your boxing career?

Albinism and Myasthenia Gravis (MG) means that I will never have a professional boxing career. I am simply not fit or healthy enough to expect that of my body which, while sad, is a fact of life and not due to a lack of determination or motivation. It would be foolish for me to put myself in a position that could lead to a serious injury or force me to not want to box in any capacity.

However, I have really enjoyed my journey with boxing so far. My exhibition fight will be the highlight of the year and I will continue to train in the gym to stay in shape and on top of my technique. But I would never say never and if I am offered another exhibition fight, I will be likely to accept. [Sannah Hussain got the opportunity for a new exhibition fight on March 2019 after this interview had taken place.]

What would you say to other people suffering from Albinism or MG who want to make a sports career?

Not everything is about competing with others and simply allowing yourself to be part of something is important too. I have spent years in my childhood playing football and cricket and I was awful: I can never see well enough to keep up, but I remember enjoying myself. Maybe not every game was fun but being with friends and family was enjoyable and at least I can always say I tried my best.

But if you are serious about sports, get in touch with local clubs and organisations and ask to get involved. Try as many things as you can ‘till you find what is right for you! Understand it won’t be easy and be prepared for rejection. Sometimes you need to keep knocking on doors and revisit the same ones ‘till you find the right people to listen.

“To all the women fighting against discrimination and trying to overcome hurdles: you are not alone! Keep pushing forward, anything is possible”

You would like to make a boxing career.

In an ideal world I would love to have a boxing career but the factors that stop me are the factors that motivate me, so without my illness I don’t think I would have the same drive.

Do you have any wish for Muslim women in sports and in Scotland?

I wish that more Muslim women would be less fearful of being judged in any capacity or environment. In many cases people have opinions of Muslims that are easily changed through a friendly conversation and while some people’s opinions cannot be changed, we will never know until we try.

To all the women fighting a specific battle against discrimination and trying to overcome hurdles: you are not alone! Keep pushing forward, anything is possible.

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La entrada Sannah Hussain, the Scottish boxer who fights Albinism and discrimination se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

When Amparo Sánchez Rosell had to give up wearing the hijab at work in order to avoid unemployment, she began to plan a solution to be able to exercise her option without having to renounce being herself. “I had to choose: either take off my hijab or work,” she tells Salam Plan. Today it is no longer necessary: ​​she is an entrepreneur and has her own restaurant in Valencia (Spain).

She is also the president of the Citizen Platform against Islamophobia in Spain (Plataforma Ciudadana Contra la Islamofobia) and this 8^th of March she asks for the same rights as other women, such as the end of the wage gap. But she points out that as a Muslim she is forced to make extra claims related to the so-called “gender Islamophobia”: “If women in general suffer the inequality of opportunities with respect to men, Muslim women more, and if they wear hijab, even more.”

The president of the Alliance for Action of Muslim Women in Germany (Aktionsbündnis Muslimischer Frauen), Gabriele Boos-Niazy, regrets that for them today -the International Women’s Day- is “a day like any other”, in which they are devoted to work against discrimination of Muslim women, “especially those who wear a veil and have the same desire as most women: to be successful at work and to be judged according to their abilities and not because of their appearance.”

Faeeza Vaid is executive director of the Muslim Women’s Network UK. She already went onto the streets last Sunday in London, when the great British feminist demonstration was organized. She was one of the women who made a speech from the stage and explained that she “marching because so many experience discrimination and sexual violence because of their gender, their race, their religion, their age and their sexuality.”

The equality of women in Islam

For Dolors Bramon, a non-Muslim Islamologist, it is also clear that professing Islam is not at all at odds with claiming equality between women and men. “Obviously” feminism and Islam are compatible, she says. Moreover, “the first regulations favorable to women were born in the basic book of Islam,” says the author of Ser mujer y musulmana (Being a Woman and a Muslim), Ediciones Bellaterra. She admits that “that is the theory” and the practice depends on the interpretation of each one: “Then every Muslim, especially male Muslims, will be responsible for not wanting to see what is feminist in the Quran.”

Bramon believes that Islam establishes “absolute equality from the religious point of view: women have the right to life -before they did not have it-, women can inherit -before they were inherited-, women have the right to a dowry and without it there is no marriage, the custom of polygamy (before Islam) practically gets cancelled, because the Quran speaks of polygamy but then says that it is impossible to meet the requirements… ”

“The first regulations favorable to women were born in the basic book of Islam. Then every Muslim, especially male Muslims, will be responsible for not wanting to see what is feminist in the Quran.”

Fátima Tahiri is writing her doctoral thesis at the Autónoma university of Madrid (UAM) on “the development of religiosity and religious beliefs of young Muslims in Spain: the case of young people of Moroccan origin.” She is also Muslim and feminist and has no doubt that believing that the Muslim woman is subjected is “something very far from reality”. She explains that historically “Islam appears as a salvation to women who in pre-Islamic Arabia were considered objects and with Islam they became independent political subjects with the right to free marriage, property, inheritance, divorce and participation policy, among many others.”

One of Sánchez Rosell’s favourite quotes on equality between women and men is one that says that “the believers, both men and women, are allies of one another” (Quran 9:71). She also reminds that “there were women who held power, both during the life of the prophet Muhammad and with the first caliphs. What happens is that later the patriarchy became stronger than those teachings and ended up absorbing all of that in some countries.”

Patriarchy in Islamic conservatism

María Dolores Algora, a professor of Contemporary History at the CEU-San Pablo University in Madrid and specialist in the Arab and Islamic world, explains that in countries where the sharia (or Islamic law) rules, it is interpreted by men from a conservative perspective. “The Arab society is a society enormously subject to the model of patriarchy, a confessional system with a radical use of sharia, which treats women like underaged people,” she regrets. Before the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ broke out, she was convinced that the revolution in that region would originate from the women.

Sonia Moreno, correspondent for several media in Rabat (Morocco) for eight years, explains that for this 8^th of March she has “no press release on the table”, because there are no Muslim feminist associations as such in the country. However, there are some Moroccan feminists who carry out actions such as painting fountains with red to protest against gender violence, despite the punitive laws of the Alawite kingdom. There are also Iranian women who demonstrate against the oppression of the Ayatollah regime by taking off the hijab, because they are forced to wear it restricting their freedom of choice…

In Europe some Muslim women also claim to be victims of that macho reading of the Islamic faith. And in some cases they suffer it at unsuspected levels. “Forced marriage, honour-based violence and female genital mutilation happens to women in the UK. We know this because we get calls on the Muslim Women’s Network helpline,” Vaid explained in her recent speech.

An ongoing issue in Western countries is the hijab. The usual complaints of Muslim women come from those who have been discriminated against for wearing it, but it also happens the other way round. “I have felt more discriminated against by Muslim men (than by non-Muslims),” admits the Madrid lawyer, expert in hate crimes, Nessrin E. Bensaid, although she emphasizes that this just happens from time to time. “I am a Muslim woman, but I do not wear hijab. Religion seems to me a matter of the private sphere and it is shocking to people that I’m a practicing Muslim but do not wear a hijab. That has led me to have anecdotal conflicts with Muslim men.”

She recognizes that the most conservative Muslims “get scared” when they meet her with what she calls “the full pack”: woman, Muslim, feminist and lawyer. “Their world falls apart: they are even more scared,” she says sarcastically. However, she quickly underlines that “we must differentiate those who believe themselves to be culturally Muslim, those are the ones from whom I’ve experienced rejection. With the real Muslim men and the true Muslim women I have always had an extraordinary relationship.”

“The men who oppress do that because of a cultural context issue. In the Quran, women are asked to be modest the same way men are,” Bensaid assures. Tahiri agrees: “I do not feel relegated by Islam. I feel relegated by a patriarchal and misogynistic interpretation, that has been made sometimes of the sacred texts by some wise men, and by some political regimes.”

Does Islam encourage beating women?

Bensaid laughs when she gets asked about a controversial verse in the Quran in which -depending on which translation is read- God would have said that the men have “authority” over the women and would have even encouraged to mistreat her physically. She considers that it is a misinterpretation.

“Men have authority over/shall take care of/ give advice to (qawwamuna ala) women with the bounties which God has bestowed more abundantly on the former than on the latter, and with what they may spend out of their possessions. And the righteous women are the truly devout ones, who guard the intimacy which God has [ordained to be] guarded. And as for those women whose ill-will you have reason to fear, admonish them [first]; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them/put them up for sth (daraba)!”, Quran 4:34.

First, it should be noted that Muslims always prefer the Arabic version of the Qur’an, since it is the original version and they understand that they are words that come directly from God which do not always find an appropriate translation. This is how Sánchez Rosell and Bensaid feel about this paragraph. In fact, this quote of the Quran has several versions in English, as shown and even more. The lawyer explains that “daraba” has different meanings in Arabic and between them, in addition to hitting, is also having sex, for example.

As for Bramon’s point of view, she broadly explains in her book that what some translate as “authority”, others would understand as “responsibility”, “accompany” or “give advice”. As for the translation of “beating”, however, the Islamologist considers that there is no way round, since it is the most widespread meaning for the Arabic word “daraba”. Even so, she points out that there are many hadiths (in the Sunna, the other sacred text of Islam, which tells the life of the prophet Muhammad) that “criticize the mistreatment of women” and argue that the prophet of Islam said that the best Muslim is the one who treats the women well.

“The Quran was written in medieval Arabic. This, added to all the patriarchal contamination, means that it is being interpreted under very wrong perspectives”, argues Sánchez Rosell. “One of the demands we have -Muslim men and women- is that we have to review all that. What you cannot do is to be functioning with an explanation of the Quran that goes back more than thousand years ago. ”

Feminism can also wear a hijab

“I’m here because my religion motivates me to fight (…) for equality for justice and for peace,” Vaiz told the London protesters. She called “to build a movement that is inclusive of black feminists, of working-class feminists and of faith-inspired feminists. I’m simply saying either we fight for all, or we all fall”.

A claim with which all Muslim women consulted agree. Tahiri believes that Muslim women also suffer from sexism by other women, “as was the case with the prohibition of hijab in France, which was supported by French feminists.” The researcher believes that this way, some women consider other women “culturally inferior”.

“Western feminism looks with its purple feminist glasses to Muslim feminists and feminists from other countries as if they were trying to save them. But you do not have to save them from anything”

Both Tahiri – who wears the Islamic veil – and Bensaid – who does not wear it – think that considering the hijab as an oppression is contradictory in a society where “mini shorts are worn where the pockets of the pants are longer than the pants themselves”. Bensaid recalls that FEMEN activists “can claim freedom with their bodies and we cannot claim them wearing hijab, for example.”

The president of the Alliance for Action of Muslim Women in Germany, Boos-Niazy, says that “in the association’s office it has been shown that non-Muslim men have fewer problems with hijab than non-Muslim women of a determined age and background, who quickly see the achievements of their long feminist struggle threatened as soon as they have to recognize the rights of a veiled woman”. She reproaches the attitude of some non-Muslim women for being “based on the vision of the human being as ‘I know better what is convenient for you than yourself'”.

The expert lawyer in hate crimes, Bensaid, sums up this appeal to other feminists: “Europe and western feminism look with their purple feminist glasses to Muslim feminists and feminists from other countries as if they were trying to save them. But you do not have to save them from anything.”

La entrada Muslim and feminist? <br>These women show it is possible se publicó primero en Salam Plan.

“While I was growing up I didn’t have many options of dolls that looked like me”, Ibtihaj Muhammad recalled in a video for the presentation of this new Barbie version. “This is such a big moment, not just for me, but for little girls everywhere”, she assured. Dolls with hijab are not as uncommon in countries with a major Muslim population, but until now worldwide known Barbie had not offered this option.

Dolls with hijab are not as uncommon in countries with a major Muslim population, but until now worldwide known Barbie had not offered this option

The doll was officially presented at a Glamour magazine gala devoted to the “Women of the Year” last Monday but it will not be until 2018 that she will go on sale. “When I think about my own journey being a Muslim girl in London, there were people that made me think I didn’t belong… For all those people who didn’t believe in me, this Barbie girl is for you”, Muhammad said.

“Ibtihaj continues to inspire women and girls everywhere to break boundaries”, Mattel said on its Instagram channel, where it has got almost 36.000 likes but also some comments against this initiative.

La entrada First hijab-wearing Barbie will be available in 2018 se publicó primero en Salam Plan.