Bella Hadid on anti-hijab hostility: 'It’s not your job to tell women what they should or shouldn’t wear'
Bella Hadid on anti-hijab hostility: 'It’s not your job to tell women what they should or shouldn’t wear'
Outspoken supermodel Bella Hadid called on the governments of France, India, Belgium, and the Canadian province of Quebec - all of which are considering or implementing bans on hijab in public spaces - to backtrack on their 'discriminatory' policies.
2 min read
Palestinian-Dutch model Bella Hadid often takes to social media to express support for social justice issues [Getty]
Palestinian-Dutch supermodel Bella Hadid has published a series of posts defending women and girls who wear the hijab, amid attacks and government clampdowns on wearers of the Islamic veil worldwide.
Hadid called on the governments of France, India, Belgium, and the Canadian province of Quebec - all of which are considering or implementing bans on hijab in public spaces - to backtrack on policies that are “discriminatory against Muslim women”.
“It’s not your job to tell women what they should or shouldn't wear, especially when it is pertaining to faith and safety”, she said.
Hadid also lent her support to Hoda al-Jamaa, a Muslim teenager in New Zealand who was the victim of an alleged hate crime earlier this month.
Al-Jamaa had told New Zealand public service broadcaster RNZ that two school pupils tore her hijab off while others filmed the attack.
"I was waiting for the teacher to help me," al-Jamaa said.
“We need to change this mindset of immediate judgement," Hadid said of the attack, and "teach our friends, children, parents, families that wearing a hijab, being Muslim, or being anything other than white in general, does not equal being a threat or different than anyone else.”
Speaking on her own industry, Hadid argued that the rise of Muslim-led fashion brands and hijab-wearing models in mainstream catwalk events has yet to translate into fair treatment for Muslim women in the fashion industries of the US and Europe.
“If we are seeing more and more appreciation of hijabs and covers in fashion, we have to also acknowledge the cycle of abuse that Muslim women of all different ethnicities in fashion get met with on a regular basis within fashion houses”, she said.
Hadid frequently takes to social media to express solidarity with social justice causes, including Palestinian liberation and Black Lives Matter.
Follow the Middle East's top stories in English at The New Arab on Google News
More In News
