Anyone who knows well of Indonesia and its Muslim communities should be familiar with the fact that the majority of Muslim women who wear hijab here do not do so because anyone has forced them to (unless you count following the trend as “being forced”)
Hijab, Misunderstood Symbol of Freedom
Jakarta Globe: I find some comments regarding Muslim women who wear hijab on a blog post by Anahita, “Love at the Edge of Conservatism,” to be very degrading.
The comments may attempt to sound like they defend “marginalized Muslim women,” but how is it any defense when they suggest that Muslim women wearing hijab don’t have mind of their own, and when they interpret those women’s willingness to wear hijab as an agreement to be treated like “second-rate human”? I find such views to be shared not only by the commentators but also by many others, especially Westerners.
As a Muslim woman who has been wearing hijab for half of my life — out of my own free will — I think the comments are full of prejudices and stereotypes.
I do admit there are many Muslim women in some Muslim majority nations, e.g. Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, who wear head coverings, or even face coverings, because they are compelled by the states, by the tradition in their conservative communities, and by their families. Many of them, to this I agree, have been marginalized and oppressed but the use of power to force women to wear hijab hardly applies in the majority of Muslim states, including Indonesia.
Yes, there are an Indonesian province, i.e. Aceh, and a city, i.e. Padang in West Sumatra, that compel Muslim women to wear headscarves. But, how about in the 32 other provinces and hundreds of others municipalities/districts?