Social pressure to wear hijab? Isn’t that long-gone?

A lot of women in Malaysia wear hijab. Seen here are two hijab-wearers doing work on campus.

Just when we think we are becoming more open-minded and more accepting towards each other’s way of life (1Malaysia, anyone?), out comes France’s ban on face veils – specifically the niqab; a cloth worn by some Muslim women to cover their faces.

Okay, let’s not talk about France.

Let’s talk about our own beloved country, where it seems that everyone is okay about how the other chooses to dress, as long as it does not violate anybody’s rights or cause harm to anyone.

Or is everyone really okay with it?

Well, not really – according to a documentary titled “Siapa Aku?” or “Who Am I?” by Norhayati Kaprawi.

Norhayati is a member of Sisters in Islam (SIS), a self-proclaimed “group of Muslim women committed to promoting the rights of women within the framework of Islam.”

According to Norhayati’s interview with Wall Street Journal after the screening of “Siapa Aku?” at the Central Market Annexe last February, Muslim women who did not wear hijab were often taunted and warned “you wear or you go to hell.” She emphasised that a lot of women in the country then wear hijab out of social pressure.

But is it true that in our multi-racial, multi-religious country, there is still social pressure to act a certain way or in this case, to wear the hijab?

Aren’t we all educated enough to decide for ourselves whether we want to dress a certain way or not?

And the most important question is: do most Malaysian women really wear the hijab out of social pressure?

“I don’t think there is [social] pressure. I believe Muslim women nowadays are more audacious than before.

You can even see Muslim girls wearing mini-skirts.

The Ministry of Education also recently allowed the freedom to wear or not to wear hijab in school,” Aziza Amalyna, a Taylorian who wears hijab, said.

Nur Leila, another hijab-wearer, also said there was no social pressure for her to wear hijab. It was her choice.

“If you want to talk about social pressure to do certain things, then there are a lot of social pressures that we can talk about; the pressure to have a Hollywood-type body, to pluck your eyebrows to look pretty or to dye your hair to look cool.

“In the end, it all comes down to your own personal choice. You are accountable for your own actions. There is no question of social pressure forcing you to do this or that at all,” Leila added.

Meanwhile, Suhailla Saharani, a Muslim woman who does not wear hijab, said that there was indeed social pressure for her to wear the hijab but she chose not to wear it.

“If you do something because of other people, you might not commit to it. But if you do it because your heart tells you to, you will most likely commit to it,” she explained.

In a talk on aurah and hijab at Masjid Wilayah, KL, on April 23, speaker Prof Madya Dr Harlina Halizah Siraj said the reason Muslim women wear hijab should be to get to closer to God.

But she added it did not mean hijab-wearers were more pious than those who did not wear one as only God could decide that.

She also said it was not right for Muslim women to wear hijab just for the sake of others, be it for men, or just to follow what other people were doing.

(By Nurul Ain Jamaluddin)