Women of all backgrounds invited to wear hijab on Feb. 1 to mark World Hijab Day

DUBAI: Feb. 1, 2023, could become a day to remember as women of all ethnicities worldwide are invited to wear the hijab in solidarity with Muslim women experiencing discrimination.

The World Hijab Day (WHD) Organization, through its annual initiative, has called on women across the globe, regardless of their religious backgrounds, to wear the Islamic headscarf (hijab) and show unity with Muslim women who experience discrimination, on Feb. 1.

Muslim women are being forced to remove hijabs to “show solidarity” and make political statements while some countries ratify laws that disallow veiled women from participating in society. The organization is fighting discrimination against Muslim women through awareness and education.

WHD says that the community should stand in solidarity in its fight against systemic hijabophobia.

“With your support, Muslim women and girls who choose to do so can wear their hijab without fear, intimidation, or hesitation,” said the organization in a statement.

The organizers of the global hijab-awareness event have invited women worldwide to mark the 2023 initiative in a new bid to dismantle hijabophobia.

World Hijab Day, celebrated each year on Feb. 1, and the non-profit organization behind it, were founded in 2013 by Bangladeshi American Nazma Khan with the aim of educating people and raising awareness about why many Muslim women choose to wear the hijab, and to encourage women to wear and experience it for a day. The annual event has grown into a global phenomenon.

Feb. 1, 2022 marked the 10th annual WHD when thousands of women worldwide, of all religions and backgrounds, participated by posting selfies on social media with the hashtag #DressedNotOppressed.

WHD has a long list of ambassadors who are an integral part of the organization in fighting discrimination against women in hijab.

With ambassadors from Argentina, the US, Canada, England, Australia, Ghana, Iraq, Ethiopia and Spain, among others, the organization searches for individuals who possess leadership qualities and are passionate, talented and dedicated to join their global team of ambassadors.

The organization says: “All we want is our freedom to wear what we want and be safe doing so.”

Ridwana Wallace-Laher, a British Indian hijabi from Bradford in England, said earlier it was important that Muslim women did not allow themselves to be affected by the stereotypes and stigmas attached to wearing the hijab.

In a message to women who have never worn a hijab, she has previously said: “You don’t really understand somebody until you put yourself in their shoes … it might be an opportunity to try it and see how you feel and, quite often, it’s actually quite liberating.”