Bella Hadid, a Palestinian-American model, is using her position to raise awareness of discrimination against Muslim women who wear hijabs.
The 25-year-old supermodel released a series of Instagram postings describing some of the issues confronting Muslim women throughout the world today. She also told the case of Hoda, a teenage hijabi who was attacked.
“In other types of discrimination: I encourage France, India, Quebec, Belgium, and any other country in the world that is discriminating towards Muslim women to reconsider what decisions you have made or are attempting to make in the future concerning a body that is not yours,” the model said in the caption.
She also chastised those who question women’s capacity to participate in sports or study while wearing a headscarf. “Most institutions will tell you that the only way to secure an internship is to remove your headscarf. It’s ludicrous and demonstrates how Islamophobic the world is without even realising it,” she wrote.
The model emphasised that it is ludicrous for males to dictate women’s choices regarding their own bodies in the twenty-first century. “The egocentrics of a guy to believe for even one second that they have the legitimacy to make judgments for a woman in 2022 are not only comical, but genuinely sick in the mind,” she continued.
“You know, at the bottom of it all, all of this is really far deeper than Islamophobia; it’s pure se**xism and misogyny,” Hadid remarked, quoting and tagging a friend. ‘Men, regardless of country or time, always want to control what a woman does and wears.'” She concluded her article with a firm “it has to stop.”
The model also shared a photo taken by a friend with the caption, “Although different forms of the hijab and head coverings are beginning to make an appearance in fashion, let us remember the daily struggle, abuse, and discrimination Muslim women face on a regular basis because of their faith and what they stand for.”
In her third post, she requested justice for Hoda, a hijabi who had been attacked and mistreated.
Hadid stated in 2017 that she is a “proud Muslim” who stands up for her “Muslim sisters.” She has been outspoken on Islamophobia and Palestinian rights.