Let’s pause to review this week’s many headscarf controversies because debate of the always-divisive topic is once again raging.
Last week, a group of Swedish politicians were criticized when they wore headscarves during meetings in Iran, with one fellow lawmaker calling it “ruinous to what is called a feminist foreign policy.” Trade Minister Ann Linde, who led the delegation, defended the move, arguing that she was not willing to break Iranian law, nor did she want to send an all-male group to the meeting.
Then on Tuesday, France’s far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen took the opposite stance in Lebanon, refusing to don a headscarf to meet with the country’s senior Sunni Muslim cleric. “Pass on my considerations,” she said, “but I will not veil myself.”
There was also news that Iran chess champion Dorsa Derakhshani, 18, had been kicked off her country’s national team for choosing to not wear the headscarf required in her homeland when she played a tournament in the U.K. territory of Gibraltar. The head of the Iranian Chess Federation said of the decision: “Our national interests have priority over everything.”
And yesterday, Turkey—which in 1980s banned headscarves in public institutions—announced it’s lifting a rule that prohibited female members of the military from wearing a headscarf. The decision reflects the stance of Islamist-leaning President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who believes the ban is illiberal and antiquated.
All these stories point to the many sides of the headscarf conversation—whether the garment is a symbol of religious expression or one of female repression; whether shunning headscarves will encourage more assimilation among Muslims or stoke radicalism.
And there’s yet another story about a group of people who are celebrating the headscarf moment. London just held its first ever Modest Fashion Week, which showcased designs that cater to Muslim women’s cultural and religious identities. The event is a response to retailers’ increasing interest in selling modest wear and the style’s growing popularity among consumers—not just Muslims, but orthodox Jews, Christians, and religiously-unaffiliated women, too. Mariah Idrissi, a hijab-wearing model who’s appeared in H&M ads, said the event is about diversity, and “showing that as much as modesty is a part of the Islamic faith, everyone is welcome to be a part of it.”