Muslim’s have always been faced with struggles in their lives, especially when entering into the United States.
They are a popular minority group in America that is strongly discriminated against. They face every day struggles that make their lives that much more difficult. Muslim women in particular is what I am going to be discussing in my research paper. Women in general, are still being discriminated against in the world today, but being a Muslim women in America, has unthinkable consequences and daily hardships that many of us American’s could not begin to understand.Along with the everyday stereotypes they face because they are Muslim, they also face, ignorance about Islam, gender-based discrimination, violence, fear, and discrimination about their clothing (head covering). Muslim women obviously dress very different than other Americans and their dress apparel stands out.
This is one of the biggest issues and challenges that Muslim women in American face. They are taunted, and harassed every day because of the head-coverings that they wear, which is known as the “hijab”. Hijab, is Arabic for “cover”, which is extended to mean modesty and privacy.Hijab is actually a practice, but when women are practicing Hijab, is when they wear the scarf they wear. It usually covers the head, neck, and majority of the face in some situations, leaving the eyes open. Muslim women follow the rules of the Hijab, to show their submission to and love for God.
However, this is all usually very misinterpreted. Women are looked down upon when they are wearing their head-coverings. Muslim women who wear head scarves are more likely than those who don’t to say they face discrimination and a hostile environment.Sixty-nine percent of women who wear hijab reported at least one incident of discrimination compared to 29% of women who did not wear the hijab.
Muslim women have been prohibited from wearing their head-coverings in a number of contexts. These women have been harassed, fired from jobs, and even denied access to public areas. In 2006, there were 154 cases of discrimination or harassment in which a Muslim woman’s head-covering was the identified factor that triggered the incident. In the work area, Muslim women have been denied the right to wear a headscarf, and have been fired for refusing to remove it.Even teachers in some public schools have been prevented from wearing their hijabs. A 2007 study by the Women Working with Immigrant Women, found that out of 32 women surveyed, 29 employers commented on their scarves and 19 women were told to remove their scarf.
The study also compared women who were similar in almost every way went out and applied for jobs. In half of the cases where women did not wear a scarf, the employer asked them to fill out an application or leave a resume. However, the women with the scarves who applied to the same company, were not asked to fill out an application or leave a resume.Students have also been denied the right to wear their hijab to school.
Muslim girls who wear headscarves, or whose mothers wear them have been harassed and assaulted. These students have also been denied the privilege to participate in extracurricular activities, including musical concerts and athletic events. Discrimination towards these women has also shown up in places where you wouldn’t expect it to, in law enforcement. Muslim women who have been put into jail, have been denied the right to wear their headscarves, even when they are in courthouse detention.The hijab is not even permitted for women to wear while visiting family members in correctional institutions. Women have also been harassed by police officers for wearing the hijab, both while being arrested and also when they have called the police for help.
Women and girls who are wearing their scarves have even been denied the right to enter into public places such as the mall and even swimming pools, unless they agree to being searched by guards or agree to remove their head coverings. Muslim women have even been denied getting their drivers license unless they removed their hijab.They are discriminated against everywhere they go, everyday for practicing their religion. Muslim women wear the hijab as a way to express their religion and give back to God, they should feel proud being able to express their own identity, however many Muslim women actually say that they are uncomfortable because they know they are being stereotyped as archaic, unprofessional, and even as terrorists. A Muslim women by the name of Asad, says the only time she really notices discrimination or prejudice towards her is when she is wearing her head scarf.She said on time she was wearing it, and she was in Wal-Mart parking lot, and two men approached her and aggressively shouted “Y’all ought to be locked up! ” Pregnant at the time, she quickly backed away to protect herself and her baby, but soon realized she was trapped with cars on all sides of her.
Thankfully, a police officer drove by at the exact right time, and the two men went their separate ways. Muslim women in the United States are obvious targets- they are obviously Muslim, and because of this they bear the brunt of ignorance about Islam, they face sexual harassment, and many of the times physical violence is placed upon then.The men of Islam can get away more so than the women can with “not being Muslim”, or not being from Islam. They have nothing that really truly identifies who they are, and where they are from.
But for the women, it is quite obvious when they wear the hijab, or scarves who they are. They should not be ashamed but they are still taunted because in the eyes of everyone else they were the ones that were involved with all the terrorist attacks; when is reality these women had absolutely nothing to do with what happened.They are just as scared, frightened, and worried than any other Americans. Ignorance about Islam, is a huge issue that all Muslims, including women, have to deal with on a everyday basis.
Despite several generations in the United States, Muslims have quite a history in the U. S. They are still perceived as foreigners, and still perceived as people out to destroy the United States. They are mostly all stereotyped as people of violence, and are always looked down upon. One example of this was after the Oklahoma City bombing. This took place on April 19, 1995.
At the time, it was the deadliest terrorist attack ever in the United States. A few hundred people were killed, and several hundred were injured, and of course as soon as the report of the bombing came out, the first suspects were the Muslims. The first report after the bombing took place stated, “Arab looking people were seen leaving the area. ” The Muslim people including the women faced severe harassment, threats, and feared that their lives were strongly at risk. The harassment was so bad that Muslim schools had to be closed.
Individual Muslims were detained and harassed.At least 220 attacks were committed against Muslims within the next 24 hours of the bombing. There was a rush to point the finger at the Muslims for what had happened, but it wasn’t until four days later that the Muslim people could finally breathe, when the real criminal was caught, who was not Muslim at all. During the four days it took to charge the rightful criminal with the bombing attack, many severe discriminating incidents occurred against the Muslim people. In one case, a Muslim security guard was doing his daily rounds, when a group of American’s murdered him, simply for being Muslim.In another incident a pregnant Muslim woman’s home was attacked by enraged Oklahoma residents; and threatening messages were left on the answering machines of Islamic mosques around the country.
Many Americans today still believe that Muslims are very violent and hateful people. In a recent poll in the U. S. News & World Report, more than half of the people surveyed believed that Islam was anti-American, anti-Western, or supportive of terrorism; and only five percent said they’d had much contact with Muslims themselves. On September 11, 2002, the biggest terrorist attack occurred.
We all known of this day at “9/11” when suicide bombers crashed into the twin towers in New York City. According to a survey taken by the Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life, Americans believe that Muslims face more discrimination than other religious groups in the United States. Fifty-eight percent said that Muslims face “a lot” of discrimination. The poll also showed that 38 percent of Americans believe Islam encourages violence more than any other religion. This is just a few of the many examples as to how Muslim including women are discriminated against, 9/11 just made the discrimination even more severe.
More and more malicious acts of violence towards the Muslims have been occurring every day since these terrorists attacks. Here are some more polls and surveys that were done, that help express the feelings of Americans, and how they truly feel about the Muslim people. USA TODAY/Gallup Poll did a survey and thirty-nine percent of respondents said they felt at least some prejudice against Muslims. Thirty-nine percent of people also said that they believed Muslim people should be required to carry a special ID, to help prevent terrorist attacks from occurring in the United States.Twenty-two percent of the respondents said that they wouldn’t want Muslims as neighbors.
Two-thirds of people indicated that they see Islam and their own beliefs as quite different. This proves that people still don’t understand the Muslim people and their traditions, the only thing they see is “terrorists. ” One situation that occurred after 9/11, was when 28 year old women named Motaz Elshafi, who one day casually opened up her e-mail with a message that began, “Dear Terrorist,” the note was from a co-worker right after 9/11 occurred and warned her that such violent acts wouldn’t intimidate people, but only make them stronger.This is only one of the many incidents that Muslim women had to face after the attacks on the Twin Towers. Women in the world, even in the United States are discriminated against, no matter what religion you are, or where you come from.
However, Muslim women do have a more severe case of the gender-based discrimination, due to the high amount of hatred and discrimination for their religion, beliefs, and for Islam already. These Muslim women along with other women, are still not equal to men.Women often cannot achieve their highest potential in career or education and the media continually depicts women as sex objects and nothing more. Women’s salaries are still averagely less than that of men’s salary. And even the women who work to earn a living still have the stereotypical primary responsibility for taking care of the home and the family, with little support from their husbands. Not only do these Muslim women have to face discrimination from being Muslim, they also have to face typical discrimination from simply being a woman.
There is a general devaluation of Muslim women, according to “Islam For Today” they are seen as “not as good” as men, a preference of sons over daughters, and women as a source of honor. So the Muslim women carry about this huge burden. They will often get married early because of this reason, which usually will result in an early pregnancy, which will result in an end to the woman’s educational opportunities, especially that of higher education because of the fact that they are not allowed to leave their homes or to travel very far to go to universities.Many religions out there are very much discriminated against as well.
They all have different aspects of their religion that make them different, and unique, and not everyone agree with those aspects all the time. However, Muslim women are the most discriminated against of all the faith communities. About one in three (30 percent) of Muslim women reported having experienced one or more episodes of discrimination or unfair treatment.The Jewish community followed next with 23 percent of them reporting unfair or discriminating experiences.
A survey was taken in 2004 with Canadians and the majority of them said that Muslim women face the most discrimination out of any other religious group. According to the survey 84 percent of them said they would be comfortable with a Muslim female teacher at their child’s school. It actually seems like a high number, however it was the lowers according to the rest, the other faith communities numbers were in the mid 90’s.Also, 80 percent of the Canadians said they wouldn’t mind having a Muslim female boss, but they also surveyed 96 percent for a Jewish boss and 97 percent for a Black boss. The Canadians also had a percent of 83 when asked if they would be comfortable if their son married a Jewish or Black woman, when asked the same question about a Muslim women, the results was only 60 percent.
Another poll was conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. This survey shows the comparison of the discrimination towards Muslim women, compared to other religions.Nearly 6 in 10 adults (58%) said that Muslim women are subjected to a lot of discrimination, far more than the Jews, and the other religious groups surveyed. Muslims was first, then Jews, evangelical Christians, atheists and then Mormons. The poll also lets out that about two-thirds of non-Muslims say that Islam and their own beliefs are extremely different, while only 17% say that Islam and their own beliefs have anything in common.
As of the perception others have of the religious differences, the list below helps identify which religions are more relatable.
