Intersectionality is a term coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, inspired by Sojourner Truth, which categorizes race, class, gender and sexuality. It serves as a platform for people to define their existence. Although a common and an essential theory, intersectionality in action is an extremely difficult hurdle. Even though Crenshaw relates intersectionality with African American and Black American Culture, I want to take a different perspective, focusing on the identity of women in different cultures and countries focusing on the United States and Saudi Arabia.
People spend and struggle their entire lifetime trying to figure out their identity. We spend the majority of life trying to identify ourselves for various purposes; some people want to fit in and others fight for a cause. Identities in different spaces have been the overarching and underlying theme of the class as well as our lives (as dramatic as that sounds). Personally speaking, from the first day of class when you always mentioned how everything is a social construct. From then, I began my journey towards self-identity. Questioning everything I knew about myself, religion, and culte, I allowed myself to search. The more I searched, the more confused I became. Intersectionality is a gateway for creative expression. We mix and match between our multiple identities, slowly trapping ourselves in an endless loop of roles. People are made of multiple identities: career, status, social power and religion. Ironically enough, religion excites the deepest and the most irrational human emotion (love and hate).
As time went on, Culture and religion intertwined inseparably. Culture is often disguised as religion so definitely that it is hard to ever separate them. Muslim women are thought to be submissive, oppressed and forced into abiding to the religion. The most notable point of criticism
Intersectionality of Hijab of Muslim Women in the US
The treatment of the Muslim community in the United States have deteriorated since 9/11. After 9/11, Muslims were put under the government’s radar, watching and hypothesizing every “terrorist” attack. The United States is known for always having a community at the bottom of the social pyramid, to put the blame on and scrutinize. For centuries and still today, the African American community withstood the pressure and now Muslims have also joined.
“Non-Muslim westerners” (NMW) view Muslims as one identity, however, doing so ignores the diversity among the population (Karasu, par. 1) . In most religion, specifically Islam, culture is the defining factor to the religious practices. How Islam is practiced by Muslims all over the world differ from which culture they are from. Ignorance of the NMW leads to the two categorization of Islamic people: people who are “visibly” Muslim (such as, hijabs for women and beards and hats for men) and people who are not. Although discriminated, Muslim men faces prejudice mainly from NMW. Today, Muslim men praise each other for their thick shapely beard, asking for advice on how to grow such beard. Beards have also become a trendy fashion statement decreasing the religious discrimination. Women, however, face discrimination from both NMW and other Muslims as well; Under double discrimination, American Muslim women struggle to deal with their “constructed” identity in the United States (Karasu, par. 1).
In order to properly understand a Muslim-American woman, her intersectionality must also be recognized. Hijabs, burqas and niqabs are visual markers of women’s religion in the United states, putting them on the spotlight at any outside space they are in. In comparison, Muslim-American women who are not “visible” are not scrutinized; however, this is also problematic because it ignores a part of their identity, making their representation invisible. From an outside point of view, Islam oppresses women and teaches them to be submissive (Karasu, par. 3). Unlike many Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia where by law, women must wear hijab, women choose to wear their religious attire in the U.S. This speaks greatly to debunk the idea of submissiveness of Muslim-American women.
Muslim-American women wearing religious attire faces many struggles within their daily life. As mentioned, these women are held at a different standards than non-visible Muslim American. They are expected to be perfect human beings and perfect Muslims. They are “supposed” to give money to every homeless person they see, they are not supposed to have male friends and boyfriends, they are not supposed to raise their voices, they are not supposed to curse, or attend clubs. Basically, women wearing religious attire are not supposed to have a social life or a bad day. Perfection is their daily standard. This scale is used by both NMW and other Muslims as well. The moment women put on a hijab, their identity is reduced to just Muslim. Culture and background does not get integrated in this presumed identity. From the moment women walk out of their house, they become a constant target and victims of stares and slurs. Speaking from personal experience, I have also worn hijab for school related events in all throughout High school. I had to wear it for three to four days every year, and every year it was the same. Even though, the Muslim population in the United States in increasing, the stares and uneasiness of NMW never change. In a hyper cultural area like New York City, a marker of muslimness still keeps everyone on edge. In high school, I was in denial and never believed the bad connotation surrounding Islam, but one incident truly opened my eyes. I was taking the 6 train to Columbia Medical Center in the spring of 2015. I was going to the event with a group of other friends. We were all in Muslim attire. As soon as we even entered the train, all eyes were on us. At every stop, people getting on and getting off would look at us with curiosity. While talking with my friends, I took out my perfume bottle to spray on. Due to a sudden jerk of the train, my perfume bottle cap dropped and rolled halfway down the cart. At that moment, everyone gasped, some covered their ears while some took their feet off the train floor. Dumbfounded, I started laughing hysterically. Struggling to keep my laughter in, I go to pick up the fallen bottled cap. Looking up, I saw anger, fear and rage in people’s eyes. They thought I was pulling a prank or something or maybe they realized their own racism. I finally realized the blessing/curse of hijab.
Along with personal struggles, hijab becomes a bargain for women when it comes to federal institutions. There are many places that prohibit the wearing of the hijabs. Visibly Muslim women are harassed and ever fired at work, denied access to public places, and put in positions where they have to compromise their beliefs. For example, in many states, Muslim women were not allowed to wear their hijab if they were working as police officer. In airports, the treatment of a garmented Muslim is aggressive and hostile even. Society constructed the people of the Islamic religion to be hyper-visualized by NMW.
Along with hyper visuality, there is invisibility. Invisibility of Muslim-American woman associate with different sets of struggles: a conflict of identity. Muslim-American not wearing religious garments incite hate from within the community. They are considered “bad Muslims” and are not acceptable as a good representative (Karasu, par. 3). These Muslim women may not receive stares and slurs from strangers, but they are bigoted by other Muslim fellow. Non-hijabis are seen as a rebel and non-practicing to many people within the community. They equate not wearing a hijab to not having faith. These women internalize the expectations of what it means to be Muslim (Karasu, par. 5). Having people’s level of faith be determined by others mentally taxes them. This mental weight starts to take form in self-doubt and self-loathing. Muslim religion in the United States has become a competition and a badge to prove to one’s faith. Faith in Islam and any religion and forms of spirituality should only take place between one and oneself. As a non-hijabi Muslim-American, I’ve been often asked, “Why don’t you wear a hijab?” followed by, “But, aren’t you a Muslim?” I do not mind someone asking me my choice in how I express myself, but assuming that every Muslim should represent themselves in a certain way shows ignorance. Judging my faith and my methods of worship by a piece of clothing again demonstrates the power of social expectations.
Cultural Separation
Culture defines religion and not the other way around. Identifying myself as an Asian American Muslim, my method of practice differs from the Western Islamic countries. Kecia Ali in Sexual Ethics and Islam, presents the concept of dowry. In the Western Islamic countries, when marrying, the groom’s family gives dowry (cash, jewelry, cattle, vehicles) to the bride’s family for giving away their daughter (chapter 2). In the Eastern countries, along with giving away their daughter, the family must also provide dowry to the groom’s family as payment for taking care of their daughter for the rest of her married life. Due to this pressure, the Eastern countries despise giving birth to daughters, hence the high daughter killing rate. Poor families are known for killing infant daughters because of financial issues. Without dowry, the daughter will not be married off and will have to be taken care of by the family.
Everyone is allowed to enjoy oneself through physical self-expression such as singing and dancing. Western Islamic countries embrace their love of singing and dancing, expressing themselves to the fullest, while in the Eastern Countries, dancing and singing are seen to be promiscuous and slutty. Although, normalized in television, in reality, a dancing and singing woman will have to face sexual judgement. Along with culture, status also changes how one practices religion in the Eastern countries. If a wealthy muslim girl were to sing and dance, she would be praised as talented and hard working, but if a financially struggling girl were to do the same, she would be called a slut and prostitute. These muslim girls would be treated entirely differently even though they are both muslim. Being muslim comes with location, space, and status.
Identity of Muslim Women in Saudi Arabia
Sharmeen Chinoy’s “Women in the Holy Kingdom” blatantly demonstrates women’s social standings in Saudi. She is a Pakistani Muslim women using herself as well as other women as the test objects in the documentary. Chinoy starts off the documentary by describing men to be “modern enough to own BMWs and iPhones/Androids with a mind still living in a tent”. This can be compared to having a grown man’s body with a childlike mind. Meaning, like most children, it will be impossible to create a change and improvement in the society due to stubbornness, ego and lack of reason. Saudi Arabia is said to be the most Islamic conservative country in the world. It follows a complete Islamic jurisdiction such as the “Shari’a”. Ruthven talks about the Shari’a as a five part measuring system for the people of the country (Chapter 4).
Women did not receive the right to drive there until last year, 2018. Even while Chinoy was filming, she lived like a real Saudi woman facing several illogical disadvantages just because she was a woman. Firstly, she had to be escorted everywhere in the country with a male and could not do even basic things such as checking into a hotel without man’s permission. It doesn’t just stop there. During her month stay at the hotel, Chinoy mentions that “[she is] only allowed to order from room service and a small food place downstairs [of the hotel]”. All the other tens of restaurants near her hotel were exclusive to men only. Socially speaking, these restrictions are made to make women feel useless and unworthy. It unconsciously systemizes women to think that they are not capable of walking alone from point A to point B or be in presence of other men due to their superiority.
Now women are allowed to work, however, they “only make up six-percent of the population”. Why? Because, they have to ask the permission of their father/brother/husband. Most refuse to let women work because it would taint the family name. If a woman needs to work, it reflects that the man is not “masculine” enough to handle his family expenses on his own which emasculates him, deflating his ego. Chinoy talked to some of the female workers asking about what kind of rights would these women have for their daughters in the future. Most of which said something along the lines of “I want my daughter to have education.” This is the first step to progress. Women are only taught until elementary level because they should be focused on kitchen duties. Many women do not even realize that there is a problem with this kind of treatment in Saudi. Chinoy had a conversation with three college girls where two of them does not recognize the social inequality that has been placed in the name of religion. One of the three girls was married who mentioned that she too had to receive permission from her husband to even talk to Chinoy. When Chinoy questioned it, the girl defended this system saying that it is just a means of informing her husband about her day. Interesting enough, I doubt the husband “informs” the girl about his day. Identifying that there exists a problem is half of the solution.
Women are treated as a bird in a cage. As one of the clergy men of Saudi said, “Within the four walls of the home, a woman can do whatever she feels like. She has complete freedom.” The irony is extremely funny and sad because this is just a roundabout way of saying women have no power. Honestly, even in the homes, women do not have much power. Chinoy interviewed a woman about her household activities where she mentioned that she had to get permission from her husband to do grocery shopping so I do not know what kind of freedom is that. Usually, this kind of household dynamic would be considered abusive. In fact, fifty-percent of the marriages in Saudi are abusive. One in every two women is being abused in a country. According to Ali, abuse and lack of financial aid are not valid reasons for divorce (pg 31). This could be also one of the religious reasons why men do not allow women to work because even if the male is not able to sufficiently provide for the women in the family, they are not concerned for divorce. The clergy also said that “women are too emotional” to be in control for the divorced as well as Sexual Ethics and Islam (pg 38). In addition to divorce, the people of Saudi Arabia believe that women are not good enough to run for political positions or even vote because of the emotional instability of women. Not only the men, but a lot of women also believe this to be true and are accepting of their own exclusion.
Intersectionality is everywhere. Every person is an individual and with every individual exists infinite identities. Instead of trying to control and shame people, letting them proudly be who they are is the biggest reward for human kind.
Bibliography
Ali, K. (2017). Sexual ethics and Islam: Feminist reflections on Quran, hadith, and jurisprudence. London, England: Oneworld Publications.
Karasu, Saren. “About OPUS.” Applied Psychology OPUS, APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY OPUS, 2019, wp.nyu.edu/steinhardt-appsych_opus/muslim-american-women-in-the-united-states-what-is-considered-muslim-enough/.
Photo by RODNAE Productions from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/women-in-floral-dress-wearing-hijab-7249763/
Ruthven, M. (2012). Islam: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, S. (Director). (2004). Women of the Holy Kingdom: Struggling for Equality in Saudi Arabia[Motion picture]. United States: Fisher Klingenstein Ventures.
