When most people hear the

phrase "The oppression of

Muslim women" their minds
automatically go to the way of
the Taliban. When in reality a
lot of oppression can come
from Western culture. Most
Westerners see a woman in a
hijab or burka and think the
worst. Assigning labels like
terrorists and assuming they
“What rights have no rights and are
automatically nothing without
do you have their husbands, based on other
to work here, cultures. These women are
ostracised because of head
you bloody coverings. Getting put down day
by day because of a religious
Muslim?!?” choice, and treated like
garbage, when wearing a head

THE OPPRESSION
covering is the same as a cross
on a necklace. The oppression

OF MUSLIM WOMEN
of these women in the Western
world needs to be brought to
light today.
 These women are faced with questions like, "Does your husband know you're
out?" and one woman was grabbed by her headscarf at a warehouse and asked if
she even had the right to work there. These women get pulled aside at airports
for "random security checks" because of the choices one group made. The
women who follow the Muslim practice should not have to be afraid of what
someone might do to them. People also assume they are not allowed to go
anywhere or be anything without their husbands by their sides.

Many people choose to stay ignorant about the Muslim culture and assume
Muslim women cannot do anything besides being in the kitchen. The
western world was made to be a blend of cultures. Yet every different group
gets discriminated against daily. These women not only are faced with the
backlash of the 9/11 attacks and the stereotypes faced with being a Muslim
but have to deal with the sexist views of the world. Islamophobia has
become a word, and these women are faced with the brunt of it.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

“If You Want to Know about Muslim Women's Rights, Ask Muslim Women | Susan Carland.” The
Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 7 May 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/07/if-
you-want-to-know-about-muslim-womens-rights-ask-muslim-women.

Ununiversity. “Confronting Prejudice against Muslim Women in the West.” United Nations University,
https://unu.edu/publications/articles/confronting-prejudice-against-muslim-women-in-the-west.html.

Katherine Surko Contributor 26 March 2015 Blogs, and Katherine Surko Contributor. “The ‘Oppressed’
Muslim Woman.” Washington University Political Review, 26 Mar. 2015,
https://www.wupr.org/2015/03/26/the-oppressed-muslim-woman/.