I found our discussion of the hijab and its function in the lives of Muslim women to be fascinating. The hijab can serve as an oppressive instrument to some women, while other women proudly wear the hijab and see it as a source of empowerment. Because the hijab can mean different things to different women, it is important for women to make the determination for themselves as to what empowers them. In researching the function of the hijab and sources of empowerment for Muslim women, I discovered statement after statement about the empowerment of Muslin women. The statements were all on Twitter, labeled #EmpoweringMuslimWomen.
Sabina Khan-Ibarra, creator of the website Muslimah Montage, requested that women “share stories about their triumphs, influences, and aspirations.” I read those tweets and compiled them in this video, pairing each tweet with an image of a Muslim woman. Some women are wearing hijabs and others are not. The purpose of this video collage is to demonstrate that Muslim women are dynamic and unique, and that each woman has the right (and perhaps the obligation) to empower herself however she feels comfortable, whether that is through the donning of a hijab or not. It is to convey this message that I repeatedly include the line, “We’ve to understand the empowerment may mean different things for different women.”
The video can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSJ7F31WXus&feature=youtu.be