Category Archives: Women

Muslim athlete disqualified over uniform

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Juashaunna KellyWASHINGTON – A high school track star has been disqualified from a meet because officials said the custom-made outfit she wears to conform to her Muslim faith violated competition rules.

Juashaunna Kelly, a senior at the District of Columbia’s Theodore Roosevelt High School, has the fastest mile and 2-mile times of any girl runner in the city this winter. She was disqualified from Saturday’s Montgomery Invitational indoor track and field meet.

Kelly was wearing the same uniform she has worn for three seasons while running for Theodore Roosevelt’s cross-country and track teams. The custom-made, one-piece blue and orange unitard covers her head, arms, torso and legs. Over the unitard, she wears the same orange and blue T-shirt and shorts as her teammates. The outfit allows her to compete while adhering to her Muslim faith, which forbids displaying any skin other than her face and hands. “It’s not special,” Kelly said. “It doesn’t make me perform better.”

But meet director Tom Rogers said Kelly’s uniform violated rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations, which sanctioned the event.

Associated Press, 16 January 2008

Shop bans head scarves and hijabs

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Whitegate Wines noticeShoppers wearing head scarves have been banned from a shop because the owner said they cannot be properly identified.

The ruling at Whitegate Wines off-licence and Convenience Store, Padiham Road, Padiham, includes those wearing the hijab – the traditional Muslim head wear. A sign on the door states: “Due to CCTV coverage all headwear must be removed before entering the shop.”

One customer complained after he sent his 13-year-old daughter in to buy a soft drink and crisps on her way back from school. He said: “She returned empty-handed. I then went in with my wife and she was told she would not get served. First we tried to explain that unlike a hoodie or a hat Muslim women wear the hijab for religious reasons. Then we tried to explain that if a bank accepts customers wearing a headscarf then shouldn’t that mean this shop should too? But the staff were having none of it.”

Owner Tom White said security was the overriding concern. “The police told us that a person is more identifiable if all the headgear is removed. So we have decided to implement the policy across the board so as not to favour anyone. I have also been told I am perfectly within my rights to do this. As you may understand shops such as ours are targeted by shoplifters and security is therefore a major concern for us. The policy has been in place for about a year and a half. In that that time shoplifting has gone down.”

When asked if any Hijab wearing women had committed any shoplifting in the past Mr White said, “No”.

Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 15 January 2008

And note the readers’ comments on the report. For example: “About bloody time someone has the guts to stand up to these people. You cannot walk into a bank with a crash helmet on or pay for petrol, so why should they be allowed to wear these Hijab. Am not a racist but if people want to live in our country then they should abide by our rules. When me and the wife go on holiday to places like Dubai we have to abide by their rules, ie no drinking alchohol. Lets get control of this country. Well done again Tom White.”

Straw ‘the hypocrite’ in Muslim veil ruling, says Tory MP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Philip Davies (2)Jack Straw was accused of hypocrisy yesterday after censuring a magistrate who refused to deal with a case in which a Muslim woman wore a face veil.

The Justice Secretary issued a formal reprimand to Ian Murray even though Mr Straw himself famously asks women to remove their veils in his constituency office. Mr Straw said in October 2006 that veils were “a statement of separation and difference”.

Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, a West Yorkshire constituency with a strong Muslim presence, said: “He is a complete hypocrite. Jack Straw tells everyone that he will ask anyone who wears a veil to remove it, then he turns round and disciplines someone for following his line. People are fed up to the back teeth with continual concessions to minority groups, in particular in the courts.”

Daily Mail, 9 January 2008

Veil row magistrate reprimanded

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A magistrate has been reprimanded for refusing to deal with the case of a Muslim woman because she was wearing a veil covering her face. Ian Murray walked out of court when Zoobia Hussain, 32, first appeared at Manchester Magistrates’ Court in June. Ms Hussain, from Crumpsall, who was accused of criminal damage, was wearing a veil covering her entire face. The Office of Judicial Complaints said Mr Murray had been given a formal reprimand and further training.

BBC News, 8 January 2008

A Muslim headscarf can make a big difference…

Posted on by Bob Pitt

If you’re a woman who wears a Muslim head covering or hijab, a lot of people might think you look pleasant enough but they wouldn’t necessarily want you living in their neighborhood.

That’s one conclusion to draw from research done by our friends at HCD Research Inc., using their MediaCurves technology. They showed more than 600 people photos of the same woman, one in which her hair was uncovered, the second in which her head was covered with a hijab or Muslim head covering. According to the HCD Research:

The study was conducted by HCD Research, using its mediacurves.com web site during January 2-3, to determine whether Americans possess different views of a woman based on whether or not she wears traditional Muslim headwear.

Participants were divided into two randomly assigned groups. Members of each group were asked to view one of two separate photos of an attractive young woman. Neither photo was identified in any way. Each sample was then asked identical questions about the woman, her age, perceived personality, activities, and how acceptable she might be as a neighbor.

One-third of participants indicated that they would rather have the woman with the traditional headwear live in another place, another city, and maybe out of the U.S, as opposed to living in their neighborhood. However, a clear majority of participants (89%) reported that the woman without the shawl would be welcome in their neighborhood.

It’s ironic that as President Bush prepares to travel to the Middle East to talk to Israelis and Palestinians about living side by side in peace and security, so many Americans would say that they wouldn’t want to live side by side with a woman in a hijab.

Baltimore Sun, 4 January 2008

Whose liberation?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“One of the most elusive tasks I have faced at conferences has been a definition of ‘Muslim women’ from which I could lay out the terms of their suffering and, in a true pompous academic fashion, advance some proposals for their liberation. The moment the term ‘Muslim women’ is deconstructed, my argument reaches an impasse. On the other hand, incorporating it into any diatribe against misogyny, oppression and persecution threatens to reduce my argument to one where Islam is the sole culprit. More importantly, the conflation between women and Islam inadvertently lumps together close to 1 billion women from around the globe, a homogenising equation which overlooks many other contextual variables that have shaped the plight of these women.”

Salam Al-Mahadin at Comment is Free, 26 December 2007

Appeasement of Muslims in Detroit

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“In the Detroit-area, where a festering and metastasizing Muslim minority has managed to co-opt the media, every time a Muslim hiccups, it makes the news. And every time kids at a Muslim school celebrate a holiday, that makes the news, too. Christmas parties at a Catholic or Evangelical school, who cares? And a lot of these stories are – predictably – meant to impress upon us various areas of disinformation, such as how pro-female Islam is or how peaceful.”

Right-wing US pundit Debbie Schlussel takes issue with the Detroit Free Press over its favourable coverage of the hajj celebration at a local Muslim school, the Muslim American Youth Academy.

debbieschlussel.com, 19 December 2007

Aqsa – a dirge

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Here’s what we know of Aqsa Parvez’ death: Aqsa Parvez had problems at home stemming from intergenerational and, probably to some degree, cross-cultural conflicts, which made her distinct from other Canadian kids in exactly zero ways. She was killed in her home, something so mind-shatteringly evil there is nothing normal at all about it. Analyzing it as if it falls into some pattern or other is fruitless. Scrambling over Aqsa Parvez’ prone dead body, wrenching off this bit or that, to position it so that its ultimate sacrifice is a sacrifice for our just cause, the obliteration of the hijab or the destruction of the myth of traditional multiculturalism or the age-old war against tradition, is disgusting.”

Abdiel Abd Al Hayy takes on Irshad Manji et al.

Abdiel, 18 December 2007