Hijab selfies fad takes off as Australians show solidarity with Muslim women

AS controversy flares over Muslim garments in Canberra, Australian women are showing solidarity with their Muslim sisters and fighting stigma one selfie at a time.

AUSTRALIAN women are being encouraged to post “hijab selfies” as a sign of solidarity with their Muslim sisters in a new social media campaign aimed at destigmatising traditional Muslim dress.

As debates flares in Canberra with calls to ban religious garments, Australian women of all faiths are donning headdresses and proudly posting their pictures online joining the campaign started by lawyer and activist Mariam Veiszadeh.

Love & respect to Australian hijabis! Meshel Laurie wrote on Twitter.

Jessica Rowe shared her #WISH contribution on Twitter.

Studio 10 presenter Jessica Rowe, comic Meshel Laurie and Labor MP Julie Owens are among high profile woman who have joined the Women in Solidarity with Hijabis (#WISH) campaign that aims to “counter anti-Muslim sentiments”.

The Facebook group, which has attracted 14,000 followers since starting only last week, asks women to “stand in solidarity with Australian Muslims by posting photos of themselves on social media, donning the hijab”.

@MariamVeiszadeh @ajwildlife An old one & a new one - taken today in my office. Happy to support #WISH. pic.twitter.com/RiD0NzhfJz

— Julie Owens (@JulieOwensMP) September 30, 2014

The campaign has grown from Ms Veiszadeh’s Facebook initiative, the Islamophobic Register, aimed at addressing a surge in incidents targeting Muslim women.

“I’d been hearing about absolutely horrific examples of Muslim women being abused on the streets, mother’s who’ve had their prams kicked, friends who are too fearful to leave their homes,” she tells news.com.au.

“Once these incidents were brought to people’s attention through that group, the response was just overwhelming and it came largely from Australian women wanting to help.”

One of these women, a follower named Ruth, asked Ms Veiszadeh if it “wouldn’t be offensive” to put on a hijab herself and post that online as a show of solidarity, and the #WISH movement was born.

Post by WISH - Women In Solidarity with Hijabis.

Though the response has been mostly positive, some women who have posted their pictures have been subject to abuse, and questions over whether what they are doing is offensive to Muslims.

“Women can post these pictures saying they’ve got the endorsement of an Australian Muslim woman,” Ms Veiszadeh says.

“The fact that the social media campaign exists says it’s not offensive, it has been started by Muslim women.”

Another criticism that the campaign has faced, like other social media based campaigns before it, is that it’s not inciting any real change, and could be labelled “clicktivism” or “slacktivism”.

But psychologist Jocelyn Brewer, who specialises in social media, society and behaviour, says this campaign is different.

Post by WISH - Women In Solidarity with Hijabis.

“WISH is a bit more action based (than other campaigns)”, she tells news.com.au.

“It requires women to take a bunch of steps and it’s much more personal that just liking or sharing something pre-existing.”

The call for women to don the religious garment as a show of solidarity coincides with calls to ban another Muslim garment, the Burqa.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott today said he found the garment “confronting” and he wished “it wasn’t worn”.

“Frankly, I wish it was not worn but we are a free country, we are a free society and it is not the business of Government to tell people what they should and shouldn’t wear,” the PM said.

When asked specifically whether the garment should be worn in Parliament House, he said: “It should be governed by the rules that are appropriate for a secure building and obviously people need to be identifiable in a secure building such as this.”

Ms Veiszadeh said she “fully supports” the discussion over whether the concealing garment should be removed when it is a security issue, and that the very few women who wore the garment would likely comply if asked to identify themselves or if they were refused entry to a “secure building”.

“Part of the Muslim faith is to follow the laws and regulations of the country that you live in,” she said.

“But when it comes to banning a garment, that’s just ridiculous. The irony is people are concerned men are controlling women over how they should dress when it should be up to the individual, but by banning a garment, that's just another group of men telling women what they’re not allowed to wear.

“This campaign is partly about building up that understanding that Muslim women are not oppressed, they’re wearing the hijab or whatever they choose to wear because they choose to, and to have so many Australian women sharing that message is heartening.”

A Muslim woman wearing the niqab, a garment many people confuse with the burqa which is hardly worn in Australia.