Tuesday was International Women’s Day. In Berlin, it has even been a public holiday since 2019. I’ll leave aside whether schools have to be closed and the economy shut down for this. However, in view of the blatant human rights violations against women in many, predominantly Islamic, countries, it is important and necessary to remember the long road to equality.
Especially since the erosion of women’s and girls’ security has been steadily progressing for years. Even in Germany, the everyday life of women and girls is increasingly marked by sexual assaults, rape, bodily harm and murder. The New Year’s Eve in Cologne in 2015, in which hundreds of women became victims of sexual assault, is unforgettable.
That night, at the latest, women learned the lesson that they are no longer masters of their personal freedom and security. Those who go out must consider what clothing is “appropriate”. Because showing too much skin or wearing one’s hair down can even be understood by men from Muslim cultures as an “invitation” to overstep boundaries.
In Islam, family honour depends to a large extent on the behaviour and reputation of female family members. Wearing a headscarf is a religious obligation for women and girls from puberty onwards in Islam. The Qur’an commands them in Suras 33 and 59 to “veil themselves in their wrappings” because in this way they would be “more likely to be recognised” and would “not be injured”.
A woman who is visually recognisable as a Muslim through her headscarf is virtually safe from assault. An “infidel” woman is therefore not. The Muslim headscarf is therefore not a harmless piece of cloth, it is the calling card of the inhuman Sharia and the symbol of the oppression of women.
The outdoor outfitter Jack Wolfskin has probably not heard of the struggle of Muslim women for freedom and self-determination. The company is currently advertising with a fully veiled model. A sponsored video clip featuring “Amira”, a hiking-loving British Muslim woman wearing a niqab, is running on social media. The veil, which only leaves out the eyes, is praised by Jack Wolfskin as desirable diversity with the following slogan: “Amira is the founder of Wanderlust Women, a community that promotes more diversity in the outdoors!”
Hurray for the marketing people who have succeeded in squaring the circle, selling a sign of inequality as a symbol of freedom. The headscarf is the end of all diversity, it is the uniform of a misogynist religion. In countries like Saudi Arabia or Iran, women are imprisoned and physically punished if they do not veil themselves properly. Under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, it sometimes even costs them their lives. What message does Jack Wolfskin want to send to women and girls in the Islamic world?
The veiling of women is the end of self-determination and individual development. Even Muslim “influencers” and romantic nature photos can’t change that. Let’s hope that customers will punish the company accordingly for this failed advertising campaign.
https://jungefreiheit.de/debatte/kommentar/2022/unfreiheit-jack-wolfskin/
Greedy corporate pig’s selling out to an evil cult.