INTERNATIONAL FEMINISM
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Feminists around the world are fighting for equality, justice, and liberty. Some countries are vocal about domestic violence, constitutional rights, and sexual harassment, while others fight for property ownership, against abortion laws, and obedience to husbands.
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We honor the rebellious campaigns within our respective countries, but might not practice the same feminist habits for our sisters around the world. Furthermore, we may even honor their oppression without knowing it. But we can’t be fair-weather feminists. At the Power Women Summit in fall 2018, I had the honor of meeting Masih Alinejad, an Iranian American journalist who lives in exile in New York City, after being expelled from Iran for her criticism of Iranian authorities. She goes by Masih, meaning Messiah––a leader or savior of a particular group or cause and she acts as such to women in Iran. She fights against the compulsory hijab, and taught me about what it means to be an International Feminist.
The hijab is a veil worn by Muslim women, but in Iran it is compulsory and is used as an oppressive mechanism. In many other Islamic countries and communities, it is a choice, but after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, it has become law for women to wear the Hijab. The fight is not against the Hijab itself, but rather against the oppressive culture it permits. Individuals have the right to their body and their appearance and this should not be a matter for the governing regime to enforce. The Supreme Leader of Iran uses the western #MeToo movement as a way to justify the compulsory hijab as a way of protecting women from sexual harassment. He fights against Western Women and says that their deviant lifestyle is what causes sexual assault. But the degradation of women does not come from the image that women put out for themselves, but rather it is that Iranian women are banned from singing in public, cannot attend public sports events and need a husband’s approval to get a passport or travel outside the country. By deviating from the compulsory Hijab, it places many women at serious and immediate risk of unjust imprisonment, while sending a chilling message to 12
