On Thursday, Oct 5. Muslims and non-Muslims alike were seen with their hair covered in headscarves of various shades of pink. In fact, women all over the country donned the veil in a fight against Islamophobia and breast cancer.
The women were taking part in National Pink Hijab Day, which saw similar events across North America raising money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation’s mission to eliminate breast cancer, and raising awareness about the culture of the hijab.
“The primary objective of the event was to raise awareness of a disease that affects all women, whether they are Muslim or not,” said Canadian Islamic Congress VP Wahida Valiante.
Some, however, disagreed.
“Very often people attempt to kill two birds with one stone: promote their religion while they attempt to do something good,” said Justin Trottier, president of the Freethought Association of Canada.
Trottier added that, while breast cancer was a terrible disease, prostate cancer is just as deadly and gets one-quarter of the research funding.
Carlotta James, a student of International Relations and Acia Pacific studies at U of T, was one of many first-time hijab wearers who gathered new perspectives about the garment.
“It felt strange at first, but now it’s cool,” she said.
Like several others, James initially associated the veil with a subordinate role of women in society. “But I’m certainly getting strange glances.”
Event organizer Sajda Khalil said she was very pleased with the overall response of the community.
“There was a non-Muslim this morning who said that she had never worn the hijab before but might consider starting to wear it,” said Khalil.
After the main event outside Sid Smith, many participants went to an open discussion over (halal) pizza to talk about their day in hijab. The conversation turned to negative media portrayals of the hijab.
“Especially after 9/11 it was this Western thing of critiquing Islam and it would always be women’s rights and it would always be pointing to the veil and they would always be showing…it just serves to perpetuate the image of Islam that they wanted to perpetuate,” said Khalil. Everyone in attendance seemed to agree that the hijab was being singled out due to the current wave of Islamophobia in the West.
“Women’s hair is a part of their sexuality,” said Khalil. “The reason for the garment is to conceal one’s modesty.”
“I found that a lot of people looked at me kind of confused, like they just didn’t know, they were inquisitive but you could tell that they were scared to ask,” said Zarie Lorne, a third-year.
The event was well received by other groups on campus as well, including Abby Ralph, president of U of T’s chapter of Hillel. “At U of T we are always talking about intellectual dialogue, and this was an opportunity for it to actually be put into practice,” said Ralph. “It was a really positive experience for me, meeting new people, you know, and speaking with them.”
