A few days ago, a renowned professor commented during a TV program that women in ‘burqa’ (veil) are abnormal and do not have the ability to study attentively. These commemts were made by none other than Dr Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy, a multi-award winner and proclaimed nuclear physicist of Pakistan.
“When I started teaching in 1973, at that time you could barely see a girl in a burqa, now the hijab and burqa has become common. You rarely see a ‘normal girl’ around. When she sits in class, wrapped in a burqa and a hijab, her participation in class is greatly reduced to the point that you can’t even tell of she is present in the class,” Dr Hoodbhoy commented on Hijab-wearing women (as if he were talking about factors that could reduce worth of real estate).
Journalists and social media users are reacting strongly to Hoodbhoy’s statement. Social media users are also worried that Pervez Hoodbhoy is more focused on brainwashing his students than his work on physics.
The question is how can one of the most intellectual minds of the country sit on a national TV and assume that a girl’s attire can limit her capabilities? How can he say that the participation of a girl wearing hijab and burqa in class decreases?
Did Hoodbhoy think for a moment what impact his statement will have on millions of Pakistani girls who attend university in hijab? Societal judgment, cultural norms, financial pressure, family responsibilities; Pakistani women are fighting at many fronts to earn their place in society and Hoodbhoy’s remarks have done nothing but discouraged them.
Rendering a girl inferior because of her hijab is as unacceptable as cat-calling a girl for not wearing hijab. Shaming hijab is exploitation of women’s right just as enforcing hijab is.
The matter is very straightforward and clear. No one has the right to comment on a woman’s dress, style or mannerisms. It is purely a woman’s personal choice. Whether it is banning hijab in France or enforcing it in Afghanistan, men need to stop telling women what to wear!
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