Control of Women's Clothing: Forced or Banned

15.08.2023

Without even trying, Moroccan football player, Nouhaila Benzina, has triggered an angry response from French media. Her crime? Wearing a hijab. At this year’s Women’s World Cup, people around the world celebrated and applauded Benzina not only for her exceptional athletic skills but because she is the first player to wear a hijab while playing football. French media has been rather vocal in expressing that it is not a win for women but rather it regresses them, moving to banning female football players from wearing the hijab. What French media and many other Western outlets fail to acknowledge is that banning a woman’s article of clothing is just as bad as forcing them to wear it. Control is what regresses women, not the hijab.

Read our statement here