High school girl disqualified from cross country race for wearing hijab

[Karabair]

Outrageous.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/hijab-high-school-race-nike-noor-abukaram-athlete-ohio-a9170076.html

So a girl wearing some cloth on her head, that doesn't affect her performance or anybody else's, is disqualified from a race where she ran her best time of the season, whilst massive testosterone advantage conferred by puberty is not a disqualifier to run, even though other runners who don't have the same testosterone advantage will always be beaten.

Where is sporting fairness?

Sotired, my information came from Muslim colleagues. They, like many other Muslims understood modest dress to mean just that. Legs, arms and cleavage covered, with no religious need for any head covering. That was the interpretation they lived by, and they were all regular attendees at Mosque, where they did cover their hair out of respect for tradition.

I hate this normalising and supporting of hijab and other additional coverings for the female of the species.

This is a perfect opportunity to help girls/women to free themselves of a patriarchal misogynistic shackle and instead people are defending it??

All the girls/women should be abiding by the same dress rules in an organisation. I think school uniform missed a trick here too. Misogyny and oppression dressed up as a special religious rule for females.

Can't people see it's the same as everybody kowtowing to the trans dogma in order to be 'kind' and not offend? What's kind and respectful about being complicit in a girl having to continue to cover herself up more than a male but also more than other girls in the same society and doing the same activity? Needless difference, needless division.

The Quran says 'dress modestly.' That applies to people of all sorts. What that means is cultural and open to differing interpretations.

FIFA allows hijab, after previously banning it on the grounds that it wasn't mentioned in the list of kit.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/26398297

The first muslim woman to win an Olympic gold medal on the track did not wear one.

Given that she's out there running in leggings and a tight top she hardly looks repressed and it should be entirely up to her whether she chooses to cover her hair. It smacks of racism to me. It's reminiscent of those photos of French police making a Muslim woman strip off some of her clothes at gunpoint on a french beach just a few years ago - you can bet they would have ignored a nun in a long habit and a wimple.

I find it difficult to get worked up about it. There was a dress code in place and the coach chose to ignore it and two competitors were kicked out.
Lots of places have a dress code. Would we be up in arms if someone was kicked out of wimbeldon for wearing blue or red when we all know they have a dress code of white (or predominantly white).
Some competitions have have dress codes that may simply be traditions. If you don't like it try and get them changed or don't take part. Don't break the rules (even if petty) and then complain.

This is a perfect opportunity to help girls/women to free themselves of a patriarchal misogynistic shackle and instead people are defending it??

Tackle mysoginostic control by also dictating what to wear. Yeah that makes sense

What more likely? Everyone goes " ok" throws off the head coverings and runs smiling into the hills, or they girls and women who wear them end up excluded from life and no longer access fitness and education?

She does look oppressed. She's apparently got to wear something on her head due to her religion/culture that other female competitors from a different culture don't have to wear.

Head hair isn't even a secondary sexual characteristic.

And if she hasn't got to wear a hijab because it's a totally autonomous choice she's making, then it isn't a breach of her rights or dignity to ask her to take it off to comply with an institution's uniform rules that all other competitors are capable of complying with.

Why should somebody get a special dispensation for a cultural custom? Especially when said custom is arguably misogynist. I am just so fed up with people unthinkingly collaborating with the oppression of girls from particular religious backgrounds.That is the problem. The sporting body is actually providing freedom from a cultural diktat for certain women. It's the opposite of restriction and discrimination.

It's not racism either. Why do people keep insisting on using this word incorrectly? How is not allowing clothing exceptions in a sporting organisation akin to a belief in the biological inferiority of a particular racial group?

Tackle mysoginostic control by also dictating what to wear. Yeah that makes sense

Not all clothing policies are based on misogyny! Often on safety and practicality.

What more likely? Everyone goes " ok" throws off the head coverings and runs smiling into the hills, or they girls and women who wear them end up excluded from life and no longer access fitness and education?

I refuse to hold the perfectly sensible and practical clothing policies of sporting organisations responsible for the misogyny of certain cultures' dress codes.

And if the culture is so strict that girls won't be allowed to participate in competition (which doesn't stop you participating in sport in an informal or non-competitive manner btw) without a head covering on, then I think that answers the question of whether wearing the head covering is a free choice or not!

It's not about being right or wrong though. Or what you refuse or dont refuse to believe.

End result is the same.

We still tell people what they can and cant wear on a way that goes beyond health and safety or practicality. Its enforcing one opinion over another.

I think alot of ways in which parts of religion have been deliberately interpreted in a way that oppressess women as despicable as the next person.

However I dont believe the answer to combat that is to enforce yet another beliefe system on them. The best chance many people have of getting out of situations or having questions and alternative ideas implanted in their brains is education and employment.. Ultimately surely we want to see girls and women in school and in the work place.

Maybe she should have followed the rules and got an exemption before the event.

Or "muh trump America racism"

Or maybe the option to wear a sports head covering should just be written into the accepted uniform list in the first place. Should we need to remind people that different races and religions exist?

Lots of places have a dress code

This seems to be the crux of the matter, she and the competitor in the wrong coloured shorts violated the dress code. It isn't about whether clothing enhances performance. It isn't about the sex or religion of the competitors. It is about a dress code.

You may or may not like dress codes in sport but they are a very different issue to cheating. If people want to change the dress code they are free to argue their case, and it sounds as if the authorities in this instance are open to change, but in my view whatever rule is in place should apply equally to all. Either you can cover your head or you can't regardless of religious/cultural background.

"Why should somebody get a special dispensation for a cultural custom? Especially when said custom is arguably misogynist."

Whilst I broadly agree with your sentiments Antibles, imagine what would happen if she was forced to take the scarf off, and her family withdrew her from all sports, because in reality that is what happens in many families who take hejab laws that seriously.
Many Sikhs are bound to wear a turban (patka), including those who play sport, such as Monty Panesar the ex England cricketer.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Panesar

what would happen if she was forced to take the scarf off, and her family withdrew her from all sports, because in reality that is what happens in many families who take hejab laws that seriously.

Until a general change goes through all her coach has to do is tell them and it'll be ok. He has now and she can run, previously he didn't bother and allowed her to get disqualified.

this seems to be the crux of the matter, she and the competitor in the wrong coloured shorts violated the dress code. It isn't about whether clothing enhances performance. It isn't about the sex or religion of the competitors. It is about a dress code

Then dress codes shouldnt be written for just white non religious people then.

Schools manage to have alternative or additions to uniform for religious requirements. As do work places. Sports should too where possible. And a sports head covering is possible.

This is similar to the case of the mixed race girl who was originally disqualified in her swim competition because despite wearing exactly the same school issued swimsuit as everyone else her body shape was different and the poor girl got a wedge and was deemed improperly dressed and disqualified. Thankfully it was overturned.

Sports are for everyone . Dress codes should reflect that. Its racist and discriminatory not to.

Then dress codes shouldnt be written for just white non religious people then

I doubt it was, Americans are a deeply religious bunch and many of their best athletes, including at high school level, are black.

I think what you mean is 'then dress codes should take those muslims, regardless of their skin colour, who choose to cover their hair and into account, along with sikhs, jews or others, regardless of their skin colour, who wear head coverings as part of their religion' into account.

Sport is for everyone and changes can be made but suggesting that in the US of all western nations they are only for white, non-religious people is silly.

The "white" part more referred to the other case I mentioned with the swimsuit.

Its surely possible to have A dress code that takes into account body shape, religious requirements etc

Its yet another sign of how much women are despised tbh. As already mentioned you can compete with a male body. But as a women /girl you can be disqualified for lip balm, not fitting into a swim.suit and a head covering.

I agree with you Antibles

@Gran22
Then you should have said ‘some of my Muslim colleagues believe that…’ rather than making definitive statements about what Islam does or does not say. However, it is irrelevant to the discussion. What matters is what the young lady herself believes to be required by her faith.

@inwood
It could well be unsafe if too hot, a pin falls out, she trips over.
Some people don’t like hijab so they come up with all sorts of ridiculous ‘health and safety’ reasons why it can’t be worn. Sports hijabs don’t have pins. And how would she trip over something that’s attached to her head? As for it being too hot, lots of sports require headgear and the wearers may well be hot, but they just get on with it.

That's what everyone should do - just get on with their lives and let others do the same. Segments of this society have become too invested in policing the beliefs and choices of others.

Cultural norms about dress are pretty variable. Most places in Europe and North America come out of one cultural expression for historical reasons. If we have an increasing number of people from other cultural traditions we might expect that they would bring some different types of clothing and dress traditions along with them.