Siddharth Kumar

Women in Iran are risking getting raped, molested, publicly humiliated and murdered for their right to not wear a hijab.

When women in democratic and liberal countries enjoying civil freedoms say that they wear hijab because of choice, they are doing a great insult and disservice to the women fighting for basic rights elsewhere. It provides an ideological cushion for fundamentalists to justify imposing restrictions on women’s autonomy.

Wear whatever you want but don’t cloak it under the umbrella of freedom when those who are oppressed are fighting against what has been a historical symbol of repression and control over women’s bodies.

Nevertheless, the state should have no say in deciding the outfits people wear. If women in India want to wear a burqa to schools and colleges, the state cannot dictate otherwise. Freedom from state intervention in matters of personal preference of dressing is non-negotiable.

But women in India wearing a burqa thinking that they are doing it out of free will are mistaken. They are trapped in the illusion of choice which has been hegemonized by centuries of patriarchal normative standards of what dress is apt and what is not.

Freedom from state interference and the assumption of being free are two different things. The state cannot dictate, that’s where the debate ends.