by Linda Sarsour
New York, November 21 - Bad-faith critics have seized on my understated response to events in the Islamic Republic in the last month-plus, depicting my alleged silence in the face of the unrest there as an endorsement of repression of women. I am here to set the record straight, regardless of my own stance on the necessity or propriety of the hijab: I say now, to my sisters in Iran, stop protesting and cover your hair. The Ayatollahs know better than you what's good for you and for society.
Here in the West, the #MeToo movement gave many the wrong idea that the ideals of empowerment, independence, and safety from toxic masculinity have universal application, even in societies with more... traditional assumptions. Not so! The women of Iran must put back on their hijab, get back into the home, and not leave without escort from an authorized adult male. Who knows what moral disasters might result if the women of Iran follow in the cultural footsteps of their Western sisters? They must realize the precious role that hijab represents.
I urge my sisters and colleagues on this side of the ocean, and my progressive allies in Europe, not to draw false parallels between the women's cause here and the women's cause under political Islam. It's OK when Islam relegates women to a weaker, dependent role, because that's healthy. It protects, ennobles, and dignifies women. But you cannot make that claim about the West - when Western societies do it, it's misogynist and wrong. I hope I have made the distinction clear.
One integration I have long encouraged involves transforming the West into an Islamic society. At present, women in the West who adopt hijab make the dignified, exalted choice; it's all about choice! Just not in Iran, where it has to be mandatory, lest corrupt Western values undermine the very foundations of moral society. But I digress. My point is, unless and until Islam does take over the West, inshallah, any comparison between the status of women in the two societies remains inappropriate. Islam elevates women! Islam protects women! Not like the West, where women must navigate employment, schooling, relationships, and important life choices without the sure, guiding hand of a dominant male holding the right doors for them.
The women of Iran do not need our arrogant imposition of values upon their government's imposition of its values upon them. Iranian women should shut up and take it.