Asia-Plus: Story seven — discrimination against women wearing the hijab

On 5 December 2023 Asia-Plus published the seventh instalment in a series on discrimination against women in Tajikistan, focused on women who wear the hijab. The article reports that although the majority of Tajikistan’s population is Muslim, women who choose to wear the hijab are subject to what it describes as an unwritten ban on entering certain state institutions, and face negative stereotypes. According to the article, public rejection of the hijab has been tracked by local and foreign media for about twenty years; hijabs became popular in Tajikistan in the 2000s, and the first attempt to ban them in educational institutions took place in 2007. The article states that officials say women may wear a headscarf provided it is the “national” scarf tied in the customary way. The article centres on an interview with a woman identified under the pseudonym “Madina”, who states that she decided to wear the hijab herself more than a year ago; her biggest fear was that the hijab might be torn off her in the street, though she has not experienced this. Madina states she cannot enter a state kindergarten while wearing a hijab — staff refer to an unseen document prohibiting it and to surveillance cameras — and that her husband or female relatives attend parents’ meetings instead of her. She states she has been able to enter hospitals and clinics without restriction, though the article notes that journalists had previously reported women in hijabs being refused entry to medical centres. Madina states she is troubled mainly by stereotypes: the assumption that her husband forced her to cover and that covered women are uneducated, despite her foreign higher education. The article references the CEDAW convention signed by Tajikistan 30 years earlier, and notes that in 2021 the United States included Tajikistan in a list of 10 countries where religious rights are most often violated. Sources cited include local and foreign media and the US designation.