‘I am trying to give my friends the courage to join me, so we can prove to all those who think bad of us that we’re well educated Muslimahs,’ explains Rola Mohammed. ‘That we wear the hijab and what we do isn’t wrong.’
This young pharmacy student living in the Egyptian city of Mansoura clearly has a battle on her hands. Rola wants to change engrained beliefs and cultural taboos that dictate how a woman is seen, the freedom she is granted and the physical activities she is permitted to do. She wants women in Egypt and all across the region to rise up and try something they’ve probably never done before: She wants them to cycle.
To read the full feature, go to Aquila Style Magazine – The Empower Issue and download it for a couple of dollars. Go on. You know you want to.
Related articles
- Aquila: The Pink Revolution – Overthrowing Sexual Violence (arwafreelance.com)
- @FabulousSISTERS – Hymens, Hijabs and Helmets: Muslimahs Who Cycle (arwafreelance.com)
This is where a confession comes in. When I was younger, I used to read Marie Claire, and I have vague memories of enjoying flicking through its pages—even getting excited at its coverage of Muslim women. For my masters in International Journalism, I wanted to look at the representation of Muslim women in the media, and I focused my research on the coverage of Muslim women in women’s magazines and Marie Claire in particular.
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