Women Scared to Wear Hijabs in President-Elect Trump’s World

Lauren Tuck
·News Editor
Democratic Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton Holds Election Night Event In New York City
Two women watch voting results at Hillary Clinton’s election-night event at the Javits Convention Center in New York City. (Photo: Getty Images)

With Donald Trump elected as the next president, his proposed policy to ban Muslims from “entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” could become a reality. With this, many American women who wear hijabs have expressed fear that doing so could potentially provoke unwanted attention or attacks.

Janna, 19, tweeted early Wednesday morning that her mom texted her “don’t wear the hijab please.” As the teen, who is a big Harry Styles fan, noted, this was surprising considering her mother is the most religious person in family. “I wasn’t gonna cry over this election, but to know my mom is ready to sacrifice her beliefs for me, to protect me, yeah I’m off guys, night,” she added. In less than 24 hours, her message received 62,000 retweets and 73,000 likes.

Janna is not the only one to publicly express her fears.

Much of this fear is reinforced by the fact that hate crimes, specifically those targeting women in religious wear, increased following Brexit, the U.K.’s vote in June to leave the European Union, in which immigration was a major contributing issue to the result.

Sakeena Ahmed's letter to Donald Trump.
Sakeena Ahmed’s letter to Donald Trump. (Photo: Facebook)

Even before the results came in, 9-year-old Sakeena Ahmed of Oak Brook, Ill., composed a letter about her concerns for her future with Donald Trump in the White House. According to Sakeena’s mother, Aamina, who spoke with the Huffington Post, she was feeling very anxious surrounding Trump’s Islamaphobia. Aamina suggested her daughter write down her thoughts and then posted the piece to Facebook. “Being Muslim is a little difficult. My mom wears a scarf. I go to the store and people just look at me,” she wrote. “Imagine if everybody hated your religion.”

While scared, plenty also found pride in wearing a head-covering despite the dangers felt by so many.

“Hijab on tighter” seemed to serve as a rallying cry.

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