Seminar criticizes stereotype-image of Muslim women created by media
Regional-European Union, Culture, 5/21/2007

Muslim women living in Europe are facing a big problem of stereotype and hysteria whipped up by the western media, according to a seminar on Muslim women held in the European Parliament in Brussels earlier this week.

"We do face a problem of stereotype and hysteria in the media.

There is an obsession what women wear. Muslim women have become focus of their appearance. Neither the public nor the media know enough about Muslim women," said Sarah Ludford, British Member of the European Parliament.

"I am completely against banning of hijab, niqab or burqa. It is not consistent with values of Europe to dictate how people should live their lives," she stressed.

Another British MEP Sajjad Karim said "post 9/11 media coverage of Muslim women has skyrocketed. The media in Europe have latched on to a few narrow-minded stereotypes, clumping Muslim women together, like clones, as veiled victims of Islam." The seminar titled "Images of Muslim Women in the Media: Between Myth and Reality' was hosted by Liberal Democrat MEP Sajjad Karim and the European Forum of Muslim Women (EFOMW) which groups 15 Muslim women organizations in Europe.

Noura Jaballah, President of (EFOMW) said the western media have created an Islamophobia atmosphere since 9/11.

"They have created the impression that Islam is bellicose and Muslims a threat to security. This is the mindset that we want to change," said Jaballah, a French citizen of Arab origin.

She noted that the role of media in shaping the public opinion is very important and governments are influenced in their policy making by public opinion.

"There is a great deal of subjectivity in portraying women. There are intellects beneath the veil," said Dorsaf ben Dhiab, secretary of EFOMW.

"The media must show understanding. We have made a free choice to wear the hijab," stressed Dhiab.

Natalie Dolle, journalist for French television who has been dealing with Islamic issues since 10 years, said nobody was interested about Islam in France before the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.

"Women in chador left a very negative image in our mind," she said noting that there is "no Islamophobia hysteria in the media." Alima Boumediene Thiery, international jurist and Senator (Greens) of Paris said that the newly elected President Sarkozy of France spoke of Muslim women wearing the burqa as if all of us wear the burqa.

"This is symptomatic of the problem. I am a Muslim and I will not be invited to any political gathering because I don't fit-in in the image of fear that the media is trying to portray," said Thiery who does not wear the hijab.

But she also criticized Muslims for not doing enough to confront the negative image which the media wants to portray.

Nasreen Suleaman, a former BBC reporter, lamented that there are not enough Muslim women in the western media.

Some Muslim families do not want their girls to become journalists, she noted but also questioned if the BBC will ever employ girls who wear the hijab.

German MEP Cem Ozdemir, of Turkish origin, called for more Muslim women to work in the media.

Sajjad Karim who is also Vice-President of the European Parliament's Anti-Racism and Diversity Intergroup criticized the European Commission for not taking part in the seminar which was held on Tuesday in the EP.

"Ahead of the 2008, so-called European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, I am disappointed the Commission declined to participate in our seminar. It speaks volumes about the Commission's commitment to engaging with Islam in Europe," he said.

Karim said the seminar was part of the wider debate looking at the whole issue of Islam within Europe.

"There is a shocking failure to focus on their (Muslim women's) achievements, particularly those who do not fit into the media's pigeonholes," he said.

"Islam is part of the diversity which we have in the European Union, a living, developing, growing religion. It is currently going through some adoption to make it a religion which is more reflective of an European way of life so that ordinary Muslims can adapt it to their every day life and it becomes a practical part of the life here in Europe," he said.

The point that gives me confidence, said Karim, is the fact that Islam is no stranger to Europe and neither is Europe a stranger to Islam.

"If you look at history Muslims had their influence in Europe in the past and Europe has had its influence on Islam in the past," he said.

There are significant numbers of Muslims living in Europe and hence the debate needs to take place about the sort of Islam that needs to be developed within Europe, he said.

"I hope that it is an Islam which is built upon the underpinning of European values, liberal values because they can be and are a big part of Islamic tradition. That can only come about through useful interaction of the sort that we saw in the seminar," he added.

Meantime, Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has urged Muslim academics and intellectuals on Thursday to make further efforts to confront the boggy of Islamophobia. Addressing a special gathering on at the International Islamic University of Islamabad (IIUI), the official urged Muslim
intellectuals to help improve the atmosphere of tolerance and dialogue among Muslim and the Western worlds.

Previous Stories:
  Islam cultural event in London reaches out to build bridges   (7/6/2006)
  European Muslims aim to fight negative view of Islam   (5/24/2006)

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