We all know about Hijabs, but we always ask ourselves. Why? Why do women wear them, is it because of the strict religion or other reasons? Let me clear that up for you.

While the Hijab is used for religious reasons, it is not how it started. The hijab was used by the women in the kingdoms, royals. But, Long before it was a big issue that many women would be raped by men. They could be walking down the streets minding their own business, going home to their family, doing their usual routine and it was a recurring case that women would end up being raped. Due to this happening so many times, they decided to instead of the just royals wearing it, every woman should so it would control the mens sexual desires.

There are different type of hijabs out there, I will briefly explain those and the different uses for each of them.

Niqab: it covers the entire body, leaving only an opening for the eyes. This is used either for religious believes or husbands do not want other men to see their wife.

Chador: It covers the entire body, leaving the face visible. This is more rather tradition for Persians and Iranians.

Burqa: it is a full body veil that has mesh for the eyes where no one can see through the mesh, only the person wearing it. While many believe women are forced to wear the burqas, they are not, it is their own choice.

There is a lot of history behind the different headscarves that are used by the different cultures and countries, but this is just a brief explanation for those who had the slightest of doubts!

“I wear this scarf because when I was a child I was socialized to be embarrassed, even ashamed, of my religion and my culture. I was told that to be a Muslim was to be a terrorist and that to be outwardly Muslim was to endorse violence and oppression … I understood that I would be unwelcome as long as I wore symbols of my heritage and chose to, in however modern a way, embrace my ancestors.” -Columbia College student Toqa Badran