Ibtihaj Muhammad and representatives of her sponsors, Nike, criticized French attitudes to the hijab. The Nike hijab provoked a sturdy reaction in France.
PARIS: American Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad and representatives of her sponsors, Nike, criticized French attitudes toward the veil during a promotional trip to the United States.
Muhammad ended up attending an extended-planned event in Paris at which an American sports clothing brand released their strips for 14 countries, including the hosts, in the women’s World Cup in France this summer season.
In February, the American sports clothing company was embroiled in a problem when retailer Decathlon withdrew sports activities Nike’s hijab from its French stores after following threats.
“I’ll be in my @Nike pro-hijab every rattling day,” Muhammad, who in 2016 became the first American to compete in a hijab in the Games, tweeted before traveling to France.
“It’s sad that France has not joined the worldwide conversation around inclusively, around the range. To prohibit a company from promoting a recreation hijab is shameful,” the Olympic bronze medallist instructed AFP on Monday.
“It hurts much more than it helps your nation right here.”
A Nike vice president, Bert Hoyt, said the organization has been preparing for France’s World Cup.
“Our goal is to provide access for all girls to play sports and girls’ soccer,” he said.
“We believe that we’re at the start of an adventure, and we trust that the World Cup in June will be a tipping factor for the destiny of the ladies’ sport.”
The Nike hijab provoked a strong reaction in France.
A spokeswoman for President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, Aurore Berge, stated the sports activities hijab goes against French “values.”
Lydia Guirous of the center-right Republicans stated it went hand in hand with “the submission of women.”Muhammad disagreed.
“I think you’re no longer a feminist if you agree that wearing a hijab isn’t always a choice,” she stated. “Anyone who believes in character rights and freedom of choice has to help girls who select to put on it.
“It’s no longer your preference. It ought to be our desire.
“And absolutely everyone who sees a hassle with that does not belong in sport, because recreation is an area that it imagined being consisting of every person, no longer remember wherein you’re from, your sexual orientation, your religion, your pores and skin coloration, your gender, it doesn’t remember,” she stated.
In the French authorities, the Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu supported the hijab sale.
“I want to go and get ladies, mothers, ladies anywhere they are and as they’re, to encourage them to practice recreation, due to the fact its miles, I am convinced, a powerful lever of emancipation,” Maracineanu said.
Muhammad’s hijab isn’t visible as soon as she dons her fencing mask.
“I no longer necessarily need a sports activities hijab to exercise the sport I’m doing. However, I understand it has made my lifestyle easier,” she said.
“I hope it will assist women worldwide in being more incorporated by using energy. There are such a lot of stereotypes and awful perceptions that exist approximately the Muslim network,” she said.