Backlash as Nike launches sports hijab

Nike has launched the ‘Pro Hijab’.

RARELY does a piece of sporting clothing get this much attention. But rarely does a global sports manufacturer bring out a garment specifically for Muslims.

Nike has launched a hijab custom designed so that a Muslim woman who wants to cover her head can still work out.

As you can imagine in the current climate, an iconic US brand making a product just for Muslims has divided opinion. There are those who commend Nike for taking into account their specific needs of a proportion of their customers, and those who accuse them of being complicit in the subjection of women.

Launched in a blaze of publicity, Nike said the new product was created in collaboration with several Muslim athletes.

“The Nike Pro Hijab has been a year in the making, but its impetus can be traced much further back to Nike’s founding mission, to serve athletes, with the signature addendum: If you have a body, you’re an athlete,” the company said in a statement.

Figure skater Zahra Lari wears the new Nike Pro Hijab, which was designed for Muslim athletes. The hijab features a lightweight breathable mesh that is designed not to shift. Picture: Supplied.Source:Getty Images

Nike said inspiration came from Sarah Attar, an Olympic runner from Saudi Arabia who competed while wearing a hijab, and Amna Al Haddad, a weightlifter from the United Arab Emirates who made it to the Rio Olympics.

“We worked with Amna and a variety of other athletes to see what they needed and wanted in a performance hijab,” a spokesman told Al Arabiya English. “What we heard was that women were looking for a lightweight and breathable solution that would stay in place without concern of shifting.”

Manual Rostom jogs wearing Nike's new hijab for Muslim female athletes. Picture: supplied.Source:AP

The hijab’s design also means it won’t become untucked even during vigorous competition.

But criticism has been swift on social media with some claiming Nike is effectively enabling women to be forced to wear the head scarf.

The Pro Hijab, “normalises the oppression of women,” was one comment. Another accused Nike of “cashing in on subjugation and domination”.

There were musings online as to whether sports burqas would be next and if Nike would have served women better by point blank refusing to make a garment that covers their heads.

Will @Nike provide male guardians so that hijabis can go out for a jog? #NikeProHijab pic.twitter.com/ZbsnY86UGm

— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) March 10, 2017

Supporting the Muslim Hijab is supporting the enslavement of women and the murder of gays. #NikeHijab pic.twitter.com/0G4W7p5dAg

— Josh Cornett (@therealcornett) March 14, 2017

#Nike cashing in on the subjugation, domination, and oppression of women.

I will never buy another Nike product again. pic.twitter.com/xOI7MmmpqA

— #Sandy (@GSDDogLover) March 7, 2017

But others have applauded Nike for creating an inclusive product.

Al Haddad responded saying that while she understand there was “mixed reactions” to the product it would help women, who chose to wear a head covering, to compete more effectively.

“More women have expressed a need for it and more professional athletes have fought for rights to compete with a headscarf, and have an equal playing field,” she said on Instagram.

“They know that we are here to stay and decided to join the party and create another ‘competitive’ sport hijab in the market, which by the way, did exist in the market for few years now.

These Nike Hijab Pros low key lit 🔥 pic.twitter.com/BRnO6itU8v

— Waka Flocka (@WakaFlocka) March 8, 2017

“I support Muslim women with or without hijab, and how they dress is their choice. And with the Nike sports hijab, it surely will encourage a new generation of athletes to pursue sports professionally.”

Australia was the birthplace of the ‘burqini’, a specially designed swim suit for Muslim women that enables the body to be covered but still be practical in the water.

Created in the early 2000s, it became well-known following the 2005 Cronulla riots when Surf Live Saving championed the suit as a way to encourage more Muslim women to patrol the city’s beaches.

The 'Burqini' stinger suit was designed in Australia and has spread worldwide.Source:News Corp Australia

In August 2016, several French beach resorts banned the burqini, and similar clothing, in the wake of the Nice truck attack that killed 86 people.

Nice’s deputy mayor, Christian Estrosi, said that the clothing “overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks,” reported the Guardian.

France, an intensely secular country, has long debated the issue of full face coverings for Muslim women. Nevertheless, the beach bans were later overturned.