Hosted by the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations, a panel discussion Monday aimed to educate UNC students on Islam and the lives of Muslim-Americans.
To start the event, panel members had each attendee write down a question they had or stereotype they had heard about Islam.
One of the most common was the stereotype that Muslim women had limited rights.
“Islam was the first religion to give women the right to own property,” said panelist Iyman Gaspard, program manager for the Center for Global Initiatives. “It was the first religion to give women a marriage contract. These are huge issues that women have fought for for years.”
Gaspard said there are so many achievements of women in leadership positions in Islamic countries.
“Speaking from personal narrative, my father is my role model, my uncle is my role model,” Gaspard said. “They have ensured that I have power.”
Gaspard said the generalization that all women are oppressed in Islamic-majority countries is extremely problematic. A factor that contributes to this misconception is that many Muslim women wear a hijab.
“The hijab incorporates modesty,” said panelist Soumaya Lansari, a junior majoring in global studies and sociology. “People think the hijab only pertains to women, but there are also rules that pertain to men, but that is never touched on.”
Lansari said when women get to a certain age, they decide whether they want to wear the hijab.
