TfL pulls campaign featuring girl in hijab amid ‘sexualisation’ accusations

From Sky News

Transport for London (TfL) has pulled a road safety campaign featuring a young Muslim girl wearing a hijab following accusations it was “sexualising” a child. The £2m Children’s Traffic Club campaign shows a three or four-year-old girl called Razmi wearing a religious headscarf as she plays with her Chinese best friend Maylin.

But the decision to show the young Muslim character wearing a hijab has led to criticism, because the headscarf is traditionally worn by women over the age of puberty.

Shaista Gohir, chair of Muslim Women’s Network UK, told Sky News: “It is frustrating to see that every time a Muslim girl or women needs to be represented, she has to be shown covering her head. . . Most Muslim four-year-old girls do not wear the hijab – those who want to wear it usually do so at puberty with some only adopting it due to parental and peer pressure.

“Images such as those in the book send out the wrong message to both young Muslim girls and boys that Muslim girls should be covered from a very young age and that they are responsible for warding off unwanted male sexual attention…”