Many British Muslim women have expressed that they were “extremely hurt” after the Prime Minister, David Cameron had allegedly privately suggested that the “traditional submissiveness of Muslim women” could be blamed as one of the reasons for young men becoming radicalised.
Several women have taken to Twitter to highlight their achievements, and have used the hashtag #traditionallysubmissive. This trend has caught on and one can find many such tweets of women holding up sheets of white paper, with their successes written on them as well as the hashtag.
In the previous week, the Prime Minister had pledged £20 million on English lessons for Muslim women in Britain. He also stated that there would be fear of deportation for people who fail to learn the language.
GP and political activist, Dr Sukaina Hirji had worked hard to try and get the hashtag trending on Twitter by reposting other people's achievements. She said, “I wanted the Prime Minister to take notice that we, Muslim women, are diverse in our backgrounds, talents and roles, and are absolutely NOT traditionally submissive. We take our inspiration 'traditionally' from Khadija; employer, businesswoman and wife of Prophet Muhammad and the contemporary Tawakkol Karman, a Muslim woman who has won the Nobel Peace Prize.”
