Moroccan Benzina Becomes First Player to Wear Hijab at Women’s World Cup
As her teammates sprinted and screamed and leapt into each other's arms, Nouhaila Benzina simply fell backwards into the soggy grass of Hindmarsh Stadium and put her hands to her face.
The Morocco defender had just created history, helping her team secure their first-ever win at a Women's World Cup after defeating South Korea 1-0.
It was their first goal and their first clean sheet too; an inspiring response to their 6-0 thumping by tournament heavyweights Germany in the opening game.
Morocco were one of the eight debutant sides at this World Cup, and after reaching the final of the Women's African Cup of Nations last year, this famous win was yet another example of just how rapidly the gap between the established and emerging powers in women's football is closing.
As the first Arab and North African country to qualify for the women's edition, the result in itself was worthy of headlines.
But Benzina made history for another reason.
In taking to the field on Sunday afternoon, she became the first player to wear a hijab at a senior FIFA World Cup, immediately becoming a visible role model to millions of hijab-wearing Muslim women and girls around the world.
"Benzina became a symbol for inclusion in a sport that not too long ago did not permit hijab-wearing women to play," Canadian journalist Shireen Ahmed wrote last week.
"There are times when soccer isn't about the score or the technical playing, it is about the legacy and creating paths and opportunities for those young girls who come after.
"The impact of their first appearance can be heard from the cheering of young fans on the streets of Casablanca, playing on the beaches of Essaouira, or from the stands in Melbourne.
"Or it can be felt by a young girl in Canada who wears a hijab and sees Benzina training with her team and knowing that she, too, might have a future on the pitch someday."
But the journey for Benzina to reach this moment has not been an easy one, largely because world football has historically not created space for women like her.
In 2007, FIFA, along with football's law-making body IFAB, ruled that a young Canadian player could not compete in a local competition while wearing a headscarf.
The reason, at that time, was that a headscarf could be a health and safety concern; it could choke the player or injure an opponent, though there was no empirical data or evidence to support that claim.
Another reason provided was that the hijab was "religious symbolism", but that argument was easily refuted given the number of tattoos and signs of the cross many male footballers had and the goal celebrations they took part in.
The issue of headscarves reached the international level in mid-2011 when FIFA banned Iran from competing in an Olympic qualifier against Jordan.
FIFA's ban effectively banned the team from international competition for years afterwards.
"This … was a serious case of women being excluded by draconian rules, steeped in gendered Islamophobia and ignorance, that were created by men."
Former Matildas vice-captain Moya Dodd was chair of the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) Women's Committee at the time and was part of a round-table meeting to discuss the issue.
"I remember giving a presentation where I sort of walked through the statutes and the arguments that might sit around the issue," she said.
"In the first place, there was no evidence of injury on the medical front. If you're worried about people illegally grabbing things on the field and pulling them, then your concern couldn't stop at the hijab; it had to extend to other things like ponytails on women and men.
"Regarding religion, clearly there are a lot of religious symbols on football fields, from players who cross themselves when they walk on the field or when they score a goal — including some of the world's leading players — to the tattoos that players have. Even to some of the symbols that actual countries use: the Saint George Cross, where does that come from?
"The feminist argument was raised by a French group in a letter sent directly to [former FIFA president] Sepp Blatter.
"But for me, if you were to look at the situation of the half a billion or so Muslim women in the world who are faced with the decision as to whether to cover themselves or not, I felt taking football away from them was not a move that would enhance their freedom or the feminist movement.
"So all the arguments against the hijab were, to my mind, adequately dealt with."
Three years later, in 2014, FIFA lifted the ban on hijabs, as well as turbans and kippahs for Sikh and Jewish men, while companies began designing hijabs specifically for sport, with more breathable and flexible materials in order to abide by governing regulations.
Then, in 2016, the first headscarves were worn by women footballers in a FIFA-sanctioned tournament: the under-17 Women's World Cup held in Jordan, the first FIFA competition to be held in the Middle East.
However, while FIFA and the AFC have adjusted their rules at international level, there are some parts of football that still do not welcome women like Benzina.
France, for example, which is home to one of the best teams in women's football, Olympique Lyonnais, has banned the hijab from being worn by players, referees, and coaches at the amateur and professional levels since 2012.
It is a particularly baffling move given how many of France's senior national teams — on both the men's and women's side — are the children of immigrants descended from Arab and African countries.
The ongoing ban in France only serves to limit the opportunities for more women to participate in the sport, and create a shallower pool of players from which national team coaches can draw.
Further, as the host of the 2024 Olympic Games, France's ban on hijabs is about to come into direct conflict with the International Olympic Committee's own anti-discrimination policy.
As one of the teams that could potentially compete at the Games next year, alongside other Muslim-majority nations such as Iran and Indonesia, Morocco is part of a larger movement of national federations platforming hijab-wearing women and advocating for their right to compete on football's biggest stages.
Source: abc.net.au
