When I put on the hijab and covered up, I wasn’t spending my day worrying about what I looked like. It gives you a sense of confidence that you can only gain through learning to appreciate yourself for more than just your physical appearance. It makes you feel secure in a way that is very difficult to explain. I felt confident about who I was as a person because I knew that’s what people were going to judge me on when I covered up – all they knew about me was based on my eyes, my facial expressions, and the words I said. There was something very empowering about that.

The hijab, for me, now represents something a lot more than just a piece of cloth used to cover your head. It stands firmly as a symbol of equality. A symbol for women who choose not to let men judge them based on their appearances, but rather, forces them to see women for the people they are on the inside. It gives women a sense of value, it gives women a sense of strength, and it allows women to be in control of the way anyone else sees them. In my opinion, that is one of the strongest messages of equality you could send.

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