British Muslim women who wear the hijab feel generally better
British Muslim women who wear the hijab feel generally better about their body image than those who don’t wear the hijab, suggests a research published in the British Journal of Psychology.
The research, conducted by Dr.Viren Swami from the University of Westminster and colleagues, looked at body image issues amongst British Muslim women.
A total of 587 Muslim women aged from 18 to 70 years from London participated in a number of tests. From this group 218 women stated they never used the hijab and 369 women said they used some form of the hijab at least now and then.
The results showed that women who wore the hijab generally had a more positive body image, were less influenced by the media’s beauty ideals and placed less importance on appearance.
Dr. Swami said: “Although the results showed only a small difference between those who wear or don’t wear the hijab it does suggest the hijab offers Muslim women a small protective effect in terms of feeling positive about their body image.
