From Manisa to Sweden: Pursuing Education During The Hijab Ban In Turkey
From Manisa to Sweden: Pursuing Education During The Hijab Ban In Turkey

One of our earliest interviews at MUSWIB was with Dr Zeyneb Hafsa Orhan, a finance lecturer at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University. Her story really touched us. MUSWIB Dec 18, 2020·2 min read

“I’m originally from a small city called Manisa in western Turkey. We had no Internet growing up and I was nine years old when I first watched TV. We had a lot of time to think. From a young age I had already decided what I wanted to do with my future. I wanted to become an academician. You might find that strange but it was my dream.

Hijab in Turkey was banned in schools and universities in the 90s & 2000s. I was home tutored during the high school period. When the time for university enrollment came along I was faced with a difficult decision. I rang countless universities, asking if they’d allow me to wear my hijab. No Universities agreed. None. It was an overwhelming and exhausting process.

Sometimes in life you have to compromise, but I was adamant on wearing my hijab.

To my relief, Bahçeşehir University allowed the girls to wear hats, or some kind of head covering and so 4 years later I graduated with a Business Administration-Economics degree. Hijab was still prohibited by the time I finished my Bachelor’s degree, so I decided to move abroad to Sweden for my master degree in IR.

I then moved to Bosnia to start my PhD journey in Islamic Economics. I worked very hard and many years later returned to Turkey. The first 3 graduates who scored the highest from the Business School I attended were girls. I was the third. Working in a male dominated Industry is hard at times. Recently I attended an Islamic Economics conference, in Istanbul, where I was the only woman in a sea full of men. But I’ll leave you with this: if you want something, you go after it. Pursue it, regardless.”
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['Hijab Ban', 'Muslim Women', 'Business', 'Turkey', 'Education']