‘Three hijabis walk into a bar…’ was the start of a viral tweet that breathed life to #TheThreeHijabis.
The tweet was shared with a photograph of three British Muslim women, Shaista Aziz, Amna Abdullatif and Huda Jawad, who met up in a bar in London to watch the Euro 2020 (delayed until 2021 due to Covid) quarter final game between England and Ukraine, alongside a twitter thread discussing football, racism, belonging and the importance of an England team that is inclusive, anti-racist and representative.
This led to an article in The Guardian by Shaista about the #TheThreeHijabis and the impact this England team, Gareth Southgate’s leadership, and our diverse England team have had on them and many Black people, people of colour and marginalised people and communities.
Following racist abuse against three Black England players, Rashford, Sancho and Saka, at the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy at Wembley, The Three Hijabi’s created a petition calling for racists to be banned from football matches for life.
Within 48 hours of the petition going live, more than 1 million people signed and backed the call to action. #TheThreeHijabis secured huge national and international media coverage on their viral anti-racism campaign.
The Prime Minister mentioned the Three Hijabis petition in parliament and committed to extending football banning orders to those convicted of racist abuse online, during a keynote speech during the same week the 1M plus signatures were reached.
During the summer of 2021, we proudly and unapologetically reclaimed football back from the racists and reclaimed the narrative too.
Football belongs to everyone and not to the racists.
Since the success of the petition,
#TheThreeHijabis have met with the Football Association (FA) to discuss how to address the issue of racism on the pitch and online. To date there have been more than 12 million views of the petition.
Close to 1.2million people have signed the petition.
More than 750,000 signatories shared the petition wider.
Many people have shared their lived experiences and stories of their love of football and the impact racism in football has had on them as fans.
Our work continues!
An open letter directed at the CEO’s of the Premier League and the Football Association was shared by a coalition between The Three Hijabis, EVAW and Level Up.
Cases of football players suspected with sexual assault are repeatedly breaking in the press. It’s time for the Premier League and Football Association to implement a gender-based violence policy that:
Players who are suspected of gender-based violence must face consequences. In the US, Major Baseball League and NFL have publicly accessible policies, where players found guilty of domestic abuse, sexual violence or child abuse can be suspended without pay, or banned for life.
Everyone
Everyone
Everyone
We’re calling on football to ensure the lasting legacy of the Women’s Euro 2022 tournament is rooted in tackling misogyny and gender based violence in the game.
Football belongs to everyone.
A huge campaign win came in August 2022 when the Premier League announced that all Premier League players and staff now have to undergo mandatory sexual consent training.
Right now, the Premier League does not have any policies, disciplinary procedures or investigation processes, for players who are accused of gender-based violence. The Premier League and the Football Association need to put a process in place that oversees all its clubs.
The Three Hijabis, Level Up, and End Violence Against Women and Girls Coallition (EVAW), wrote an open letter to the Premier League and the Football Association calling on both to take action against gender based violence in football.
On the back of the letter, we were invited alongside a number of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) specialists, to participate in a listening day at the Premier League HQ, to discuss how we see action on the issue of gender based violence in the game.
With the rising influence and commitment to the Women’s game it seems only fitting to see some commitments from footballs biggest influencers, the Premier League and the Football Association to tackle this issue.
Islamophobia is anti-Muslim racism.
Muslims are not a race, though Muslims are pathologised and treated as a race, and discriminated against as a group.
Islamophobia is fear, hatred and hostility towards people who practice Islam, Muslims, leading to race and faith based discrimination and racism in the workplace, hate-speech and hate-crimes.
Islamophobia is hardwired in the structures of the state including in domestic and foreign policy and how day to day laws and surveillance is administered.
Islamophobia affects Muslims and those perceived as Muslims, those who are racialised as Muslims.
Islamophobia is gendered, it is a form of racism that impacts men and women in different ways, in different contexts.
Anti-Muslim racism disproportionately impacts individuals, groups and communities, visibly identifiable as Muslims, such as women who the hijab, the headscarf, or other clothing that identified them as Muslim.
Gendered Islamophobia is the intersection of anti-Muslim racism, misogyny, sexism and gender based discrimination.
The Three Hijabis specialise in providing training on how Islamophobia manifests in society and in our places of work and learning.
