AP says

"Yassmine el Ksaihi doesn't see herself as a feminist rebel. She covers her head and wears modest clothing. She learned to read the Quran at age 5 and promotes traditional Muslim values.

Yet there is something pioneering about her nonetheless: At age 24 she is the administrator of a large mosque, an unusual position of authority for a young woman in the world of Islam, even in Europe."

Woman wearing a hijab (Muslim veil or headscarf) at the 2006 Arabic Arts Festival in Liverpool. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

A New York Times article published in 2005 on European Muslim women says that education and an open environment are providing a generation of Muslim women a new identity and strength in Europe.

"For many, the key difference is education, an option often denied their poor, immigrant mothers and grandmothers. These young women are studying law, medicine and anthropology, and now form a majority in many Islamic studies courses, traditionally the world of men. They are getting jobs in social work, business and media, and are more prone to use their new independence to divorce. Also,French, English, German or Dutch may be their native languages."

But some old traditions still haunt Europe's Muslim women. Abuse, forced marriage, and honor killings are still practiced by European Muslims. An MSNBC report on Muslim women in Germany says that many women are being abused by their families, trapped inside their homes, cut off from society, and pressured to live a life of extreme seclusion.

Long way to go before these women can live a truly free life.

Bhumika Ghimire