Hani Khan
19 year-old Hani Khan had been working at Hollister for a little over four months when she was suspended and later fired for refusing to remove her hijab, a traditional head covering worn by Muslim women. Upon being hiring Khan, the store manager had no misgivings about her wearing a headscarf while on the job, granted the hijab matched company colors. After a district manager visited the store and filed a complaint against Khan, a human resources representative cited her hijab as a violation of Hollister’s controversial “Look Policy”. She was suspended for refusing to remove the hijab and fired after a second refusal. Although numerous company representatives have denied breaking the law, Khan is continuing to pursue a lawsuit against Hollister’s parent company, Abercrombie & Fitch. In numerous interviews, Khan expresses her disappointment with the situation, claiming she grew up in a free country where religious freedom is guaranteed. Hani Khan is among many brave, young Muslims who refuse to buckle under the pressure of mounting prejudice against Islam in the United States. Her courage, determination, and integrity are worthy of both celebration and respect.
Noorjahan Akbar
Noorjahan Akbar was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1991. Since the young age of 11, when she started a homemade magazine promoting the status of Afghan women and even spoke at a free-press conference, Akbar has been an outspoken supporter of gender equality in her home country. Growing up in a country where girls can be married as young as 11 or 12. She completed high school in the United States and is now a junior at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. After moving to the United States, Akbar could have easily turned a blind eye to the status of women in her home country. After all, American women enjoy rights and privileges Afghani women can only yearn for. However, her love for her home country and its women had changed the very fabric of Afghan society. In Afghanistan, she led the first ever march against street harassment and opened a women-only Internet cafe, while promoting education and employment for Afghani women. Her face can even be seen gracing billboards promoting a film about her work. in the summer of 2011, she co-founded a non-profit organization called Young Women for Change, which works to promote gender equality. Noorjahan Akbar hopes to see a modern Afghanistan, where a society ravaged by religious extremism and tyranny has been rebuilt in part by educated and empowered Afghani women.
Theresa Vail
Despite her statuesque beauty, Theresa Vail isn’t your typical Miss America contestant. Miss Kansas is an avid hunter, boxer and skydiver, a celebrated sergeant in the National Guard, and boasts two tattoos – which she readily displayed during the pageant’s televised swimsuit competition last Tuesday. She is a fluent speaker of Chinese and is currently pursuing a double major in Chinese and Chemistry at Kansas State University. Vail routinely discusses the influence of God in her life, citing her deep faith as the reason she survived years of bullying and neglect. Her bold decision to showcase her tattoos instead of masking them was a move that shocked the Miss America community – and could very well cost her the crown. However, she chose to display her tattoos as a way of sending a message: it is okay to be an individual, and it is okay to celebrate that. She believes encouraging other women to participate in activities that are not traditionally feminine builds their inner strength, along with their determination and sense of fearlessness. As with all things, Theresa Vail seeks to inspire and empower.