As this year's International Women's Day mantra goes, "A challenged world is an alert world and from challenge comes change. So let's all choose to challenge." What will your challenge be to affect change and pour more good into the world?

These are things we ask ourselves daily at Haute Hijab in everything we do – from the hijabs and accessories we envision, research, design and create for you, to the social justice issues we champion and charities we support, to the stories we bring you from our communities.

Women supporting women. Women empowering women. Women uplifting women. Women working with true and supportive allies. Women doing the most interesting and important things in our communities.

I keep my eyes open and ears listening for these stories, to bring you the good and also call out injustice, abuse, misogyny, racism and xenophobia in our world. Most recently Switzerland narrowly voted to ban face coverings like the niqab in public venues, a proposal was put forward "by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) which campaigned with slogans such as "Stop extremism." according to this BBC article.

As Dalia Mogahed, director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, wrote on Facebook, "We are told it has *nothing* to do with targeting Muslim religious freedom *at all. Enter a year of Covid face covering. Apparently, no one dies of having to see someone in a face covering. Who knew? ... It now becomes much harder to make the case that niqab bans are for public safety.

"Enter this Swiss ban (direct democracy), which makes no attempt at pretending the ban on niqab is about anything but a targeted attack on Islam and its symbols."

Whether hijab/niqab is banned or forced (depending on where you live), both directly impact a woman's autonomy over herself and her ability to practice her faith. This is not the world we want to live in.

Last year, in Mexico on the day after International Women's Day, women went on strike. According to the Washington Post, many of Mexico's 21 million registered female workers stayed home from work or school.

Why? To protest gender violence.

In India, women have been fighting against rape culture as well as taking the lead in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Registry of Citizens.

One could look at these concurring events around the world and remain frustrated at the status of women, that gender inequality still exists. But, I also look at these news stories as evidence of fierce women around the world pushing back against patriarchy and rising up to fight for our rights and honor. This is what I'm thinking about on International Women's Day.

A Muslim women's empowerment circle; image source: Delten Glebe Counseling Center

A large part of what we do here on the blog at Haute Hijab is to tell stories of women out there achieving in all areas of life. In the past years, we've brought you posts about the important work Dr. Ingrid Mattson is doing in the area of sexual violence against women, how Angelica-Lindsey Ali has expended her work into a an institute to address Muslim women's sexual and general health, the important work of HEART Women & Girls, led by Nadiah Mohajir, how scholar Precious Rasheeda Muhammad is chronicling the history of American Muslims and the story of 23-year-old Nadia Mohamed, a city council member in Minnesota.

Allah (S) created us perfect just the way we are. Our intelligence, power and strength is unmatched and God-given. I am so privileged to be able to help amplify the stories of so many Muslim women as well as report on the issues/challenges we face. I get to listen and learn from my writers and my readers and bring these discussions and nuances to you – not only on International Women's Day, but every day.

So I want to take a moment to thank you, our vast communities of Muslim women and the readers of this blog. You call each other (and me) out when it's needed and lift each other up constantly. May Allah (S) bless us all and help us continue to fight the good fight.