It's a hard thing to do, putting on a hijab. Girls like their hair, they like being pretty, they like their compliments and many are vain. It's our upbringing simple. Just turn on any indian/pakistani tv channel and you'll see why, never saw a plain looking girl on TV apart from the old PTV days (those were the days).
Those who do it, should do it for their soul. And just like anyone, iman and the practice of religion is a waxing/waning process. There are times in your life you connect more with religion, other times less so.
Plus some people just stop because of the harassment, and if they have little kids. I know a few women who gave it up, because they had been approached in public with small kids by harassers, and so the families decided it's better not to attract negative attention and put children's lives in jeapardy, or to have the kids see this sort of abuse.
@BigdaNawab you just did not say that. If you were trying to be funny, you failed at it. Pretty bad joke and highly offensive. Please think before you write
One of my friends had started wearing hijab and spoken to me about it. She had a lot of negative feedback from her immediate family (especially her mom, who didn't wear hijab but is a modest dresser). Her parents were worried what other ppl were going to think/say about the daughter wearing hijab and the mom not wearing it. Surprisingly 2 of her married sisters wear it but since she was single at that time she was going to be compared to her mom. And for the sisters ppl would just think k oh they're married their husband wants them to do that or whatever. Anyway I just gave her a pep talk and told her to hang in there and it would be old news soon. A few years in I met her somewhere and was surprised to see her without hijab but kept it to myself and just met her like I normally would and didnt bring it up cuz ofcourse it was her business.
I did email her a few weeks later but not to question her about it but more to offer support sort of. I told her that we were in the same boat (we were both wearing hijab) and I was sorta sad that she had to take a step back from it but that I hoped she was doing well and that she would be able to resolve whatever it was that made her leave (the boat) and either way that she be at peace with her choice and some day find her way to it on her own terms and when her heart accepted it. My email was really short and worded in such a way that I wasn't expecting a reply and that she didn't have to explain her choices to me. (She had started wearing it because the guy she was supposed to marry wanted her to but then things didn't work out and they didn't get married).
I just understood her, because it is a difficult choice and more difficult to maintain when someone is pushing u towards it rather than it coming from ur heart (e.g. parents, husband etc.). The big test then comes when u don't have anyone forcing u anymore so r y going to stick with it or not. I hope I never have to make that decision. I do feel "naked" without my hijab now but I do wonder if I would be strong enough to stick with it if I didn't have that push coming from my husband.
I think it's great that many Muslim women in Pakistan and perhaps other countries as well have the luxury to "choose" whether or not they want to wear a Hijab. I often listen to women and girls who come from Aganistan or Indonesia or Jordan who don't have a choice.
I'm all for people wearing whatever they want, but when you are shamed or compelled into doing things... and not from within. It's just sad, don't you think? It loses the beauty of the Hijab... albeit only a little bit.
I know a girl who wore a hijab for some time, then when I saw her (a year or so later) she had it off.. I asked her why and she said "summer mein garmi lagti hai issliye, winter mein phir se pahnoongi" .. so, her motive was clearly to keep her head warm, it had no religious significance.. which defeats the purpose, right?