Re: Hijabi Woman and Bearded Fellow
Distinguish appearance? That depends on where you live. In an Islamic country, this appearance wouldn’t be the odd one out. In a western country, even your skin colour will make you stand out from the general population. So even though hijabis/bearded men might get more curious looks because of their appearance, they certainly won’t be getting the haram kind of attention since no one would find them attractive. 
As for making a statement 
this is one of the biggest misconceptions around! No one’s tryina make any statement, no one’s rubbing anything on your face! Why do muslim men choose to grow a beard in this day n age only to be judged by every other person? Because their purpose in life is to follow the examples of Prophet saw, not to make any kind of statement to the ignorant bunch.
To answer your question, I would say yes they are but men to a greater extent than women.