Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 155 (2014) 428 – 433 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com 1877-0428 © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of School of Multimedia Technology & Communication, Universiti Utara Malaysia. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.10.317 ScienceDirect The International Conference on Communication and Media 2014 (i-COME’14), 18-20 October 2014, Langkawi, MALAYSIA Hijab and the Malay-Muslim Woman in Media Nurzihan Hassim a * a School of Communication, Taylor’s University, 47500 Subang Jaya, Malaysia Abstract The globalization of Islamic countries worldwide inadvertently changed the representation of Muslim woman and the hijab. Displays of Islamic modesty in print, broadcast and social networking channels create opportunities for Muslim women to experience empowerment and diminish oppressive stereotypes. This communal experience penetrated Malaysian media and influenced Malays that represent a large majority of the country’s Muslims. This paper explores the role of Malay-Muslim women in creating a renewed perception upon the hijab in the Malaysian public, pursuing a more liberated, Islamic identity whilst offering a renewed social construction of the Malay society through the evolution of mass communication. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of School of Multimedia Technology & Communication, Universiti Utara Malaysia. Keywords: Cultural identity; hijab; globalization, Malay-Muslims; gender studies 1. Introduction The veil or more commonly known as the hijab is worn among Muslim women as enforcement of Islamic values based on Quranic teachings and is largely associated to masculine views that intend to safeguard women and their honour. In the last century, veiling trends proliferated in media following global Islamic resurgence in the Middle East from the 1970s up until the wave of Islamophobia that surfaced after 9/11. Two types of research patterns emerged during this period; the first is centred upon the hijab as a dominant factor in religion-ethnic discrimination, whilst another focused on the growth of a consumption culture stemming from recursive imageries of the hijab on print, television and internet that stimulated public interest in Islamic modesty, heightening awareness of its purpose * Corresponding author. Tel.: +6-035-629-5694; Fax: +6-035-629-5705. E-mail address: nurzihan.hassim@taylors.edu.my © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of School of Multimedia Technology & Communication, Universiti Utara Malaysia.