Hijab-wearing TV anchor, a first for Canada
- Ginelle Massa is Canada’s first TV anchor to wear a hijab while reporting
- She has been getting a lot of hatred online for her appearance
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It was merely a coincidence that Ginelle Massa, a reporter at Toronto’s CTV News was asked to fill in for a colleague. Massa was asked to fill in on the anchor desk for CityNews' 11 pm broadcast last week. On ending the bulletin, she tweeted, "That's a wrap! Tonight wasn't just important for me. I don't think a woman in hijab has ever anchored a newscast in Canada."
That's a wrap! Tonight wasn't just important for me. I don't think a woman in hijab has ever anchored a newscast in Canada. Thx @CityNews ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Uue2VVD41z
— Ginella Massa (@Ginella_M) November 18, 2016
Well, that was enough to get the world in a frenzy. It was no less of a celebration as tweets and calls poured in to congratulate and applaud her. Massa is no stranger to fame and breaking such glass ceilings when it comes to wearing the hijab. Previously she was known for being Canada’s first hijab-clad TV news reporter.
Massa is one of the few women of her community who have secured such a publicised job. She has been quoted in The Telegraph as saying, “I've talked to many women who are journalists in the US who work behind the scenes and they've told me that they face multiple challenges trying to get on air.”
"They've been told because of their hijab, that's not going to happen. That makes me really sad because they're being held back by someone else's idea of what the public can or cannot handle."
This does not come as news to Massa or plenty of women from the Muslim community settled in the USA or Canada. While Canadians are largely peace-loving and fewer incidences of racism have been reported here, in the USA, hijab-wearing women are often looked upon with suspicion, mocked for their religious beliefs and sometimes even physically abused.
The current mood in USA is that of apprehension. Donald Trump – who called for an outright ban on Muslims entering the US – won the US Presidential elections on November 8, prompting fears among the community at large. Many were seen questioning ‘whether it will still be safe to wear the hijab in America?’.
