Scarf sparks controversy and assumptions in modern workplaces
Sharon Hoosein, a nurse practitioner who works for a hospital in Mississauga, Ont., wears a hijab — or headscarf — as a symbol of her Muslim faith. She says she has experienced few problems at work as a result of wearing the hijab, except for the odd person making a false assumption about Muslim women being cloistered, uneducated and oppressed.
“I’m on my maternity leave now and people ask if I’m coming back. I can’t help but feel people were asking that because they thought [staying home] is what my culture and religion wants me to do,” she says. “I married a man from the Middle East, and when I say that he changes diapers and that I go out and leave the kid with him for hours, they’re so surprised.”
The hijab — and how it is received in the workplace — has had much more than its 15 minutes of fame. In June, the Canadian owner of a hair salon in London, England, was ordered by an employment tribunal to pay $8,000 in damages to a young stylist who was refused a job because she wears a hijab.
And in May, the Bouchard-Taylor report found that Muslim women in Quebec face discrimination in the job market for wearing the hijab, and cited the case of a young woman who “saw her job applications rejected by 50 pharmacies before she was finally able to land a job with an Arab pharmacist.”
By wearing the hijab in the workplace, some Muslim women believe they are not only keeping the faith — they are also helping tear down cultural barriers.
Saher Zuberi, an accountant, recalls one such barrier-breaking moment. “My coworker turned to me and said, ‘You know, I always thought that women who covered their heads were submissive and dominated by their husbands, that they were meek and mild. And then I met you. And you’re one of the most independent, outspoken women I’ve ever met.’ “
Some Muslim women consider wearing the hijab an obligatory religious commandment set out in the teachings of the Koran. Other women consider it a physical expression of their faith, to communicate to the world that they are practising Muslims.
Alia Hogben, executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, does not cover her head. She says that the issue of veiling is extremely controversial within the Muslim communities, and that the Koran’s dictates imploring female modesty can be interpreted in myriad ways.
The perception that veiled Muslim women are dominated by male family members can be pervasive among Western non-Muslims. When Katherine Bullock came to Canada from Australia to go to Queen’s University, she saw women wearing the hijab on campus and felt pity. She believed the hijab to be a “symbol of women’s oppression.”
Bullock was raised Anglican and became an atheist during undergraduate studies. She later married a Muslim man and immersed herself in the study of Islam and other religions. When she decided to convert to Islam in 1994 at the age of 25, she adopted the hijab as a symbol of piety.
Working on a PhD at the University of Toronto, Bullock chose her thesis topic — now a book entitled Rethinking Muslim Women and the Veil: Challenging History and Modern Stereotypes — based on the negative reactions she received once she put on the hijab.
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