Canada: Bad Jobs and Biases

Rubaba Hussini, from Afghanistan, found her ‘hijab’ (women’s head and body covering) was posing to be a problem when it came to finding work. “I wore my ‘hijab’ to college and everything was fine,” she says. But when she started looking for a co-op placement as a part of her diploma in Early Childhood Education, she was very disappointed. “I would call up people for an interview and everything seemed to be working out, until I went and met them. Then things would change. After failing in 10 interviews, I went for an interview without the ‘hijab’ and was instantly hired as a child care worker.”

Subuhi Jaffary, Employment Counsellor at South Asian Women’s Centre, a Toronto-based not-for-profit outfit, agrees that Muslim women who wear the ‘hijab’ have problems seeking work. Jaffary’s clients include immigrant women hunting for jobs and support. “I had a client who wore a long ‘hijab’. I had to teach her how to present herself. She shortened her ‘hijab’ to a scarf. That made it more fashionable and acceptable in this society.” Jaffary said her client is now studying nutrition at a community college and has been able to find co-op work. “It took her three years to finally make it to the job market.”

There are some small-time employment avenues available to students, including sales jobs, baby sitting and service jobs like waitressing. However, these are just to make some extra cash as they usually pay around CA$8 to CA$13 per hour (US$1=CA$1.02). Also, these are not a part of the course work.

Many Asian students feel that it is not so much the colour of the skin, but the front cover of the passport that decides the response that they get in the job market after graduation. This is because second generation Canadian-Asian women students do not feel racially discriminated at work.

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