What happens when Hijab and work do not work well together?
I was talking to my friend Abeer and she sounded pretty upset. She has recently witnessed some cases of discrimination against veiled women. She has also come across an article about Hijab and work not mixing well. Here is a piece of it reflecting a common misunderstanding about veiled women:
A study conducted on a small selected niche showed that a veiled lady is conceived to be less productive, less likely to handle difficult business situations, less educated, and her social, interpersonal and lingual skills are lower in comparison to her un-veiled peers.
Apparently, veiled women are being stereotyped. Societies are judging women based on their looks rather than on their knowledge and skills. I might be able to understand how Hijab is unwelcome in France for example, even though I still do not agree with it. However, facing problems for being veiled in Jordan -or any other Arab country for that matter- is simply silly!
Jordan is an Arab, Muslim country. Veiled women have been part of the society forever. Yet they are being discriminated against. Some people do believe that veiled women are neither productive nor effective. It makes me feel angry and sad at the same time that some women have to suffer due to their religious beliefs.
I have been told about a few stories, and I will briefly talk about them:
- Two fresh graduates were denied job opportunities because they were veiled; the company did not want any veiled women because they thought any veiled women might be inadequate for the job. I wonder what their definition is of the term ‘Inadequate.’
- A veiled woman who is both respectful and knowledegeable in her field of work was deprived of a business trip at work even though she was an excellent employee. An unvelied woman who also happens to be blonde was offered to go on the business trip to France instead despite the fact that she is not as good as the other employee. Still, she is a better looking representative according to the company.
- A woman who was planning to wear the Hijab was told by her manager that she might risk being promoted. The woman, smart woman if I may, quit her job because her Hijab and dignity as well meant more to her than a raise or a promotion.
So there you have it, I did not know it was that bad in Jordan, but I guess it is after all. I am sure there are many cases that go unnoticed and unheard of. There should be a union or an organization to protect veiled women’s rights because what is taking place is unfair and unacceptable. It is funny how the more open and advanced we try to become, the more closed our minds get and we start to look at things in a less reasonable way.
Leaving Jordan aside, I find it ironic that the West claims to be deomcratic when its actions depict the opposite.
salam said,
July 3, 2007 @ 3:18 am
How about discrimination against non-veiled women? or even worse Christain women in some work environments? I tell you, in some places, it’s just as bad..they make you feel like an alien!!
Isam said,
July 3, 2007 @ 7:09 am
do un-veiled girls call it discrimination that they can’t work in TV channels like Iqraa or al Manar ?? i guess they do … we in this region practice discrimination at all levels … we can parctice it against anybody … on basis of religion … origin … ethnicity … sex … east ammani west ammani … public schools private schools … u name it we have … and then we slam “the west” that they discriminate against us … and they say they dont but then deport arabs … UGH
this world is a mess … deal with it as it is … NO LOGIC ! when will everybody just mind their own business ??
Laila said,
July 3, 2007 @ 2:02 pm
Hey,
Well it is true that Veiled women have been part of the society forever but qualified veiled women in the working sector are still new and didnt prove their skills in not teaching related jobs.
Discussing this issue with HR people who would have second thoughts when to comes to hiring women in the first place not to mention vieled ones is justified as follows: Generally speaking women put work below getting married on their priority’s rank, or if married family comes first, vieled women -and i know this sound stupid- are assumed to be less career oriented when compared to non-vieled ones but it is like a common generlization when you count the pioneer career women in jordan its more likely that they are not vieled.
another very important factor is that vieled women would like more strict conservative working atmosphere, many vieled employees caused quit serious dilemmas at works due to their refusal to some work stuff, work rules, when dealing with peer male employees, freedom to travel or go for out-office tasks.. all this counts when you want to hire someone that u will work with 9-6 five days a week.
Women face different forms of discrimination at work, vieled women need to prove that they can be career oriented and they will then face the other forums of discrimination just like other non-vieled women.
miss sea lover said,
July 4, 2007 @ 6:17 am
“stereotyped” this is the really ugly word that causes all that..discremination is wrong..whatever the basis are…ppl should judge the person according to his/her qualifications not his sex/color/religion…etc….
Hareega said,
July 4, 2007 @ 2:33 pm
REgarding the manager who told his veiled employee that she might risk getting promoted becaused of her veil, if that happened in USA she has the right to sue him and most likely she will win.
The study to start with is discriminatory, but here are my comments:
1- IT’s a small study, judging from medical studies many study are rubbish if not conducted appropriately with a good sample size.
2- The result might be true, it could be true that veiled women do not perform as well in work, but that might not be because of the veil itself but other factors. It could be that the women included did not speak English or get higer degrees for example…
There’s discrimination everyhwhere. My mother worked for 30 years in a place where everyone else was from different religion and origins and she witnessed and heard things that are much much worse than being “less productive at work”
Global Voices Online » Palestine: Palestinians Celebrate Alan Johnston's Release said,
July 7, 2007 @ 6:43 pm
[...] Soul Blossom, a Palestinian Jordanian, asks a question about the headscarf: What happens when Hijab and work do [...]
Global Voices Online » Jordanian Blogosphere | Celebrating Petra The World Wonder said,
July 9, 2007 @ 10:05 am
[...] takes a look at traditional marriages and ponders their effectiveness, while Hala wonders if mixing work with hijab is a recipe for failure. Ola thinks books may be expensive in Jordan, but everything is relative, [...]
Hala said,
July 9, 2007 @ 7:35 pm
Isam: How about never?
I know women are somehow still looked at as the ‘weaker’ gender, and some men do practice discrimination against women in different forms. When I say weaker, I mean it as in less better and less skilled and less qualified. Women are underestimated even though they proved they can rise to the top. I know when it comes to he physical part of it, there are certain places that women need to stay away from.
Veiled women have it harder than non veiled women for the mere fact that they dress differently. They are being perceived the wrong way because of a headscarf!
Take the study as an example:
Hareega: I know it is inaccurate, and I am not referring to it as a source. Still, the study simply shows you how the people who conducted it blame the headscarf rather than the REAL factors that led women into being looked at in a degrading way in some societies.
zoi said,
August 15, 2007 @ 4:38 pm
It is very unfortunate that in todays day and time veiled women are being stereotyped and so are women wearing the hijab in general. Everybody has a right to dress the way they want.
Zaid Bethanie said,
September 19, 2007 @ 2:21 pm
when they say it’s ove. Zaid Bethanie.
asma said,
October 16, 2007 @ 2:52 pm
hi
i’m a veiled girl from morocco and I am surprised that even in jordan there is a discrimination against veiled girls !!!
having studied in the most famous school in morocco and had the best score at school, i never thought that i may have this problem in the future, well i’m facing it now !!!
i can’t understand how recruiters can judge from the outside, i’m seeing my self as a very open girl, having too many male friends and highly competent more than too many unveiled women, so how can i accept such excuses like those presented by Laila !!!
and to say that we exaggerate the situation, i can say definitly no, because i had many friends (unveiled girls) who have the same CV as i have, the same school, … and they were convoked for a job interview when i wasn’t !!!
but i have to say that discrimination varies from a city to another (more discrimination in the big cities), from a company to another (less in public or semi public or moroccan companies), from a sector to another (veiled girls can’t apply for a job in a bank, consulting or auditing firm, … even for back office jobs !!!) so my problem that i’m looking for a job in a big city and in financial sector and i hope i won’t give up, God help us all
Mohamed said,
October 17, 2007 @ 11:15 am
I agree with you asma when you said that some recruiters refuse veiled girls because they are less producive…… but I want to tell you that you have to continue your job applications, because you’re first in an islamic country, then you are graduated from a business school which is famous….
I think that the problem get bigger for girl who studied marketing, communication or trade … these kind of jobs require a good presentation unfortunatly veiled girls are not .
Hala said,
October 28, 2007 @ 2:16 am
Well, I would not want to see a Muslim female take off her veil for reasons related to work. Be sure though that God is watching everything and will not leave someone deseperate.
Jay said,
November 7, 2007 @ 9:09 am
I have to agree with Layla when it comes to employers seeking non-veiled
staff members. Hiring is a big investment and an employer wants to make
sure the company is a priority. And those set backs like traveling, working
with men, not participating in some work projects because of ‘moral content’,
ect. ect., the list goes on and on. Those are real life set backs that occur
regularly to the veiled muslim woman. Employers opinions are not always
stereotypes but are based on actual experiences. What holds this group back
most is it’s refusal to take this seriously and in some sense just idly blaming
it on “discrimination” is making a sweeping blanket statement. Also, the
veiled woman has to responsibly think about where she would succeed in
the workforce. Like nuring and teaching, this is an area she could easily
excel, financial consulting, ??? I think not.
The comment about suing in the u.s. is completely false. The judicial
system is getting tired of ridiculous cases. Because there are so many
jobs out there, you could get turned down and start looking for another
and land one in a week. It seems like in the middle east there are sooo
many misconceptions about what life is like here in the U.S. Consider that
the media is totally left wing, does not represent the majority of the U.S.
Hala said,
November 15, 2007 @ 1:51 am
I agee with you to a certain extent. A veiled woman has a field of options that work better than some others. Practicing religious rules nowadays is hard, so such barriers are expected.
Hijab Pins said,
January 26, 2008 @ 5:53 pm
Very interesting im adding rss feed for this
Farah said,
February 11, 2008 @ 3:08 am
i find numerous ads in the newspapers everyday requesting veiled women to work. i wonder what would happen if i put an ad requesting non-veiled women? it wouldnt even get posted i presume. is that discrimination? certain jobs have certain requirements, for example, a veiled woman would be more adequate for working in a store that sells islamic clothes, just like a non-veiled woman would be more adequate for working as in PR or lets say a representative of the company who has to travel abroad. is that discrimination? no. perhaps both would be able to perform the job well, but people around them cannot respond the same. i gotta tell u, discrimination against non-veiled women is much worse in a country where more than 60% of the women are veiled.
rehab said,
June 18, 2008 @ 6:33 am
i lived in Canada before i moved to Egypt. i got a part time job in Canada, agter two weeks of training the manager in the retaurant in which i worked told me that in-order to go on with this job i had to take my hijab off. He told me that apparently it does not go well with their uniform.
i Sued the son of a bitch. and i got 200 dollars out of it.
Hala said,
July 27, 2008 @ 1:22 am
Farah: I agree with you. However, some take it to the extreme or sometimes it is pure discrimination. It does not only have to be targeted towards veiled women.
Rehab: Good for you girl