This originally appeared at FreeWriters.
You may have seen it, you may have heard about it: the most recent discrimination case being fought by Muslim woman, Bushra Noah. Now the story goes a bit like this, Bushra Noah (19 year old hijabi) goes to Sarah Desrosiers (32 year old hippie) for a job as aPost Options
hairdresser. Desrosiers tells her that her appearance (hijab-clad Muslimah) doesn’t quite fit with the image of the salon’s, and tells her that she will only give her the job if she removes her ‘head-gear’. Noah, distraught, after being rejected for around 25 jobs (including this one), refuses and takes her case to court instead, suing Desrosiers for the sum of £15,000 – for religious discrimination.
Now, ordinarily I’d have to say that discrimination is unacceptable under any circumstances. But this, well, I must admit, this is a little more complex. On the one hand, what Desrosiers asked Noah to do was purely a marketing strategy which unfortunately (and coincidentally) meant that Noah would have to take her scarf off – I don’t actually think it had anything to do with her religion. Desrosiers seems to have tried to implement a strategy I have often seen many retail companies and beauticians adopt. I myself admit that I would never go to a beautician whose skin was full of scabs and spots (no offence to anyone!) But the reality is that image sells; and in this case, the product, or rather service being sold involved Noah’s hair.
On the other hand, if Noah was good at her job, then who cares what she is wearing? I mean, when you go to the dentist you don’t say “open wide doc, I wanna see what your gnashers are like before I get in the seat” do you? By the same token I don’t ever recall asking any of my lecturers what qualifications they had before joining their class – I just relied on their knowledge blindly, that if they are where they are, it’s because someone, somewhere thought that they had the ability to teach me.
One blog site, The Freethinker, dubbed the story as “Boo-hoo, another Muslim’s feelings are hurt – and only cash will ease the pain”. While I admit that these were (surprisingly) my own sentiments when I first read the story yesterday evening, I do think that in this current climate it has become only too easy to point the finger at the whole Muslim community (yet again) and brand her with the rest of the Aishahs, Shabinas and Aneelas we have seen over the past three years. Instead, we must be mindful that each case must be assessed on its own merits – the specific details of this case are different. On this occasion though, I don’t think it is a religious issue – it is an issue about clothing, pure and simple. What if this had been a Sikh man or some random bald woman? Would we be making such a fuss of it then?
By making a claim on religious discrimination grounds, Noah has further fuelled discontent towards Muslims today, but by refusing to employ her because of her clothing, Desrosiers has gone against a basic right we are all entitled to in this country: freedom of expression. So let’s stop turning everything into a religious issue and put our heads back on the right way around!
This happens all the time in jobs where people are required to interact with the public. If you apply for a job at a bank or an insurance company, they’re probably going to ask that you not have a mohawk, gaged ears and neck tattoos, and if you do, that you minimize their appearance. I don’t really think it’s a racial thing either.
I wouldn’t agree with putting a neck tattoo and a headscarf in the same category. But think about it this way, for arguments’ sake: would the proprietor have hired a bald man? He doesn’t even HAVE hair…so hopefully he would be judged on his resume and expertise. I’m not sure if Ms. Noah was judged on her credentials or performance.
I understand that argument, and I think you and I are in agreement. I was just trying to play devil’s advocate.
Whether it’s right or not, many businesses are reluctant to hire people if they perceive the candidate doesn’t fit into a preexisting aesthetic or marketable image associated with the business. Not really fair, but it exists to varying degrees for all cultures and subcultures, as in my punk example.
A clean-cut Mormon might have difficulty getting the same job this young woman applied for, since it sounds as if the manager prefers a more “earthy” image for her business, regardless of his or her qualifications.
Salaam Alaikum,
I think this is an interesting challenge.
To the hairdressers it would seem hijab = unable to cut hair, because surely that is what she would be employed to do.
I think the real issue, is that a hijabi cannot be seen as being ‘cool’, because being religiously observant is not seen as being cool. So to me, this is definitely religious discrimination.
However, I believe Bushra lives in London. Are there not Muslimah salons/mobile hairdressers who would be happy to employ her?
Apparently Bushra is suing the hairdresser who was the rudest to her. I can imagine how rude, as people seem to forget that not only are Muslims human, but they have remarkably similiar concerns to non-Muslims – including having nice hair.
Having worked in a hair salon, I think this is crazy. My uncle runs a “hip” urban hair salon and sure he hires younger girls with tattoos and dreads, but he also has many hair dressers who are over 40 and very conservative, one who is extremely religious. He can still maintain the image of the salon having all kinds of different hair dressers. Isn’t shutting out a hijabi shutting out potential clientel?
Hair salons are notorious for their racism here. I know an owner at a place I worked who would only hire hairdressers who hadn’t trained in “ethnic” hair styling, so he legally wouldn’t have to serve customers who were Black or Asian.
Perhaps underlying this all maybe the owner believed hiring a hijabi would attract more arab people and thought in some ridiculous way that would be a bad thing for business? I know I’ve heard owners say that once the word gets out you’ll serve “ethnic” clients, you’ll be “swamped”. Which is a disgusting statement. It’s hair!
I think people need to stop hiring on image. What person fits into one image category anyway? Employee or customer. It’s silly to want to project anything but professionalism and good customer service through the way you appear at work. How can you project coolness or hipness?
“with the rest of the Aishahs, Shabinas and Aneelas we have seen.” lol