UK Edition
Hijab-wearing Muslim women being passed over for jobs in last form of 'acceptable' discrimination – MPs
Muslim women who wear headscarves are routinely being passed over for jobs and sidelined in the workplace because of what is seen as one of the last forms of “acceptable” discrimination, MPs have warned.
Highly qualified women who have already overcome major barriers to train in professions such as law, are being written off because of crude assumptions that they are “submissive and weak”, a Commons report found.
Some are driven to abandon wearing traditional Islamic dress in order to get a good job, an inquiry by the Commons Women and Equalities Committee was told.
Others find themselves interrogated – illegally – at interviews about whether they are married and have children or want to, while those already in jobs find themselves passed over for important assignments because of assumptions that they might not be “allowed” to travel.
The report calls for urgent action to tackle unemployment in the Muslim community – with rates running at more than double the rate of the general population (12.8 per cent against 5.4 per cent) – or risk seeing further division in society.
It also calls for companies to introduce “name blind” applications to reduce “unconscious bias” against Muslim and other minority candidates – backed up by a change in the law if necessary.
The recommendation echoes remarks by the US President Barack Obama last year warning against “the subtle impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview but not Jamal”.
The inquiry, which took evidence from experts and individuals, including spending an afternoon with young Muslim students in Luton, also found women in particular facing simultaneous pressures both from their community and wider society.
Hostility towards Muslims was acting as a “chill factor” putting many off even applying for jobs, they found.
In some cases, the upsurge in attacks on Muslim women, has led Muslim women to look only for jobs which will not involve travelling after dark.
Maria Miller, chair of the committee, said: “The evidence was very strongly that … it was seen as acceptable to discriminate against Muslim women and that [people] almost didn’t see it as discrimination.
“You can’t have some women more equal than others.
“Everybody is subject to the same law in this country and Muslim women can choose to dress in the way that they want in the same way that other women can and shouldn’t have to suffer discrimination as a result of it.
“One of the young women who gave evidence to us told the committee in an informal sitting that she had decided not to wear a headscarf and was struck by the different way she was treated both by people she didn’t know but also people she knew.
“There is a distinct level of institutional racism that is being endured by Muslim women and we must be open about that.”
The committee also warned that the Government’s “Prevent” strategy, which includes a requirement for teachers to report signs of potential radicalisation, has “exacerbated” a sense of inequality experienced by Muslims and increased tensions.
Crucially, they said, it meant that other positive initiatives by the authorities were viewed with suspicion.
Mrs Miller said: “One of the reasons we feel that this needs to be tackled quickly is because of the very clear perception among Muslim people that interventions by the Government to support them are linked to Prevent and the anti-extremism policies that the Government clearly has to get right.
“The committee felt strongly that there needs to be a clear break between employment support for Muslims, to get them into work, and counter-extremism policies.
“We found it difficult to get groups to meet with us because we were from Parliament and it was assumed that we were part of the Prevent Strategy and we had to spend a great deal of time explaining to that as a committee we had nothing to do with the Government.”