Veiled Controversy: The EU Hijab Ban

This past week an EU court ruling has caused a frenzy and sparked outrage across the Muslim community after the court started that hijabs could be banned in the workplace if they are the source of conflict and do not fit in with a brand’s neutral image

Before we dive into the court proceedings and the ban let us talk about the hijab itself.

What is the hijab?

A hijab is a cloth, particularly a headscarf, worn by women conceived in the doctrines of Islam. The purposes of wearing the hijab 刭, whether it is considered an act of faith or modesty or a requirement of the religion, transcend geographical barriers, and women wear it as part of their beliefs. However, most women who practice Islam treat the hijab as an accessory that they put on daily. The hijab cannot be linked solely by one particular religious group; there are many different cultures and religions that require that unique head coverings for both males and females be worn.

However, in recent times, the popularity and the perception of the hijab have gone to the negative side. The hijab has received such signs, ‘it’s always a moot icon of faith’ Seher and even blames it on prejudice. The hijab is today used in a variety of negative contexts; it is seen as an act of immigrants or foreigners wanting to shut themselves out of the country they have come into, subjugation of women, and now also as an extremely conservative political attire. Joji in Harper’s College

Because of these attitudes towards the garment and these images of women, the hijab has received a lot of criticism from the public. After all, many were and still are for banning the hijab – and now face veils – in the public sphere, for instance, in schools, universities, or, lately, even in workplaces.

The EU Court Case

Hijab-wearing women brought two cases in Germany as they were suspended and told to take their hijabs off in their respective workplaces. These women started by not wearing hijabs in their workplace. However, after returning from leave they began to wear their head coverings, resulting in workplace conflict. Their respective employers asked each of the women to take their scarves off as it did not comply with company policy. When the women refused, they were threatened with suspension, told to come to work without wearing it or find another job, the court states.

In the court, it was debated as to what was more important, their religious freedom and right to wear a headscarf or business conduct. In the end, the court ruled in favor of business conduct, stating that such bans of the hijab are possible if the company would like to present and maintain a neutral image.

“A prohibition on wearing any visible form of expression of political philosophical or religious belief in the workplace may be justified by the employees need to present a neutral image towards customers or to prevent social disputes.”

~EU Court~

It was also stated that the justification of asking staff to remove philosophical, political or religious symbols in the workplace would have to come from a genuine place of neutrality. It is important to note, that one of the employers stated that the removal of the hijab by the employee was a justified request because they had asked another employee to remove a religious cross, citing that it was done for the sake of uniformity.

Diversity and Inclusion?

DiverseJobsMatter is an organisation that celebrates different experiences, different people have and understands how all of these unique experiences come together to create a cohesive workplace environment. This ruling has angered many, and that is no surprise. What the European Union court has ruled is grounds for religious discrimination, because if we look at each of the cases individually, what we see is women who have to pick between something that is a part of their identity and their job.

Nobody should be made to pick between those two things.

The workplace should not be a space where an individual has to mitigate, mute, and hide who they are. Workplaces should be moving towards open discourse that is progressive and inclusive of people from different backgrounds, experiences, and environments. This ruling to allow the banning of hijabs in the workplace is only a step backward, as if it were for the sake of equality then every religious symbol that is wearable should be penalised to the same degree. But to that same affect that is collective discrimination towards people of faiths in the job market and corporate space.  The ruling was made on the grounds that each respective company wanted to maintain a neutral brand image. However, the debate that this court case caused was about religious freedom versus business conduct. As the facts and the proceedings of the court case is evaluated one overwhelming question comes to mind: what does brand image and representation have to do with conduct?

In a statement to the press ENAR’s senior advocacy officer, Julie Pascoët has stated, “The Court of Justice of the EU continues to fail to protect Muslim women from structural and intersectional forms of discrimination”. When looking at some of the facts and stats this could not be truer. In a sociological study conducted by Bristol professor Dr. Nabil Khattab, that Muslim women are 70% more likely to be looking for work unsuccessfully. The unemployment rate for Muslim women was 18% whereas for women of the Hindu faith it was 9% and for Christian women, it was 4%. Dr. Khattab’s study Involved 2,643 women of different faiths. He compared educational level, language ability, and employment success in an in-depth statistical analysis. He found that 71% of Muslim women were more likely than white Christian women to be unemployed despite having the same education and language skills and in comparison, 57% of Hindu women were more likely to be unemployed than white Christian women. His study also accounted for marital status and children. Muslim women within the United Kingdom remain exceptionally low in their economic activity employment rates amongst Muslim women are significantly higher even with the same levels of qualifications and language abilities to other women. There is a cultural component attached to this. However, for those Muslim women striving to develop and progress their careers discrimination is a key issue, and this EU case highlights this.

In the workplace, Muslim women become hyper-visible and that is because of the headwear that they choose to wear, as the headscarf makes them more visible they are more visible and susceptible to discrimination. Muslim women need to be provided with security and protection and should be allowed to Don the scarf if they choose to do so. Faith and religion should never be grounds to suspend, discriminate and terminate employees from a workplace.