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. [The Telegraph] Read more
