The Canadian group Women Working With Immigrant Women has published a report on a study on the experiences of Muslim women wearing the hijab who apply for work in the manufacturing, sales and service sectors. The study, entitled "No Hijab is Permitted Here", was funded by the Canadian government and the city of Toronto. The authors found that women who wear the hijab experience barriers and discrimination when applying for work. They are denied jobs, told they must remove their hijab, harassed in the workplace and fired from jobs as a result of wearing hijab.

A high percentage (90.6%) of the Muslim women who filled out the survey reported having had an employer make a reference about their hijab while applying for work. It is also significant that 40.6% of these women were told that they must take off the hijab if they wanted a job. The women wearing hijab who visited the job sites experienced discrimination in all sectors, regardless of age, skin colour, experience in Canada, accent, mannerisms and education.

Go to article...