Category Archives: Hijab

‘I walked around in a burqa all day (And I’m not Muslim)’ article angers critics

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Annette Lamothe-RamosA New York-based magazine has sparked outrage after publishing a story about its fashion editor wearing a niqab for a day.

Vice magazine published a story on its website yesterday that details difficulties experienced by Annette Lamothe-Ramos, its fashion editor, while wearing a five-piece niqab, a cloth normally worn by some Muslim women when they are out in public.

The editor, who incorrectly labelled the cloth a burqa in the story, told of how she “scared tourists”, felt like Batman and began to sweat in places she had never sweated before, all of which offended readers of the consistently irreverent magazine.

Ms Lamothe-Ramos, who also works as a DJ in New York, wrote about how she would never “do anything like this again because it suckkkkked”.

Daily Mail, 8 August 2012

See “I walked around in a burqa all day (And I’m not Muslim)”, Vice, 8 August 2012

And “A response to the detractors of our burqa-for-a-day article”, Vice, 9 August 2012

‘Trendy’ Oxford Street and Piccadilly retailer forced Muslim employee to resign over headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Global Luggage Piccadilly branchA London-based retailer forced a Muslim employee to resign after she wore a headscarf to work, because it wanted to retain its “trendy” image, an employment tribunal has ruled.

Ms Farrah brought a claim for unfair dismissal and direct religious discrimination against her former employer, Global Luggage Co, after the company moved her to a different store to maintain its “trendy” image and later forced her to resign.

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French government rejects US criticism of veil ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Paris on Tuesday brushed off a US State Department report that criticised France for banning Muslim women from wearing full veils.

“Our conception of secularism is a common heritage of all French people, which implies rules that encourage social harmony in the public space and in public schools,” said a foreign ministry spokesman.

In its 2011 International Religious Freedom Report, the State Department complains about a “rising number of European countries, including Belgium and France, whose laws restricting dress adversely affected Muslims and others”.

The French spokesman noted that France and its neighbours were seeking to define “more structured European Union policies to defend freedom of religion in the world”.

Expatica, 1 August 2012

See also “US report criticises French Islamic veil ban”, France 24, 1 August 2012

Olympics: International Judo Federation lifts ban on Saudi competitor wearing hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim ShaherkaniA female Saudi fighter will take part in the Olympic judo competition after being allowed to wear an Islamic headscarf, or hijab, of a specific design.

Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani is one of only two Saudi women to travel to London after the International Olympic Committee lobbied the conservative Islamic kingdom to end its refusal to send women to the Games.

But she had said she would only compete if she was allowed to wear the hijab, and judo officials refused, saying it would be dangerous.

A Saudi National Olympic Committee spokeswoman said the committee, the IOC and the International Judo Federation had now agreed on an acceptable form for the headscarf.

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A human rights perspective on headscarf and veil bans

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Marianne Møllmann of Amnesty International welcomes FIFA’s recent decision to lift its ban on women footballers wearing headscarves and also the news that several gulf countries are for the first time sending female athletes (wearing headscarves) to the Olympics. She notes, however, that more and more European countries are imposing restrictions on the wearing of headscarves or face-veils in public.

RH Reality Check, 23 July 2012

EEOC files suit against security company who fired Philadelphia woman for wearing headscarf

Posted on by Bob Pitt

ABM Security Services

Tahira B. El, a practicing Muslim, faced religious discrimination when she was fired by her employer, a security company providing guards to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, because she refused to remove a head scarf she wore for religious reasons, according to a federal lawsuit filed in Philadelphia on her behalf Wednesday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The suit said that El, of Philadelphia, was hired by ABM Security Services, of California, to work at the center on Feb. 21, 2011. She was fired the next day, the suit said, when she showed up in uniform, wearing the khimar, which covers her hair and ears, but not her face.

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The French minister for women has let down Muslim voters

Posted on by Bob Pitt

After the election of a Socialist government, and the appointment of a Muslim of North African heritage – Najat Vallaud-Belkacem – as minister for women’s rights, France’s Muslim community might have hoped for a reversal of Nicolas Sarkozy’s policy of pandering to Islamophobia, and in particular an overturn of the notorious “burqa ban”. So far they have been disappointed, writes Nabila Ramdani.

Comment is Free, 16 July 2012

Women’s centre is struggling after ‘extremism’ claims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Burton Women's Centre (3)A community centre alleged to have links with Islamist extremist groups has been left ruined by the ‘false accusations’, one of its leaders has claimed.

Rita Gibbins, treasurer of Burton Women’s Centre in Dallow Street, Horninglow, spoke out six months after Staffordshire Police, East Staffordshire Borough Council and Staffordshire County Council first made the accusations.

“Since the accusation was made and it went on the front page of the Burton Mail, we have heard nothing,” she said. “No-one from the police or councils has visited us since. It has become really difficult to get new members and get funding.”

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Ottawa: girl banned from soccer game for refusing to remove hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Rayane BenattiA nine-year-old Gatineau girl who refused to remove her headscarf was forced to stand on the sidelines Sunday as her team played – and won – the final match of a soccer tournament.

The order came just days after the International Football Association Board voted to lift its ban based on the fact that “there is no medical literature concerning injuries as a result of wearing a headscarf,” the organization stated on its website.

Rayane Benatti was told to take off her headscarf for safety reasons, but she refused. “It made me feel very sad,” she told the Citizen in French on Monday. “I love soccer. I get to run around and do teamwork – I really like that.”

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