Most of the women in this article claim they have experienced few problems at work as a result of wearing the hijab in the workplace, except for the odd person assuming Muslim women are cloistered, uneducated and oppressed. In May of 2008 the Bouchard-Taylor Report similarly found that Muslim women in Quebec face discrimination in the job market for wearing the hijab and cited the case of a young woman who “saw her job applications rejected by 50 pharmacies before she was finally able to land a job with an Arab pharmacist.”
In a 2002 study, “No Hijab Is Permitted Here,” conducted by Women Working with Immigrant Women and funded by the Canadian Heritage-Multiculturalism Program and Status of Women Canada found that more than 90% of participants had an employer make reference to the hijab when applying for a job; more than 40% claim they were told they must remove the hijab if they wanted a job (sample size not given). Fadwa Benmbarek who works with the Council on American-Islamic Relations says getting a new job is often the toughest part.
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Link to “No Hijab Permitted Is Here” study availablehere
