Call for laws to protect women wearing hijab

The labour law should be changed to protect veiled women from discrimination, UAE lawyers and Awqaf officials said.

Muslim women have allegedly been fired for wearing the hijab (headscarf) to work.

The Women's Propagation Administration at the Dubai Department of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has received complaints from Muslim women who have been dismissed from their jobs.

They said their employers claimed their employment contracts did not allow them to wear the hijab to work.

The officials appealed to employers to empathise with Muslim women. Dr Omar Mohammad Al Khatib, director of the Ifta' and Researches Administration at the department, said there was a need to develop the labour law to protect women against discrimination.

"The Sharia is the basic source of legislation in the UAE. When a Muslim woman wears the hijab, no one has the right to prevent her [from working], harass her or fire her for wearing it," Dr Ahmad Abdul Aziz Al Haddad, assistant director of the department, told Gulf News.

Dr Al Haddad said historically the hijab had never hindered a woman from carrying out her duties.

"Legal texts should clearly state a women shouldn't be harassed or discriminated against if she embraces any religion. We need laws that can force the employer not only to compensate the victimised woman, but also to reinstate her," said Mohammad Al Sheba of Al Bahr Advocates.

Al Sheba, who specialises in labour disputes, said he would defend any woman at no cost who had been subject to such a discriminatory attitude.

"A young Russian woman who converted to Islam wor-ked in a restaurant where waitresses are asked to wear miniskirts. She claims she was asked either to take off her hijab or quit. So she resigned," said a senior official from the Women's Propagation Administration.

Renowned UAE national female lawyer Jameela Al Nayadi said: "When the UAE labour law was introduced, no one imagined we could reach such a stage.

"The Labour Ministry should make amendments to the law to deal with such cases, which have increased as the labour market has become more sophisticated," she said.

Zafer Shaikh Oghli, a Syrian lawyer at Lutfi Consultancy Firm, said: "The UAE labour law says in cases of arbitrary dismissal, a person is granted a three-month compensation period. This period should be increased to compensate the number of years served."

He said laws should be modified so judges can be tougher on employers who dismiss women for wearing the hijab.

"I am astonished to hear such incidents take place in a Muslim country. If such an incident occurred in the United States, human rights activists and lawyers would defend the victimised women," said Mahgoub Eisa Mahgoub of Al Kabban Advocates and Legal Consultants.

He said the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs should ensure that employees have the right to be reinstated if they are dismissed for wearing the hijab. He called for action against any employer who fires an employee for wearing it.