A Muslim teaching assistant suspended for refusing to remove her veil in class should be sacked, a local government minister has said.
Phil Woolas told the Sunday Mirror that Aishah Azmi, 23, had “put herself in a position where she can’t do her job”. Mr Woolas, whose brief covers race relations, stopped short of repeating the demand on the BBC’s Politics Show. But he said if the head teacher at the school in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, chose to sack Ms Azmi “so be it”.
Ms Azmi, who is originally from Cardiff, said pupils at Headfield Church of England Junior School had never complained about her wearing a veil. She said she would remove the garment, but not in front of male colleagues.
Ms Azmi’s lawyer called for Mr Woolas to withdraw his comments, which he warned might influence the classroom assistant’s employment tribunal.
“Mrs Azmi is very well able to carry out her role as a teaching assistant providing support to pupils who speak English as a second language,” said Nick Whittingham, of Kirklees Law Centre. “She is able to do this effectively while wearing the veil. She has demonstrated in a number of interviews that she can communicate effectively while wearing the veil.”
Mr Whittingham described Mr Woolas’s comments to the Sunday Mirror as “ill-advised” and called for him to withdraw his demands.
Update: See “Minister calls for veil-wearing teaching assistant to be sacked”, Independent, 16 October 2006
“It’s open season on Islam – Muslims are the new Jews…. Especially since July 7, it has become acceptable to say the most ignorant, degrading things about Islam…. I am particularly irked by ancient old ‘feminists’ wheeling out themselves and their 30-years-out-of-date opinions to reiterate the old chestnut that Islam, by its nature, oppresses women (unlike the Bible, eh,?) and that the veil compounds the blanket oppression….
Muslim leaders have accused ministers of “stigmatising an entire community” and launching a “relentless barrage” against Islamic Britons.
Islamophobia is a problem that must be addressed, MP George Galloway has told his Respect party’s annual conference in North London. Mr Galloway’s speech focused on the treatment of Muslims in Britain.
“Veiled Muslim women are caricatured as oppressed victims who need rescuing from their controlling men, while at the same time accused of being threatening creatures who really should stop intimidating the (overly tolerant) majority. What is distinctly lacking is any sense of genuine empathy for British Muslim women and how this ‘debate’ may be impacting on them….