“A girl was unlawfully excluded from school for wearing a traditional Muslim gown, Appeal Court judges have ruled. Lord Justice Brooke said Denbigh High School in Luton, Beds, denied Shabina Begum, 16 – now at another school – the right to manifest her religion.”
Category Archives: Women
Statement from Yasmin Qureshi on the school dress ruling
Commenting on the ruling by the Court of Appeal over the right of a Muslim student to wear the jilbab to her school,Yasmin Qureshi, the Mayor of London’s Human Rights Advisor, said:
“This is a landmark ruling for Muslims and people of all faiths. It is a basic issue of human rights that individuals can observe their religion. As a city with such a diverse multicultural population, London has an interest in seeing such basic human rights upheld everywhere, not just in this ruling today but also in the rest of Europe. It is essential institutions including schools respect the right of people to wear religious and traditional dress. I hope that schools throughout the country will take note of this case and ensure that their policies reflect this judgement.”
The reality of l’affaire du foulard
The French hijab ban, now in place for almost a year, has both veiled the country’s social problems and unveiled its racism, Naima Bouteldja argues.
In defence of secularism: Religion must be pushed back
“I would like to say that the proposed legislation in France banning conspicuous religious symbols in state schools and institutions is essential and an important step forward in the defence of secularism and women’s and children’s rights, but it is not enough. We have to go further.”
Azar Majedi of the Worker Communist Party of Iran, who evidently understands neither Marxism nor secularism, advocates state repression of religion.
See here.
France’s hijab ban triggers domino effect
A French law banning hijab and religious insignia in state schools, which came into effect last September, has triggered a domino effect, with several ministries seeking to expand its application beyond public schools.
The Health Ministry was the latest to jump on the bandwagon, issuing a written directive on February 2 committing all hospitals to take a “neutral” position in dealing with their patients when it comes to religion. The directive, a copy of which was obtained by IslamOnline.net, provides for concealing any religious symbol in hospitals to protect the secular nature of the staff.
The ministry’s move is a grim reminder of the sacking of a hijab-garbed nurse in 2002 for refusing to take off the headscarf.
Le Figaro Magazine revealed on its Saturday’s edition that the Higher Learning and Labor ministries mull drafting similar laws banning hijab and religious symbols in state-run institutions and universities.
The magazine said that the minister of labor has already entered into talks with relevant French syndicates to ban hijab in public companies and corporations, especially those in direct touch with the lay people. It added that the minister admitted the difficulties of amending the existing labor laws, but said work contracts can include an item obliging female employees to take off their hijab inside the workplace.
The weekly further disclosed that some universities have banned students from wearing religious symbols inside campuses. A binding draft for all universities is being written to ban religious dress codes, according the magazine.
In January, a police station in Paris did not allow a group of veiled women to attend a party thrown for them for being granted French citizenship.
‘If only we were more like the French’ complains Guardian writer
“The French intolerance is one that will not accept a non-society of discrete, uncomprehending ethnic or religious communities. Instead, they want to create a cross-cultural fraternité. It is this intolerance that we need more of in Britain today.”
Stuart Jeffries in the Guardian, 31 January 2005
More than just a scarf …
“Perhaps Ridley should consider the possibility that some of those ‘glaring passengers’ might have lost relatives to the terrorist organisations whose fashion sense she shares.”
Letter writers to the Observer give their opinions on Yvonne Ridley’s article recounting the prejudice she experienced as a result of wearing the Islamic headscarf.
For Ridley’s original article, see here.
London mayor picks Muslim woman human rights adviser
Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, has appointed a Muslim woman as his new human rights advisor, a decision welcomed by the sizable Muslim community in Britain.
Yasmin Qureshi, a barrister whose experience includes heading the Criminal Legal Section of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the Department of Judicial Administration in Kosovo, will replace Graham Tope, who held the unpaid post during the mayor’s first term, said a press release posted on the official website for the Mayor of London.
“I am impressed with Yasmin’s serious approach to human rights, both in terms of the issues she has taken up and also her professional experience. She will bring an extra dimension to the work of my office in this field,” Livingstone said.
He asked Qureshi to include the issue of religious rights and freedoms as part of her work and to reflect the views of London communities who have concerns about the new French law banning religious symbols in state schools.
“I am pleased to have a Muslim woman advising me and carrying this work forward at a time when many Muslims feel that their rights around the world are not being addressed, and I am sure that she will take up these issues, such as a woman’s right to choose to wear the hijab, with vigor.”
‘It’s only a piece of cloth’
Wearing a headscarf is no big deal … unless you happen to be a Muslim, in which case this simple piece of cloth arouses opinions, hostile glances and worse.
Yvonne Ridley in the Observer, 12 December 2004
Jilbab: AWL defends ‘those who insist on oppressing themselves’
“The ironic thing is that the increased wearing of overtly Islamic dress is due to the increase of fundamentalist influences, some of which pay no attention to democracy at all, especially when it comes to the rights of women. The language of those who demand the right to cover themselves in order to establish themselves as the property of men is that of the feminist movement of 1970s Britain. They call for ‘a woman’s right to choose’. This is quite bizarre.”
The Alliance for Workers Liberty on the jilbab ban in Tower Hamlets. But, let’s be fair, the AWL does argue that “those who insist on oppressing themselves” should have the right to wear Islamic dress.