Category Archives: Women

Muslim job seeker’s suit can proceed against Abercrombie & Fitch

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a religious discrimination case brought on behalf of a job applicant who wore a hijab, a Muslim head covering, and was rejected by Abercrombie & Fitch Stores Inc.

Among issues cited in Tuesday’s ruling by a San Jose, Calif., federal judge in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores Inc., dba Abercrombie Kids were the shifting reasons provided by the manager-in-training who interviewed teenager Halla Banafa and rejected her for a position as a stock room clerk in the company’s Milpitas, Calif., store.

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‘I am not oppressed’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“I am a proud Muslim-American woman, and I am tired. I am tired of being told that I am oppressed. That I have no voice. That I need to be liberated.

“I am tired, and I am speaking out for the rights of my and other fellow Muslim sisters to be able to dress and be how they wish to be.”

Laila Alawa rejects FEMEN’s claim that they are working for her liberation.

Huffington Post, 10 April 2013

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15-year-old girl expelled from French school for wearing a headband and long skirt which were considered ‘too religious’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A 15-year-old Muslim girl has been expelled from school in France for wearing a headband and long skirt combination which was considered “too religious”, her teachers confirmed today.

Sirine Ben Yahiaten is now set to launch a criminal complaint for discrimination and harassment following her exclusion from the Prunais college in Villiers-sur-Marne, a Paris suburb.

It comes as President Francois Hollande pledges to reinforce the controversial ban on full-face Islamic veils introduced in 2011.

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Muslim women decry topless gender protests

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Anti-Femen (1)A group of Muslim women has launched an online campaign in response to demonstrations by bare-breasted activists staged in front of mosques and Tunisian embassies across Europe.

The “Muslimah Pride Day” was organised in response to the Ukrainian women’s rights group Femen’s self-declared “Topless Jihad Day”, a day of topless protests around the world to support Tunisian activist Amina Tyler.

Organiser Sofia Ahmed, writing on Facebook, said: “Muslimah [Female Muslim] pride is about connecting with your Muslim identity and reclaiming our collective voice. Let’s show the world that we oppose Femen and their use of Muslim women to reinforce Western imperialism.”

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Russia: Prosecutor says student illegally expelled over hijab

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Prosecutors in Russia’s Siberian region said Wednesday that a local university’s expulsion of a female student for wearing a hijab was unlawful.

Senior regional prosecutor’s aide Yelena Pimonenko told RIA Novosti that it was contrary to the Russian law on education to ban students from wearing items of clothing that reflect their faith. The university’s administration has ten days to appeal the ruling.

RIA Novosti, 3 April 2013

Islamic headscarf debate rekindled in France

Posted on by Bob Pitt

BBC News reports on the new assault on the rights of French Muslim women following the recent court ruling that the “Baby Loup” creche discriminated against nursery assistant Fatima Afif when they sacked her for refusing to remove her headscarf.

See also “Hijab ruling exposes Islamophobia in French politics—on right and left”, Socialist Worker, 2 April 2013