This combination of photographs shows Muslim girls
wearing the "hijab" dressed as popular cosplay characters during the
"Hijab Cosplay" event in Subang Jaya, outside of Kuala Lumpur.
.
The hotel industry here is under the spotlight over complaints that
some female employees are not allowed to wear headscarves while at work.
The Union Network International-Malaysia Labour Centre (UNI-MLC) said
in a statement on Monday (Nov 6) that it has received numerous
complaints from female hotel employees saying that their management does
not allow them to wear a headscarf at work.
UNI-MLC said students in hospitality and tourism courses have also
been instructed to remove their headscarves before going on internships
or the company would not hire them.
As a result, some employees have no choice but to remove their headscarf during work before putting it back on after work.
“This policy is practiced in international hotel chains that use the
same standard operating procedure on uniforms in all the hotels in their
chain globally,” its chairman Samuel Cheah Swee Hee said.
He added that there are many other employment opportunities for
Muslim employees including working in the backhouse or choosing to work
with one of the many hotels that incorporate the headscarf in its
uniform.
"The problem is everyone wants to join the 5-star global hotel brand,
but they do not want to follow the uniform policy that is their
worldwide standard," he said.
However, the International Women’s Alliance for Family Institution
and Quality Education (Wafiq) sees the ban as discriminatory and
unnecessary, questioning the need for such restrictions in
Muslim-majority Malaysia.
FOR THE BEST GLOBAL HOTEL & FLIGHT BOOKINGS
FOR THE BEST GLOBAL HOTEL & FLIGHT BOOKINGS
Wafiq secretary Hazlin Chong said the local owners of these
international hotel chains have a responsibility to raise the issue to
its headquarters and ask for flexibility that allows staff to fulfill
both religious and work requirements.
“Wafiq does not see wearing the hijab as a deterrence to any Muslim
woman to perform her best at work any more than a person who does not
wear the headscarf,” Chong said in a statement, calling the move
“religious discrimination”.
UNI-MLC has urged the Human Resources Ministry to address this issue
and come up with a guideline to avoid any form of discrimination amongst
women in the hotel industry.
"By not allowing female Muslim staff to wear headscarves to work, not
only does this deny them of their rights to practice their religion
freely but also limit them from pursuing a career of their choice," said
UNI-MLC president Datuk Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal.
.
Source - TheJakartaPost
.
