Finland’s Pro-Hijab Ruling Praised
“Even if there are image reasons that lie behind it, an employer should be prepared that this kind of situation is going to come up,” said Seppo Koskinen, a professor of labour law at Turku University. The case first came up when a Muslim employer was asked not to wear headscarf while being in the clothing store. Discussing the issue with the managers, the new worker, who had been hired on a one-month contract, was fired on the first day work for donning Islamic headscarf, or hijab. The case was looked at Helsinki District Court on Monday which decided 20 day-fines against the store managers. The case is not the first to raise debates in Finland surrounding religious outfits. Faith-based attire, including headscarves and turbans, has aroused debate and legal disputes around the European country. The issue has come up in other cities, such as Vantaa where Sikh bus driver Gill Sukhdarshan Singh in February won the right to wear his turban on the job. Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one's affiliations. Hijab has been in the eye of storm since France banned the headscarf in public places in 2004. Since then, several European countries have followed suit. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that employers cannot ban such symbols on the basis of corporate image. Members of the Muslim minority have praised the court ruling as a first step towards correcting misconceptions about Muslim women. “Sometimes people imagine that immigrant women, particularly Muslim women, don't want to work; or that they're forbidden to do so by their husbands or their religion. But this is not true,” Roda Hassan, a Turku city councilor who works as an interpreter and translator, said. “These women want to work but society discriminates against them,” she added. The Muslim councilor called for Finnish employers to adjust to the country’s changing demographics, urging them to follow the suit of retail chain HOK Elanto and the Helsinki healthcare system who offer small scarves as part of work uniforms. “Those who work in hospitals have their own outfit that include a separate small scarf. It doesn’t interfere with their work,” notes Hassan. Koskinen expects such options to become more common in Finland. “For instance, in Sweden, a police officer can wear a scarf or a Jewish kipa,” he points out. “We may still have a hard time understanding this liberal approach. But it works in Sweden, so why not here?” There are between 40,000 to 45,000 Muslims among Finland's 5.2 million population. Islam was introduced to Finland by Baltic Tatars at the end of the 19th century. The Baltic Tatars arrived in Finland as merchants and soldiers at the end of the 19th century. They were later joined by other family members. Source: OnIslam.net
