Life of Muslims working women was never easy and probably it never would be, particularly when it comes to Hijab women and they are asked to choose one; their values (religious obligations) or company’s so called rules and regulations.
Recently, same happened with a female professional at Creative Chaos Software Services (technology outsourcing company) as she was asked to resign from her position if she has to wear Hijab at work.
In this regard, a Facebook post went viral which was posted by a colleague of the newly hired recruit, stating that Creative Chaos hired the woman as an Associate Talent Acquisition Officer. But, when she started the job, the line manager informed her if she wants to continue her work at the company, she would have to take off her hijab because it did not portray the company’s brand image.
The young professional took the biased manner to the CEO Jawwad Kadir and insisted why the company hired her in the first place if it was against the company’s policy.
The CEO accepted that it was a mistake as they do not hire professionals that reflect religion in their appearance. Adding fuel to fire, he also suggested her to apply to Islamic banks as she will be a better fit for such an organization.
When the newly hired woman asked the CEO to document the reason in her termination letter, he refused and asked her to write a resignation letter herself. The line manager also warned her against pursuing any legal action as this could have an adverse effect on her career.
When the post get viral on Facebook and other platforms, previous employees and interviewees started to criticized the unethical behavior of the company as they also faced similar discriminatory experiences at Creative Chaos.
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Considering the fact that post get viral, Kadir issued a letter admitting to the incident and apologizing to the victim candidate.
A part of the letter reads,
“Our values and ethos are built around creating a high-performance culture based on meritocracy, growth, mutual respect, and collective tolerance. We only appraise you on your skills, qualifications and the value you create for our customers. it added.
Your religious beliefs, political beliefs. your gender, your ethnicity and anything that you consider as part of your identity – do not matter and you should never ever be discriminated against for any of these reasons, it further stated.
The fact that a hiring manager did not understand our company’s values and ethos is a failure on our part to communicate and enforce our policies effectively. I take full responsibility for this failure and am deeply ashamed that a colleague was put through distress and trauma.”
After the publication of this apology, it was pointed out that the CEO has put the blame on line manager and used him as a scapegoat to pin the entire blame. He failed to take responsibility for his discriminatory behavior. For now, the manager has been suspended until an inquiry is performed. Meanwhile, the company has asked the woman to take back her resignation and continue working with Creative Chaos.
In a nutshell, this kind of discriminatory behavior especially in a Muslim country will discourage young women who want to make their career in technology field. Companies need to realize that the religious attire did not hold back female professionals to practice any kind of coding and leadership roles in tech sector.
