The Best of Amaliah Straight to Your Inbox

Imagine Being Asked to Take Your Hijab off in a ‘Muslim’ Country?

by in World on 12th October, 2017

A young Muslim teacher has been asked to remove her hijab at English nursery school in Kuwait.

Twenty three year old Fouzia Khatun, had applied for a teaching position at the English Playgroup in Kuwait, on the basis she would applying to work in a country where her religious values would be openly accepted and embraced.

“To say I applied for a job in Kuwait where I felt I would easily fit in due to same religious beliefs and Islamic mind of thoughts, where I thought being a hijabi would be an honour rather than an accepted dress code, where I was hoping to feel free and liberated”

Instead, she was informed in an email that she would need to remove her hijab in order to teach, as the Kuwaiti parents ‘ like British teachers but not wearing hijab’.  She was further told in another email, the parents did not want their children to be taught by ‘covered teachers, and that their establishment is an ‘English School’, and that the condition was ‘non negotiable’.

Fouzia took to Instagram to express her shock and disappointment at the discrimination she faced;

I always considered myself one of them lucky individuals as I have never been a victim of Islamaphobia or racial discrimination- living in a country where Islamaphobia is currently prevalent. To say I applied for a job in Kuwait where I felt I would easily fit in due to same religious beliefs and Islamic mind of thoughts, where I thought being a hijabi would be an honour rather than an accepted dress code, where I was hoping to feel free and liberated, only to go and be asked to take off the one piece of clothing that made me want to move to Kuwait in the first place. @epgkuwait I find It disgusting that you think it's acceptable to ask your employees to remove such a personal and important thing for the sake of appearing physically acceptable to parents, when in fact you should be demonstrating to your students acceptance of all kinds of people and presenting this with your varied choice of employee. There is enough discrimination against female Muslims from non Muslim countries, it's extremely sad to see that your school in a Muslim country like Kuwait also demonstrates this kind of discrimination and frankly such a superficial judgmental ethos! I am sorry that you have judged the capability of a teacher based on a piece of clothing that covers my hair. Please stop corrupting the minds of innocent angels and let them blossom into beautiful human beings and not the narrow minded monsters that you are guiding them towards. Also thanks to your 'amazing' recruitment team you have lost out on another two incredible individuals who would have been an asset to your team. Your loss. If you didn't already know, British people come in all different colours, backgrounds and appearances. ✌????✌????✌???? @mariamm_sx @uzmhaby #internationalteacher #racialdiscrimination #kuwaitcity #kuwait #theenglishplaygroup #islamaphobia #stopracialprofiling #yourloss #kuwaitlife #kuwaitschool #epg #epgmubarak_alkhabeer #epgprimarysalwa @bbcnews @bbclooknorth @telegraph_argus_bradford #dissapointed #kuwaiti #epgmubarak_alkhabeer

A post shared by Fouzia K (@fouzy_k) on

Many showed their outrage at the English Playgroup, expressed support to Fouzia;

In the comments section of her Instagram post about the issue, it’s clear that this is not an isolated incident and that other Muslim women experience this same type of discrimination also;

The fact that Muslim women are not free from discrimination because of their choice to wear hijab, even in Muslim countries, is a cause for concern.

Israa Abid

Israa Abid

Israa is a Creative writing and English literature graduate, and currently volunteers for a few charities. In between her routine of nerding out over Dungeons and Dragons, and obsessively eating strawberries, she spends her time writing as much as she can.