Submit your comments on this article |
Home Front: Culture Wars |
Muslim employee sues US Disneyland over headscarf ban |
2010-08-19 |
A Muslim woman is suing Disneyland, accusing the company's California theme park of discrimination for telling her she could not serve customers if she chose to wear a headscarf. Many of the customers being children, it's likely a significant number of them would be scared, which doesn't fit with the Disney image. Imane Boudal, 26, asked her employers at Disneyland's Grand Californian Hotel several months ago whether they would permit her to wear a headcovering while working as a hostess, a spokeswoman for a worker's union said. "Hey, y'all mind if I wear a bag over my head while I'm serving french fries?" But when no reply was forthcoming, she decided to don the headscarf anyway, timing her decision with the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Leigh Shelton, a spokesman for the UNITE HERE Local 11 union said. "Disney told Boudlal that if she wanted to work as a hostess she had to remove her hijab because it did not comply with the 'Disney Look,'" Shelton said in a statement. The "Disney look" is kinda tailored toward not frightening children, not alienating their parents. "Disney further advised Boudlal that if she refused to remove her hijab, she could either work a back-of-the-house position where any customers would not see her, or else go home." So they didn't tell her she couldn't wear a bag on her head, only that she couldn't irritate the paying customers. Boudlal refused the compromise and is now bringing Disney before the US Equal Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that handles claims of workplace discrimination. "Their offer to put me in the back is humiliating," she said in a statement. "They're saying because I'm Arab, because I'm Moroccan, because I'm Muslim, they don't want to see me in the front." She says that like it's a bad thing. |
Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
#11 The way I see it is she was offered alternative jobs out of view and that was not good enough for her. Well you work where your employer tells you, if you don't like it you are let go. She doesn't have a leg to stand on but of course Disney is within the 9th Circuit so who knows, they might force everyone to wear Hajibs to make her happy. |
Posted by: rjschwarz 2010-08-19 23:25 |
#10 My question is what is she doing out of the house unaccompanied by her husband or a male relative? |
Posted by: SteveS 2010-08-19 22:45 |
#9 Some things right, some things wrong in the posting. Disney is a private organization and as such has the right to refuse entry to ANYONE. Grandpa taught me that when people dress like that, it is either Halloween, or someone intends to rob you. |
Posted by: newc 2010-08-19 21:22 |
#8 plus, if Imane's hijab got caqught in the machinery, she could be a teaching moment on not wearing |
Posted by: Frank G 2010-08-19 19:50 |
#7 Princess Jasmine and Aladdin are sometimes nearby this attraction, so keep an eye out as you soar above Agrabah on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Well there ya go. Another problem solved... |
Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-19 19:35 |
#6 #4 There's an Aladdin ride? Posted by: tu3031 sure. A Carny in a bag, basically |
Posted by: Frank G 2010-08-19 19:32 |
#5 Cool graphic. But I wonder if that pink bow might be unIslamic. |
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-08-19 19:15 |
#4 There's an Aladdin ride? |
Posted by: tu3031 2010-08-19 19:12 |
#3 let her work the Aladdin ride. Otherwise kick her and her CAIR backing out on their hijabbed asses. She's an immigrant from Morocco - perhaps she oughtta return |
Posted by: Frank G 2010-08-19 19:09 |
#2 how did she get to the point where her hijab becomes an issue? did she wear one in her interview for the job? did she wear this throughout her training sessions? Did she not understand the disney branding which must have been the focus of her training? Why only now, in public view, does this become an issue? If she got the job without the mosquito net, she has no recourse. The whole issue stinks of set-up. |
Posted by: Swanimote 2010-08-19 17:56 |
#1 Moderate muslims believe that Quran statements on female covering is valid only during wartime. Also there is open debate in the 4 schools (madhabs) of muslim jurisprudence (fiqh) on the question of the permissive v imperative aspect of the veiling injunction. Ergo: by indulging a particular group, especially one that restricts liberty, puts the authorities in the position of partisans. I would side with employers on that type of prohibition. Reminder: minorities in the muslim tyrannies receive nothing close to reasonable accomodation. |
Posted by: Thusolet Prince of the French2994 2010-08-19 17:44 |