jennifer bryan
12
It’s sad. Now my kids ask me: why don’t you have your cover? Why do you tell
us your cover, that’s your religion, it’s something you must do? Not like a
choice…you must do!
In this sense, this woman’s decision to take off her cover not only produced an internal
conflict, but made it difficult to teach the practice of covering to her children.
Employment Discrimination
Many Muslim women have had to choose between wearing the hijab or risking
discrimination in the workplace. Most Muslim women I spoke with who had jobs before 9/11
were not fired for choosing to wear the hijab. However, a number of employers encouraged
women to take off their covers in order to avoid potential conflicts. Those women most likely to
agree to do this reported having amicable relationships with their employers and coworkers
before 9/11. However, the situation for Muslim women entering the job market after 9/11 was
very different. One American Muslim woman told me:
After September 11
th
things got bad. No one wants to hire me because I wear the hijab. I
went to the 99 cents store. I went all on Journal Square. No one would hire me. They
said it’s too sensitive right now. Another Muslim woman said I shouldn’t wear the hijab
until I get a job. Then when I start I could wear it. I said no. I’m not gonna pretend. If
they don’t like me because of this, too bad. I’m not gonna hide my religion.
This woman made a decision not to “hide” her religious identity by choosing to continue
to wear the hijab even if it meant not being hired. However, it is something of an economic
luxury to be able to choose to wear the hijab in this situation.. Indeed, it is not an accident that
the poorest Muslim women, who are overwhelmingly recent immigrants from Egypt, have not
made the same choices as this American Muslim woman. Yet, even in her case, there were times
when she opted to take off the hijab for fear of discrimination. She explained:
The only time I took off the hijab was when I went to the INS with my husband to
apply for the Green Card. They’re very hostile in there. The man was so rude.
He made me drink the water to go through the scanner. I told him I can’t drink
water because I have a medical condition. But he insisted I drink the water.
Nobody else, just me.
Violence against Children
Since 9/11, Muslim families in Jersey City have had to take extra care in watching after
their children. One reason Muslim children have come under intense suspicion by their peers has
to do with a widely circulated rumor that a Muslim boy warned his classmates not to come to
Convention