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Having a tough time at work - is it just me?

02/01/2020 794 Views Islamophobia Add to Favourite 2 Comments 3
 
At work I feel as if I'm always being judged by others due to my faith. As I wear headscarf, some people tend to have wrong perception about me. Many times, people have avoided me due to my headscarf. This makes it difficult for me to build a professional relationship with my colleagues. I believe I have to put much more effort to be part of the team than many others do.
Suma

 

2 Comments

  • Zeinab

    03/01/2020

    I'm really sorry to hear that you've been going through this. I had the same thing happen to me at my last job! I felt like such an outsider and thought my non-Muslim colleagues wanted nothing to do with me. They wouldn't acknowledge me nor did they take into account my religion when they planned things like a Christmas party or a pub lunch. But once I got to know them, I realised they were actually quite curious about the hijab and Islam in general. What I thought was was 'hate' was in fact genuine curiosity. They had never met or worked with a Muslim woman before, so I completely understood why they had so many questions (which can get annoying, but that's a whole other conversation!). But once we started having more conversations about me being a Muslim woman they understood I was just a normal working girl who happens to be a Muslim. I explained why I couldn't join them in the pub after work or why I would take several breaks to pray. And I'm so happy that we had these conversations because they now understand more about Islam and are aware of how our portrayal in the media is totally inaccurate. They also accommodate me and my faith when it comes to things like lunch, parties and after work socials. The best advice I can give is to start having these discussions, you can initiate these yourself too! Perhaps they're just curious about you being a Muslim and can't figure out a polite way of asking questions? But if you do feel you are being discriminated against please do get help from your management, you shouldn't be made to feel like this!

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  • Anonymous

    03/01/2020

    I definitely don't think it's just you!! I think work environments can be very challenging for Muslim women- especially if you wear a headscarf. You do have to 'try harder' to bridge the perceived gap. Also, there may be things that work culture has created that may not align with you- eg. pub lunches on Fridays, which you may not feel comfortable doing, but if you don't you're seen as odd/not part of the team.

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