A Singaporean Muslim woman has expressed her disappointment in an unnamed government agency after an interviewer allegedly informed her that she had to stop wearing her headscarf if she wanted a position there.
“I’m so heartbroken that I’m a victim of discrimination against Muslimahs wearing the hijab,” she wrote of the alleged incident on Facebook. “And what’s worse, this is practiced in a government agency”.
According to the woman, she went for a job interview at a government agency two months ago and received the good news in a phone call on Wednesday. She was accepted for the role she applied for as they were pleased with her qualifications — but what left her shocked and disturbed was what the interviewer allegedly said to her:
“For you to be hired, we require you to remove your hijab. Your qualifications fit the position well, but not the hijab.”
The woman immediately turned down the offer, stating that she felt uncomfortable with the government agency’s “ignorance and insensitivity towards Muslimahs”.
“I’m so ashamed that this happens in multi-racial and multi-religious Singapore,” she concluded.
Of course, the alleged workplace prejudice is based on her claims, and the fact that she strongly refuses to reveal the name of the government agency makes it hard for the account to be verified. She did confirm that the government agency isn’t a uniformed group, where one would typically be required to wear the same operational attire as everyone else.
The purpose of her post, she wrote, is to “raise awareness and to let people like you know that such discriminatory practices are practiced to marginalize the minority groups in Singapore.”
The serious allegations she made prompted quite a huge response against her claims.
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