THE HAGUE, March 15, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Along with the
media reports which stereotype them as oppressed under Islam, Muslim women
in Holland have other more concerns to worry about, a leading Dutch
feminist said.
It is a sort of cliché and stereotype to say that women are
oppressed under Islam, but it is a fact to say that immigrant women in the
country - particularly Muslims - are being discriminated against, lawyer
Famille Arslan told IslamOnline.net on Monday, March 14.
Arslan believed that Muslim women in the Netherlands take the
brunt of religious discrimination and racial profiling in the labor market
because of their attire and names.
“The government remains largely inactive towards such
incidents,” she said.
Arslan, herself a Muslim, said that women should have the
right to put on whatever suits them, a principle she said is enshrined by
the secular laws.
Muslims make up one million of the Netherlands’s 16 million
population. Turks represent 80 percent of the Muslim minority.
There are some 450 mosques in the Netherlands, 1,000 Islamic
cultural centers, two Islamic universities and 42 preparatory schools,
according to recent estimates.
Press reports have underlined that Dutch Muslims were
subjected to religious discrimination and racist attacks on their places
of worship in 2004.
Arslan said Dutch media and authorities suffer from
“political schizophrenia” as they do not practice what they
preach.
“Day in and day out, they parrott about the alleged
oppression of women under Islam, and in the same breath they oppress
Muslim women in the labor market, universities and public life,” Arslan
said.
“The word oppression has no room in the Muslim faith,” she
said. “But it is practiced by individuals and very much related to the
psychological mood and social life.”
The Dutch Muslim rights activist said that many hijab-clad
are leading successful careers.
“So, Does Islam oppress them as claimed?” She
wondered.
Obstacles
Sadya Al-Arkat, a social activist, agreed that racism
constituted a major obstacle to non-native women, particularly
Muslims.
“They are discriminated against for no reason other than
being veiled, or because of their names, complexion and dark hair,” she
told IOL.
But she said that the blame finger should be also pointed at
poor education, shortage complex and dreams of returning to their native
countries.
She said that the September 11 attacks and the killing of
Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh by a Moroccan has further worsened the
already parlous situation.
“Now, non-native women don’t find a foothold in the labor
market though they fared well in universities.”
A government commission said in a report released earlier in
the month that some 240,000 non-native women did not master the Dutch
language and needed to have integration courses.
It said that less than one-fourth of the non-native Dutch
women are having jobs.
It recommended allowing the non-native women to have the
so-called “citizenship” exam by 2010 at the very latest to see whether
they will adapt to the Dutch culture and values.
The committee further struck deals with 16 municipalities
nationwide to employ a number of non-native women.
Dutch Crown Princess Maxima, who is born to immigrant
parents, called last week on business owners and municipal leaders to
provide job opportunities to foreign women.
She toured a number of banks and municipalities, throwing her
weight behind solving the problems facing the immigrant population in the
country.
