Faith shouldn’t be a barrier to professional life

For the visibly Muslim, getting ahead can be a challenge

Here in Canada, we are blessed with the opportunity to live our lives without apologizing for who we are; we live in a society that for the most part celebrates our differences. For members of some faith and cultural communities, however, it does not come as easily.

For Canadian Muslims trying to get ahead in life, further their careers, provide for their families and create change in society, doing so while proudly practising their religion in a manner that displays their faith can be a challenge.

When my parents immigrated to Montreal in the early 1970s, they arrived dreaming of a better life for their family, and aspirations for their future. They educated my siblings and me to the best of our abilities, encouraged us to work hard to achieve our dreams and to be proud of ourselves. This was notably much easier to do in the somewhat secular home in which I was raised than it was once I decided to wear my hijab.

Wearing the veil was a personal decision I made of my own free will, much to the displeasure (at the time) of most of my family.

Choosing to practise my faith visibly was not an easy decision. Overnight, I became a walking billboard for my religion. But it was a decision I proudly made; it’s how I practise my faith and express my feminism. To me, there is nothing more empowering for a woman than choosing what she decides to show the world. I am proud of who I am; even so, some prefer to judge me based on a piece of cloth on my head.

A workshop in Montreal last week geared toward young Muslim professionals offered

It should be possible to be both religiously observant and to participate fully in our society and economy.

welcome reinforcement for the idea one should not have to put aside one’s religion in order to get ahead. Presenters encouraged audience members to break glass ceilings, proudly own their identity and not be afraid to tell their own stories.

This was a bold concept for a Montreal-based event. After much success in Toronto, the Max (Muslim Awards for Excellence) brand has made its way to Quebec. Its inaugural Montreal event, Halal Hustle, drew an audience of approximately 100 people to a downtown law office. Event organizers addressed issues within the Muslim community as well as problems faced by the broader population concerning embracing diversity and the importance of civic engagement.

It can be difficult for Muslim youth to pursue their fields of interest if they feel they will be objectified, vilified and denied opportunities due to their faith. It can also be intimidating to pursue areas of study in which they do not see diverse representation, making them feel as if they don’t belong.

It should be possible to be both religiously observant and to participate fully in our society and economy.

Events like this are empowering.

Ours is one of the only countries in the world in which people of different faiths, cultures and traditions can work and live side by side in peace. It is something to be fiercely proud of and to celebrate.

A person can be a successful doctor, lawyer, engineer or journalist while wearing the hijab, or being visibly Muslim, just as they can be any one of those things while wearing a yarmulke or turban.

A few years back, not long after the Marois government introduced the Charter of Values with its restrictions on religious headgear, an Ontario hospital took out recruitment ads featuring a young woman with a hijab and a stethoscope, stating that they do not care what’s on your head but what’s in it.

It was a bold move and made a strong political statement, one that remains desperately needed.