In her native culture, Ms. Azmi is supposed to be covered from head to toe, shielded from the eyes of men. In the culture in which she lives, in England, she is supposed to be teaching children and they are supposed to be able to hear what she says. Therein lies the conflict.
After a month as a teacher's aide at a Church of England primary school, Ms. Azmi was given the sack because she refused to remove her veil when working if men were present. This being the western world, there were always men present. So there she was, at the head of the class, her voice muffled by black fabric, but her modesty was intact. One must have priorities, and she was the number one priority. The kids had to come in second, their rights sacrificed to hers.
And don't think that a few of the mums weren't behind it all. "I thought I was sending little Jasmine to a proper Church of England school, Headmaster. Not a madrassa," said with a look down the nose and a lifted brow. Out in the yard, gathering in their tight groups, they would have been cackling away. "Who does she think she is? Holier than thou, the cheek. Religious my arse she's got a nose you could park a reticulated lorry in and I'd cover it too." Women can be cruel. Especially those who are glad to be rid of the old men's club that governs Pakistani women. They came to England to get away from it, and when they found it in a position of authority, in front of their children, they would have gone all out to excise it. The fact that the kiddies couldn't hear would have been used as a convenient excuse, but there was undoubtedly more to the story than the surface issue.
Of course Ms. Azmi played the victim card after she lost her job. It was discrimination against her religion, and don't mind the fact that other Muslims from other countries don't go around veiled. This coverage business has nothing to do with tribal customs of the region she comes from, oh no. That's what the court said, by the way. No.
There was no discrimination based on Ms. Azmi's religious beliefs. She was fired because the children she was supposed to teach could not hear or understand her. In plain terms, she was not doing the job she was hired to do. If that interferes with some non-secular beliefs, then get another job, but it was not Ms Azmi who was the victim in this. As far as the employment tribunal was concerned, it was the children who were the victims of Ms. Azmi's determination to be veiled and to hell with the kids' learning. The court gave her a few pounds to make things look good, and once she pays her solicitor there won't be much left. A few British officials, including Tony Blair, got a slap on the wrist for giving their opinion on the case while it was being heard.
Ms. Azmi is ready to take the case to a higher court, the European Court of Justice, and drag poor old Tony with her. After she lost, she said:
"Ministers' intervention in my case, against the code, makes me fearful of the consequences for Muslim women in this country who want to work. Muslim women who wear the veil are not aliens. Politicians need to recognise that what they say can have a very dangerous impact on the lives of the minorities they treat as outcasts."
If you're Hindu, don't take a job castrating cattle, refuse to do the work, and then claim that you're being denied the right to work because of your religious beliefs. If you're Muslim, don't accept the position of pig sticker at the slaughterhouse, refuse to touch unclean animals, and then complain about discrimination against your faith. And if you're a teacher, and the kids can't hear you teach, don't whinge about getting fired when you can't do your job. Adapt, or go work somewhere else. That's what it means to live in a free country. Welcome to the western world.
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