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Muslim Woman Sues Disneyland For Discrimination

by Ruthie Friedlander | 12:09 pm, August 20th, 2010


Disneyland is supposed to be a place of happiness, joy, and of course, princess costumes. But one woman isn’t feeling the magic.

26-year-old Imane Boudal is suing Disneyland for discrimination after she was told she could not do her job if she chose to wear her religious headscarf.

“Disney told Boudlal that if she wanted to work as a hostess she had to remove her hijab because it did not comply with the ‘Disney Look,’” Leigh Shelton, a spokesperson for the UNITE HERE Local 11 union said. “Disney further advised Boudlal that if she refused to remove her hijab, she could either work a back-of-the-house position where any customers would not see her, or else go home.”

It would be one thing if Boudal was refusing to don the quintessential princess costume. But a restaurant job that does not allow for a hijab during Ramadan? Even for Disney, that seems a bit unnecessary. And the offer to put her in the back room should she decide to wear the scarf? Utterly offensive.

“Their offer to put me in the back is humiliating,” Boudal. “They’re saying because I’m Arab, because I’m Moroccan, because I’m Muslim, they don’t want to see me in the front.”

We’re all familiar with the darker side of the workplace — hiring and firing based on looks or weight — but when sexual orientation or religious beliefs are put into question, the issue is heightened, and frankly, inexcusable.

[via]


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  • JAKASMFKR

    I just wanted to take the time to thank Imane Boudlal for opening up the job market a little more to us non Muslim applicants. Your actions give employers a reason to think more than twice about hiring people of the Muslim faith. In fact, your actions just made it quite a bit harder for your fellow Muslims to secure a job. So as someone who badly needs a job and would be more than happy to FOLLOW THE RULES set forth by an employer. THANK YOU for putting all your fellow Muslim job applicants at the bottom of the waiting list.

  • lundbf

    Wow. There’s another way to look at this, and that is that CHRIST would want those who profess their Christianity to demonstrate love and tolerance towards others. None of the three comments express that. There are wonderful Muslim people all around us who mean us no harm. Let’s get off the hatred bandwagon and start treating each other civilly.

    Besides discrimination, DISNEY is allowing harassment and abuse amongst their “Cast Members.” I know of an instance where a 60 year old man is sexually harassing and threatening a younger woman and her manager just laughs at her. This, along with Donald Duck groping a guest suggests that DISNEY has very poor management.

  • aussieboy

    tolerance is a two way street…………….Not seeing that in the muslim world…………..now are we.

  • MKarim

    It is my understanding that Disney did everything they could to accommodate her, to no avail. I also understand that she made a comment to someone that if they were wearing a cross it would be okay, but she was told that no personal jewelry or items could be worn in her job because they can only wear their costumes. She must have been informed of this when she was hired. If she cannot abide by her employer’s rules, she has no business working there.

    I am sick and tired of this kind of thing from these people. Disney did the right thing by trying to accommodate her. She is just trying to make some money off of this. She will not win in court.

    Why is it that Americans always have to put up with this type of thing when it would never be tolerated in another country?

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