From the Times Online: "Avon and Somerset Constabulary has begun to equip its female officers with a uniform issue hijab to wear when they enter a mosque... The scheme is believed to be a first for the British police. The Metropolitan Police, the largest and most diverse UK force, said that it issued headscarves to its Muslim female officers but not to non-Muslim officers."
It would be easy enough to write this off as merely being ultra-PC; it wouldn't be the first time for this police force. "In 2006 the Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset had to apologise after it emerged that the force had used positive discrimination to try to increase the number of female and ethnic minority officers, randomly excluding 186 white male applicants during a recruitment drive on the grounds that they were already over-represented." But that's a different order of issue; in job discrimination, even if it's "reverse", someone has been harmed. Even the advocates of reverse discrimination don't deny this; they merely think it's whitey's turn for a change. But no one is actually harmed by changing uniform headgear when indicated.
It can also be argued, however, that excessive accommodation is a concession of authority to a single religion. One could argue that providing a uniform hijab for Muslim officers is a reasonable concession to that officer, but requiring non-Muslim officers to wear one is not merely pandering to a single religion, but to one given wing at that- not all Muslim women wear hijabs. Wouldn't a requirement to wear one be the government taking sides in an internal dispute within Islam? What do you think?
6 comments:
I think for a female police detective to wear one would make it a whole lot easier to get her questions answered in a mosque.
Other than that, I dunno.
CC
I wonder: Are they simply making them available, or are they requiring their use? I think I'd be happy to have it available; I think I'd want the option to decide whether it was the time to use it.
Visiting a religious community's building is like visiting a home. It only makes sense to show some respect for their customs, even if you don't completely agree with it.
I've been to synagogues where men are asked to wear yarmulkes, regardless of whether they are Jewish. In college, the Buddhist student group would ask everyone to remove their shoes before entering their meditation room. Attending one pagan group, the priest or priestess would give a brief explanation of what people could or could not do.
For police particularly, showing respect for the traditions of religious groups in their respective communities goes a long way to improving relationships with civilians, which is so critical to their work.
John- my understanding is that they are required for entering a Mosque, but not otherwise.
When we took our youth group to a mosque, all the women and girls covered our heads and we sat separately from the men at the back of the mosque. We were there to learn, not to make a point -- we were their guests.
Were I a policewoman, I would object to being told by my superior that I had to wear one on duty. I might choose to wear one, but that would be my decision about how to do my job. In the U.K. it seems more likely that a policewoman would receive such an order. I'd be appalled by an American commanding officer who gave such an order.
Only women wear hijab. A male cop needing to enter a Mosque would simply keep his cap on...
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