Muslim women in India allege bias in hiring for jobs

From being denied jobs for wearing a hijab to more implicit forms of exclusion, as revealed by a recent study, the women are struggling.New Delhi, India – Lubna Aamir, 28, is a dentist by training. But practising her profession remains a dream for her.After studying dentistry and a few years of practice at a government college in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, Aamir wanted a better position.In 2018, the Pune resident started applying for a job at clinics across India through email. She even dropped resumes in person at some clinics.

“I wanted to branch out to what we call the class practice and have an experience beyond local circles,” Aamir told Al Jazeera.

She applied for jobs at nearly two dozen places but there was no response “despite having very good credentials”.

“I had scored excellent grades and had an internship from a government college which is much sought after in the dental industry. My work profile was good. Still, I was not getting any response,” she told Al Jazeera.

Muslims make up nearly 14 percent of India’s 1.35 billion population but do not have the same representation in government or private sector jobs. Multiple government-appointed commissions have found the community is at the bottom among India’s social groups in terms of education and employment.One of those commissions, headed by now retired Justice Rajinder Sachar, found in 2006 that India’s Muslims were disadvantaged in social, economic and educational terms. Less than 8 percent of them were employed in the formal sector compared with the national average of 21 percent, the commission said in its report.

According to the 2011 census, the last conducted by the government since the 2021 exercise was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, the participation of Muslim women in jobs was less than 15 percent, whereas it was more than 27 percent for Hindu women. The corresponding figures for Buddhist and Christian women were 33 percent and 31 percent, respectively.The situation has worsened since 2014 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came into power, with the government pursuing policies targeting the Muslim minority and their economic and religious rights. –- Al Jazeera