An update about a case I blogged about a few months ago: Fata Lemes, a 33-year-old Muslim woman of Bosnian origin who sued her employer, a Mayfair bar, for sexual discrimination after they made her wear a low-cut and revealing red dress at work, has won her case (HT: Islamophobia Watch), albeit a relatively tiny sum (£2,919.95). The Times report says that the employer is now seeking to re-open the case after they saw her Facebook pictures, one of which show her wearing “a plunging T-shirt revealing her cleavage”.
Of course, a Muslim woman shouldn’t be working in a bar, but she does not wear hijab and was not seeking to do so at work. This is about women maintaining dignity in the workplace, and women shouldn’t be expected to present themselves as “sexually available” to male drinkers (male bar staff were not being expected to wear the undignified uniform). What she wears on the beach is of no importance; women (and men for that matter) do wear much less on the beach in the West than they do at work, and most beaches are not full of leery half-drunks with wandering hands. There is an implication that she is a hypocrite, but if this was not a Muslim woman, the idea of undressing on the beach while expecting dignified dress at work would not seem at all strange.
Possibly Related Posts:
- “Hijab gates” bring out the bigots
- Shelina Zahra takes on anti-hijabists
- Polygamy and sisters’ distress
- Former K-Towners who leave Islam
- Huge mabrouk to Khadija Bradley
Tags: fata lemes
What a person chooses to do outside of their work, is their own business. It should not reflect on their work performance, or anywhere else. If this woman chooses to wear certain type of clothes in the privacy of her own home, or at parties, or elsewhere unrelated to work, that’s her own business. She does not have to answer to her work about her choice of clothes. That also doesn’t mean that because she chose to wear these clothes elsewhere that it means she should wear them in the workfield to get more business. I remember reading a case in where a muslim family went to the Hooters restaurant and was eating there with the family. I do not know why it caused such an uproar, but people muslims and non-muslims were complaining that Muslims shouldn’t go to places like this period. Even non-muslim restaurants or muslim restaurants that serve alcohol.
I think it’s a choice though, we all know we shouldn’t consume it. But, it’s all a matter of choice and preference.
[…] Indigo Jo Muslim woman wins bar dress lawsuit. […]
Does the Article state that she is a muslim
Yes, it does, although not a particularly observant one.
Damn I should have sued that pub in Preston who once employed me as a glass collector when I was student. Things were really harsh in that town, so I resorted to such a job to make ends meet.