While the Government of Karnataka has banned the wearing of Hijab or scarves by Muslim girl students in pre-university colleges on the pretext of uniformity in dresses that attracted international headlines, global air carrier British Airways has given the option to its crew members to wear Hijab under its new uniform policy coming into effect from March 20 this year.
Syed Khalique Ahmed
NEW DELHI—In a big contrast to the Karnataka government which has banned the wearing of a Hijab by female Muslim students in pre-university colleges, British Airways has given the option of wearing a tunic and Hijab to its female crew members.
This is a part of the new uniform policy that was announced recently and will come into effect from March 20 this year.
According to a statement released by the Media Centre of British Airways, the women crew members have other options also like skirts and trousers, apart from a modern jumpsuit which is a one-piece garment that covers the arms and legs. So, the female crew members have multiple options and they can choose any of them depending on their convenience.
The new uniforms have been developed by British fashion designer Ghanaian Savile Row and tailor Ozwald Boateng. There are 30,000 employees of British Airways who will be using the new uniforms.
“Our uniform is an iconic representation of our brand, something that will carry us into our future, representing the very best of modern Britain and helping us deliver a great British original service for our customers,” said Sean Doyle, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO, in a statement.
According to British Airways, the designs of new uniforms were finalised over a period of four years with the involvement of about 1500 members of the global carrier who tested them to find out if the new uniforms were practical and convenient for the job required to be done by the airline crew.
But British Airways is not the only airline that has permitted the wearing of the Hijab by its female crew members. It entered very late into the league of airlines that allow the wearing of scarves by their female crew members.
According to Cabin Crew Wings, there are more than 15 airlines all over the world that either make it mandatory or give the option of wearing a Hijab to their female crew members.
Such airlines include Iran, Saudia, EgyptAir, AlMasria Universal Airlines, Alexandria Airlines, Citilink, Trigana, Sriwijaya, Lion Air, NAM Air, Garuda Indonesia, Royal Brunei Airlines and Ariana Afghan Airlines. All these airlines allow women crew to cover their chests also with scarves.
Air Atlanta of Iceland prefers a Hijab-wearing cabin crew while transporting Haj pilgrims.
Karnataka banned scarf on the pretext of uniformity in dresses
The Government of Karnataka has banned the wearing of a Hijab by Muslim girl students in government and government-aided pre-university colleges on the ground of uniformity.
The question arises if British Airways or other global airlines can provide the option of uniforms to their crew members, why should there be a problem with the Karnataka government in allowing Muslim girl students to wear scarves in the classroom? In fact, the issue of providing the option of uniforms to girl students in educational institutions is more important because scarves for Muslim girl students act as an incentive or a catalyst to go for education. Sociologists and educational experts working among Muslims say that a huge number of Muslim girl students feel more comfortable and secure in Hijab while going to schools and colleges.
But Muslim girl students did not get relief even from the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court, resulting in a lot of inconveniences for Muslim female students to obtain an education. Political analysts say that the decision of the Karnataka government is more politically motivated than to introduce uniformity in school dresses. So, Muslim girl students have become victims of the worst kind of politics prevalent in the country for a decade approximately.
A recent survey report has shown that the number of Muslim girl students in government pre-university colleges has come down following the ban.
Since Muslim girl students did not want to give up their scarves, many of them have shifted to private colleges but their cost of education has gone up because private institutions charge quite a big amount not affordable for poor Muslim parents.
