When I was growing up in the 60s no respectable woman would be seen in public without a scarf covering her hair.
Why is it such a big deal now that those women are muslim rather than Christian?

Customers actually complained that she was wearing a headscarf? Unbelievable!

Sad that the BE Hema had to be forced to act as an equal non-discriminatory employer. Did the woman get her job back too? I sure hope so, and I hope she proudly wears her headscarf every single day to work.

The woman works for two months then gets 6 months worth of pay. Women are beautiful why cover their heads? Unless like my Aunt used to wear a scarf when passenger in an open car so her hair doesn't get blown around that should be the only exception when braving the elements but in an indoor situation I like looking at a persons face and eyes to make proper communication contact.

I don't see this as a case of discrimination.

After all, she was hired in the first place: they didn't have a problem with her scarf, otherwise she wouldn't have been hired in the first place (which is illegal, but companies always cover that by saying they don't think said person is motivated enough or anything). She was undoubtly wearing a scarf back then.

So, the only conclusion is: she was fired simply to meet customer demands. And while that means the customers were discriminatory, the company wasn't: the company's reason was "we fired her to meet customer demands", after all, not "we personally don't want her wearing a scarf".

Employers should be able to enforce dress codes in offices and especially stores that deal with the public, as long as they are not degrading. And majority (not minority) standards should be used to define what is degrading and what is not.

Headscarf is not religious - it is political! Koran does not require it. It is the radical islam which is advocating and forcing it, as a symbol of women's inferiority to men! Ad women who defend it? They are just slaves, unaware of their slave-ness.

Piotr, you are wrong.
And anyway, it is up to women what they wear. You would not call women wearing a short skirt, sluts, so why would you patronize women who wear headscarves??

No Saladin you are wrong. In places like Jeddah or Dubai it is NOT up to women what they wear. Even non-Muslim women are forced to wear a head dress there.

HEMA BE are totally wrong.
People should be able to wear what they like. We should embrace our differences.
We are a global society.

Bravo, Piotr!
Completely support your comments.

Michael,
It is you who is wrong by comparing Jeddah or Dubai to HEMA..complete nonsense...
You can see the patronising bigots coming out as soon as headscarves or Islam is mentioned...keep foaming at the mouth...it will not go away...

And Michael, it just shows your ignorance about Dubai, and dress code for women..
Have you been there lately? I have.....

I am a customer and I demand that all women in Hema should wear a very short skirt, would they do that? dont think so,

HEMA sticking to its principles.

@Saladin I could really not care less if women chose to wear a headdress or not and whether it's in a Belgian HEMA or H&S in Jeddah for that matter. I agree it was wrong for HEMA to sack this worker. My grandmother was a devote ROMAN CATHOLIC who lived the last 40 years of her life in Canada. She chose to wear a headdress when she went to Catholic Church. Nobody forced her to. It was her choice. I lived and worked in Saudi and saw how all women there (including expats) were not given an option to wear a headdress/forced to wear selective clothing.

HEMA hired her, with nothing in their dress code about wearing a headscarf, and knowing that she chooses to wear a headscarf as part of observing her religion. Then they fire her because some customers complain? No. Wrong. And if I worked there I would have worn a headscarf in solidarity. And if I lived there I would be complaining to HEMA now.

Women have the right to choose what they wear in this country, and in Belgium. ALL women.

I do wish men would stop worrying about whether a woman wears a headscarf or not - it really isn't any of your business.

All over the middle east the scarf is an expression of opposition to western values and norms. And if many Muslims oppose western culture you can forget about integration and peaceful coexistence. Instead sticking to 7th century tradition, when scarf was needed to protect from sun and wind, progressive Muslims should revive their religion and adapt their cultural norms to the western culture. Why is it that only Westerners have to adapt to other culture but not the other way around as well? Why Muslims can not change interpretation of their tradition? Why only westerners are demanded to adapt to other cultures?

I didn't realise that The Belgians were more endemically racist that the Dutch. Its rather a shame that we chose to not populate our own country's, demographically? Because, this type of behaviour brings out the racist in most? and still, in the future, we require more immigration from other cultures we are not intolerant of. What a mess our grandchildren face?

I am Muslim woman by birth and decided not to wear the head scarf. You cannot preach tolerance nor freedom of speech or religion if you cannot allow one person, no matter what the gender is or the religion(when the practice of that religion does not endanger the society) to do as they wish. I do detest the hypocrisy of some people here. You cannot call people medieval and consider yourself liberal. You let others as they choose to be. Being liberal and open minded means you tolerate and compromise. Then you can expect from those so called medieval people take the example of you.

If I belong to the church of spaghetti monster, I would demand the right to exercise my religion and to be honest I should be allowed to do so..

Oh yes, I definitely feel the need to scrutinize the complete hairdo of someone selling a pair of socks to me, it makes all the difference! Socks wouldn't be the same without it!

@mc, the question to ask is why does the headscarf generate so much enmity within Western societies? So many people liken it to a political statement! A Western Muslim friend once told me that the headscarf identifies her as a Muslim, and she was proud to be one.
It is not integration you talk about, it is assimilation. I respect everyone, no matter what they put on their head..
Even if this was a peroxide wig...