Wearing a hijab or burqa is still a controversial issue in New Zealand, an Auckland University academic says.
Dr Zain Ali, head of the university’s Islamic Studies research Unit, told nzherald.co.nz: "Muslim women face the same challenges as any other women in New Zealand ... if it's not the scarf, then maybe it's your accent, skin colour or having a non-anglicised name.”
"But if you're a Muslim here, you will have a combination of all four to contend with because most Muslims here are migrants."
The report comes ahead of Wake Up Muslimah, a women-only Islamic conference being held in Auckland. The three day conference starts tomorrow.
Journalist Lincoln Tan also spoke to four Muslim women from different backgrounds who are living in New Zealand.
One of them, a NZ-born European, converted while living in Malaysia in the late 1990s.
"Coming back here nearly 10 years ago, the challenge just gets bigger because I have been wearing the hijab since I became a Muslim, but that became an issue when I came back here. I went for interviews wearing the hijab and for months I could not find work, and I suspect a lot had to do with the hijab because I landed a job after the very first interview I went to without wearing one,” Siti Aminah says.
