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September 8, 2006
Netherlands: Muslim Teacher Suspended For Refusing To Shake Males' Hands
News from ANP and Expatica states that a woman teacher in a school in Utrecht has been asked to stay at home. The woman had been employed at the school for just over a year, but over the summer holidays she has developed a religious aversion to shaking hands with men.
The news was carried in today's edition of the paper "AD". The woman is not native Dutch, but her religious decision to start the school term by refusing to have any contact with men is regarded as discriminatory.
Bart Engbers, the principal of Vader Rijn College, which teaches pre-vocational secondary education, said: "If she doesn't want to shake hands at home, fine. But everyone is welcome at this school. Discussion is great, but religious and political flag-waving must stay at home."
"We are preparing our boys and girls for the labour market. We all know how fragile the situation is for allochtone (non native Dutch) young people. Therefore it is good that they shake hands during a job interview. We believe that is important."
In March, we reported on a similar Dutch case, where Fatima Amghar, a teacher at an adult education center in Amersfoort, was barred from working when she refused to shake hands with men.
She took her case to the Commission for Equal Treatment and won.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at September 8, 2006 8:53 PM
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