Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal

Muslim women’s workplace experiences: implications for strategic diversity initiatives

Terrie C. Reeves Arlise P. McKinney Laila Azam
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Terrie C. Reeves Arlise P. McKinney Laila Azam, (2012),"Muslim women’s workplace experiences:
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Muslim women’s
Muslim women’s workplace workplace
experiences: implications for experiences
strategic diversity initiatives
Terrie C. Reeves 49
Department of Business Administration,
Received 13 April 2012
University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA Revised 13 September 2012
Arlise P. McKinney Accepted 9 October 2012
Department of Management and Decision Sciences,
Coastal Carolina University, Conway, South Carolina, USA, and
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Laila Azam
Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine Muslim women’s decisions to wear headscarves,
known as hijab, in the workplace. The decision to wear hijab may result in a stigmatized identity, so
the paper also aims to examine perceived or experienced discrimination and impact on employment
outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach – Using qualitative methodology to capture nuances, the study
was based on demographic responses and semi-structured interview questions by 79 Muslim women
physicians and other healthcare professionals.
Findings – The paper finds that many factors influenced their decisions, but Muslim women had
a wide variety of views in terms of the hijab and adherence to Islamic precepts. Those who wear hijab
reported negative experiences of intolerance and discrimination. The decision to wear hijab was
subsequently associated with perceived discrimination that would limit one’s employment
opportunities.
Practical implications – Religion is one diversity categorization that can be invisible yet still has a
significant impact on workers and their engagement in the workplace. Organizations engaged in
strategic diversity initiatives may need to better understand specific nuances of diversity concerning
religious expression and the potential psychological toll hiding those expressions may have on
workers. The paper’s findings have implications for personnel selection, training, and managing
interpersonal relationships in the workplace.
Originality/value – Religious expression is an under-studied workplace diversity facet, especially
when disclosing religion is a choice that may result in being stigmatized. There has been research on
workplace treatment of Muslims and the influences of spirituality, but no research that examined the
decision to wear hijab and the associated workplace consequences.
Keywords Religious expression, Diversity initiatives, Perceived discrimination, Stigmas, Muslims,
Interpersonal discrimination, Islam, Women, Discrimination, Workplace, Religion
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
As the workplace becomes increasingly global, there has been a heightened awareness
of diversity management issues that extend beyond the demographic characteristics of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An
race, gender, and age to include consideration of additional characteristics such as International Journal
Vol. 32 No. 1, 2013
religion. In the USA, religion is protected from workplace discrimination by Title VII of pp. 49-67
the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Religious discrimination involves treating a person (an r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2040-7149
applicant or employee) unfavorably because of his or her religious beliefs (US Equal DOI 10.1108/02610151311305614
 EDI Employment Opportunity Commission, 2011a). Moreover, the law requires employers
32,1 to reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs and practices, unless
there is a business necessity reason that such accommodation would otherwise
interfere with business operations. Thus, an employer must not only prevent
discrimination but must also reasonably accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs
and practices. In addition to other practices, many religions include certain attire or
50 adornment as an expression of faith. In the current study, we focussed on Muslim
women because of the recent debate in Europe and the USA about the appropriateness
of wearing the headscarf in schools and at work (Giddens, 2004). We specifically
examined Muslim women and their decision to wear attire, known as the hijab,
associated with their religion in the workplace. We sought to learn more about
the decision processes and workplace outcomes in response to the religious expression.
We begin with a review of organizational diversity initiatives with a particular focus on
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diversity climate and then address research on religion in the workplace. We also
review the literature on stigma as a pretext for negative treatment and interpersonal
discrimination as it relates to the experiences of Muslim women in the US workforce.

Organizational strategic responses to diversity

Organizational diversity management initiatives have included the implementation of
practices and policies that attract talent and empower employees to excel, but they also
include the removal of barriers that may hinder progress. Increased workplace
diversity in terms of race, gender, age, disability, and religion has sparked research
and social programs designed to understand the challenges represented by these
differences and to develop strategies for effectively managing groups in the workplace
(DiTomaso et al., 2007; Konrad, 2003). Diversity representations reflect an
organization’s efforts in attaining its desired diversity demographic characteristics
(e.g. number of women and racial-ethnic minorities) and in minimizing incidents
of diversity discrimination (Goldman et al., 2006; Ployhart and Holtz, 2008). However,
research has consistently shown that increased diversity representation does not
create productive work environments in which employees share information and
experiences that enhance outcomes for all employees and that diversity climate
may be the key for creating inclusive work environments (Kossek et al., 1996;
Konrad, 2003; McKay and Avery, 2005).
Specifically, there has been significant research on how facets of diversity climate
impact diverse members in studies examining stereotypical attitudes in regard to
gender (Wood, 2008) and barriers to advancement attributed to glass ceilings and
concrete walls (Cocchiara et al., 2006). Additionally, recent complaints of religious
discrimination in the USA have escalated such that it represented the largest
percentage increase for the fiscal year ending 2011, with many of the cases associated
with being Muslim (US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2011b). Thus,
women in general and particularly Muslim women have reported greater challenges
for attaining fair and equal treatment and a work climate that is inclusive. These
reports highlight a need for organizations to evaluate diversity climate and
address areas where both policies and interpersonal interactions represent the
need for more education, awareness, and attention to the climate of inclusion in the
work environment.
Diversity climate refers to an individual employee’s perceptions of the inclusiveness
of his or her organizational context, which are affected by varying group memberships
in the workplace (e.g. gender and ethnicity), and diversity attitudes are the extent to
 which the individual employee values differences and supports organizational efforts Muslim women’s
to maximize and manage diverse members (Roberson, 2006). While diversity workplace
representations often have a legal context, diversity climate is far more subjective
and becomes one of the many facets to manage in organizational contexts. Research experiences
on diversity has examined both individual and organizational level attitudes and
perceptions concerning diversity and also organizational strategic approaches to
diversity management (Konrad, 2003; Kossek et al., 1996; Roberson, 2006). Diversity 51
climate has been associated with important organizational outcomes including
turnover intentions (Stewart et al., 2011), productivity (McKay et al., 2009), and
organizational commitment and attachment (Kaplan et al., 2011). As noted by
Herdman and McMillan-Capehart (2010), diversity climate was found to be an
important indicator of employee experiences within a firm and the effectiveness of
diversity initiatives. Collectively these studies examined diversity climate through
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the lens of the employees’ experiences in the workplace and found that the level of
inclusiveness in their workgroups influenced organizational commitment and tur
nover intentions. We extend the examination of diversity climate in this study by
examining religious expression and its impact on the attitudes and interactions
experienced by organizational members that may or may not reflect the inclusive
environments espoused by management.

Religion in the workplace

While religion is protected from employment discrimination in the USA, it is often
quite unclear how the law is to be applied, or what inclusive workforce practices
allow for religious expression. Cromwell (1997, p. 169) argued that religion can be
problematic because unlike other characteristics (e.g. race, gender, national origin,
disability, etc.), it is “an acquired property consisting of a set of beliefs that can be
dynamic in nature.” Other than disability, it is the only protected basis that may
require accommodations in workplace practice to avoid intentional or unintentional
discrimination. In this paper, we examined Muslim women and their choice to wear
the hijab as an expression of their religious persuasion, the associated stigma they
might encounter as a result, and specifically whether they experienced discrimination
in the workplace. The hijab covers the hair, neck, and shoulders and is traditionally
an expression of Islamic modesty (Syed, 2010). As Khosravi (2012) noted, veils or
headscarves are a woman’s most conspicuous signifier of Muslim religious identity.
Islam is the second largest religion in the world and the population of Muslims in
the USA is expected to double by the year 2030 (Pew Research Center, Forum on
Religion and Public Life, 2011). In the period following the events of September 11,
2011, Muslim Americans reported the highest number of claims of discrimination
because the Islamic faith was so closely related to the acts of religious
extremists. Discrimination complaints ranged from overt (e.g. name calling and
intimidation) to covert (e.g. not being served, avoiding eye contact, and prolonged
stares; Barkdull et al., 2011). Prior studies have examined court cases involving
complaints of religious discrimination in the USA and found instances of intolerance
and refusal to accommodate, particularly with Muslims in the workplace (Ball and
Haque, 2003; Mujtaba and Cavico, 2012).
This study contributes to the literature of managing diversity and inclusive
workplaces but is distinctly different from research that examines inclusion based on
ethnic minority workplace experiences (Dawson, 2006; Van Laer and Janssens, 2011)
and cultural discrimination (Cromwell, 1997). In these studies, experiences of
 EDI discrimination were associated with visible aspects of diversity that could not
32,1 be hidden. In contrast to other diversity aspects, religious persuasion is not a stable
demographic categorization but, instead, is an aspect of diversity that can be
malleable, expressive, and hidden. Although prior research has examined the role of
religion, spirituality, and faith in the psychological and physical health of patients in
healthcare (King and Crowther, 2004; Liu and Robertson, 2011; Strauss and Sawyerr,
52 2009), we could find no studies that examined these practices for employees in the
healthcare profession. In these studies, religion and spirituality was an important
determinant of trust and disclosure in the caregiver-patient relationship, a critical
aspect of job performance. Only one study examined employment discrimination in
healthcare but it focussed on age and gender, not on religion or religious expression
(Ozcan et al., 2011). Thus, this study is timely in examining the religious aspect
of diversity and its impact on the perceived employment outcomes on Muslim women
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employed in healthcare settings.

Stigma
Stigma is a phenomenon often studied in diversity contexts as an explanation for
some of the experiences of women and ethnic minorities in social and employment
contexts. Stigmas are personal characteristics labeled as flaws within a certain social
contexts (Ragins, 2008), and a person with a stigmatizing characteristic is viewed as
being in a separate, stereotypical group of lower status (Link and Phelan, 2001).
According to Goffman (1963), “stigma is an attribute that discredits an individual,
reducing him or her from a whole and usual person to a tainted, discounted one” (p. 3).
Stigmas may be linked to appearance, behavior, or group membership and have been
found to be linked to poor mental health, physical illness, and reduced access to
housing, education, and jobs (Gee et al., 2006; Major and O’Brien, 2005). Groups with
stigmatized identities include minority race (O’Hara et al., 2012), gender (Crocker et al.,
1991), sexual orientation (Ragins, 2008), weight/obesity (King et al., 2006), and Muslim
women (Ryan, 2011). Collectively, these studies reveal that stigmatizing of individuals
or groups results in outcomes that negatively affect both their psychological well-being
and employment outcomes.
A substantial body of research has addressed the issue of disclosure and
demonstrated the negative consequences accruing to a stigmatized individual (Clair
et al., 2005; Cottrell and Neuberg, 2005; Crocker et al., 1991; Beals et al., 2009; Goff et al.,
2008; Halperin et al., 2007), so many people try to avoid being stigmatized. The issue
of concealment is particularly germane for invisible identities like sexual orientation,
mental illness, and religion (Beals et al., 2009; Beatty and Kirby, 2006; Ragins, 2008),
where the decision to disclose is often tempered by concerns of discriminatory
practices or exclusion. Prior studies have shown the psychological strain of
withholding one’s identity or passing to avoid being stigmatized (Goffman, 1963;
Ragins, 2008; Smart and Wegner, 1999). Concealing a stigmatized identity has been
shown to lead to inner turmoil that can affect one’s mental life (Smart and Wegner,
1999). Ragins (2008) noted that fear of disclosure was often associated with threatened
job loss. Clair et al. (2005) concluded that positive experiences resulting from disclosure
will lead employees to reveal their social identities while negative experiences
were more likely to generate passive behaviors that hide invisible identities. It is these
experiences resulting from stigmatized identities that are believed to be associated
with diversity climate and performance in the workplace and impacted the important
outcomes such as commitment and turnover intentions.
 The stigma of religion Muslim women’s
Unlike race, gender, weight, or certain disabilities, religion can be an invisible workplace
social identity. The invisibility allows an individual to control the likelihood of
being stigmatized by his or her choice to disclose what would otherwise remain experiences
hidden. The stigmas associated with being a Muslim and with the religion, Islam,
were certainly heightened after the events of 9/11 and other recent events around the
world where the Islamic religion has been intricately associated with religious 53
extremists (Ball and Haque, 2003; Ryan, 2011). Major and O’Brien (2005) identified four
mechanisms of stigmatization:
(1) negative treatment and discrimination;
(2) expectancy confirmation processes;
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(3) automatic stereotype activation; and

(4) identity threat processes.

Specifically, negative treatment and discrimination were the acts that directly affect
the social status, psychological well-being, and physical health of the stigmatized
individual.
Stigmatized individuals will likely experience negative treatment and
discrimination in the workplace (King et al., 2006; Singletary and Hebl, 2009).
Interpersonal discrimination, one form of negative treatment, refers to discriminating
interactions between individuals within a workgroup (Karlsen and Nazroo, 2002).
Interpersonal discrimination can be overt (e.g. being treated rudely or threatened)
and/or subtle (e.g. being ignored or watched closely) and both the frequency and
severity of these incidents will likely shape negative employee experiences and
perceptions of organizational climate. Research examining other diverse groups has
shown that interpersonal discrimination negatively affects women (Priola and
Brannan, 2009) and ethnic minorities (Dawson, 2006), and results in a number of
important psychological and employment outcomes (Krings and Olivares, 2007;
Van Laer and Janssens, 2011). Little is known from the perspective of the impacted
employee about discrimination experiences based on religious expression in the
workplace; however, prior research has provided some insight into the outcomes
experienced by Muslims.
In a study of treatment discrimination and its effects, Rippy and Newman (2006)
found complaints of verbal harassment, unfair employment practices, job termination
or denial of employment, and denial of religious accommodations among others by
Muslim job applicants. The consequences of these actions resulted in the same aversive
psychological symptoms of anxiety commonly found in race-based discrimination.
Several studies have also found adverse effects for Muslims in the workplace including
negative impact on hiring decisions based on their name/religion (King and Ahmad,
2010), unfavorable judgment compared to whites in hiring decisions, salary
assignments, and future career progression (Park et al., 2009), and stereotyping and
biases associated with their of religion and national origin (Mujtaba and Cavico, 2012).
These studies reveal that Muslims have legitimate concerns about fair and equal
treatment in the US workplace. Allen and Nielsen (2002) further added that Muslim
women may be more vulnerable when wearing the hijab results in disclosure of their
religion. We extend this research by examining the lived experiences that are
hypothesized to precede the employment outcomes.
 EDI In this study, we were interested in the process of negative treatment accorded to
32,1 stigmatized individuals and the consequence of exclusion from or disengagement
in the workplace. There is extensive literature about people who exhibit bias by
stigmatizing others, but the stigmatized individuals’ perceptions, cognitive processes,
and beliefs are less studied (Crocker and Major, 2003; Miller et al., 2004). In the current
study, we examine the workplace experiences of Muslim women and the associated
54 consequences for those who chose to disclose their religious identity by wearing hijab
in the workplace in the USA. Specifically, we sought to examine the likelihood of
stigma and the associated interpersonal discrimination among Muslim women in the
US workforce who chose to disclose religious preference by wearing the hijab. We
wanted to capture the women’s personal perceptions in their own words to provide a
richer disclosure of their workplace experiences.
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Methods
Participants
Participants for this study were identified as females who were members of two US
healthcare professional organizations for Muslims. We solicited participation with
posters and personal invitations at several meetings of the organizations and the
women were contacted individually via e-mail and/or phone to ask for their voluntary
participation. All participants were Muslim professional women already familiar
with Islam and hijab. Each was introduced to the study and informed of its purpose,
which was to better understand perceived and/or experienced discrimination
associated with wearing hijab in the workplace. The final sample consisted of 79
women who agreed to participate in all aspects of the study.
We sought to examine treatment issues in the current study with Muslim women in
the healthcare industry. We chose the healthcare industry for two reasons:
(1) health care is one of the fastest growing industries in large part due to the
projected needs of aging Baby Boomers (US Bureau of Labor Statistics,
2010); and
(2) the representation of women in this occupation is also growing where women
outnumber men in graduate programs, including traditionally male-dominated
disciplines in medicine and other health professional programs (American
Council on Education, 2008).
Procedure
Data were gathered on demographic and background characteristics and on hijab
status followed by semi-structured interview questions which were used to capture
perceptions about hijab and the decision to wear it in the workplace. Participant
responses were captured electronically via a web-based survey system, which imposed
no specific time limit for completion. Participants were allowed to take as long as
they wished to answer all questions and to provide feedback on the qualitative
sections. The survey questions included demographic characteristic categorical
questions, dichotomous questions, and also semi-structured interview questions in an
effort to capture the following information: the choice of Muslim women to wear or not
wear hijab in the workplace and the associated work outcomes, both perceived and
experienced.
In the quantitative assessment, participants were asked several direct questions
beginning with the questions of primary interest in this study, with the first being,
 “do you wear hijab?” This was dichotomously scored for yes/no responses. Two Muslim women’s
additional questions, also dichotomously scored for yes/no responses were, “I have workplace
witnessed discrimination” and “I have personally experienced discrimination.”
Participants were also asked to respond to the following semi-structured interview experiences
questions and any additional information about their experiences that they would like
to share with the researchers:
(1) Tell us whether you wear hijab at work; please share your thoughts on why you 55
do or do not wear hijab?
(2) Can you tell me about any positive or negative experiences you have
encountered based on being Muslim?
Analysis
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The demographic characteristics and participant responses of the 79 participants

were analyzed using counts and percentages. We used the Frequency and Crosstabs
functions in SPSS to determine the number of women who chose to wear hijab among
those who responded to qualitative questions, and to determine the demographic
characteristics of hijabis compared to non-hijabis. Following Dawson’s (2006)
and Priola and Brannan’s (2009) frameworks, which used interviews to examine the
workplace experiences of African-Americans and women, respectively, data from
the semi-structured interview questions were grouped into recurring themes. We
captured the responses to the semi-structured interview questions and grouped them
based on the major themes that emerged from the participant responses. The
expressions of experience were evaluated to examine religious tolerance, perceived
and experienced discrimination, and choice to engage in religious expression within the
organizational environment.
Results
A total of 119 women responded to the quantitative sections of the questionnaire
providing demographic information and hijabi status, with 79 women participating in
the qualitative sections intended to capture their perceptions and workplace
experiences. In Table I, we report the demographic characteristics of the sample
based on hijabis and non-hijabis to include professional status, regions of employment,
organization type, current position, highest education completed, and hours worked
per week. As shown in Table I, 44 percent of the participants wear hijab in the
workplace. Among non-physicians, 51 percent chose to wear hijab, while only about a
third of physicians chose to wear hijab. A total of 37 percent of the women were from
the Midwest where roughly 45 percent wore hijab. Although only 36 percent of western
women reported wearing hijab, in the other regions of the country the percent of
hijabis and non-hijabis was about equal. Of the women working in clinical care,
77 percent reported wearing hijab.
About 20 percent of all respondents reported experiencing discrimination
(e.g. “patients declined treatment from me because of my religion or culture”) and
about 30 percent reported witnessing discrimination (e.g. “I witnessed discrimination
against colleagues”). Among hijabis (n ¼ 35), 62 percent reported experienced
discrimination and/or witnessed discrimination, whereas among non-hijabis (n ¼ 44),
41 percent of women reported witnessed and/or experienced discrimination. Where the
finding of experienced or witnessed discrimination was equally represented among
hijabis, non-hijabis witnessed more discrimination than actually experienced it.
We learned more about the workplace experiences of Muslim women from the
 EDI Wears hijab?
32,1 Yes No Total n ¼ 79 (%)

Professional status
Non-physician 25 23 48 (62.3)
Physician 10 19 29 (37.7)
56 No response 0 0 0 (0.0)
Respondents’ regions of employment
North east 9 10 19 (24.7)
South east 3 4 7 (9.1)
Midwest 13 16 29 (37.7)
West 5 9 14 (18.2)
No response 5 3 8 (10.4)
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Employing organization type

Hospital or medical center 9 11 20 (26.0)
Integrated system or HMO 4 7 11 (14.3)
Military 0 2 2 (2.6)
Research or educational 4 12 16 (20.8)
Other 14 10 24 (31.2)
No response 4 0 4 (5.2)
Current position
Management 1 9 10 (13)
Clinical care 10 3 13 (16.9)
LT, home, or mental health care 2 3 5 (6.5)
Educational or residency training 3 10 13 (16.9)
No response 19 17 36 (46.8)
Highest education completed
Baccalaureate or less 10 7 17 (22.1)
Post baccalaureate or masters degree 12 13 25 (32.5)
Professional degree 10 19 29 (37.7)
Doctoral degree 3 3 6 (7.8)
No response 0 0 2 (2.6)
Table I. Hours worked (mean ¼ 50 h/week)
Demographic 40 h or less per week 19 16 35 (45.5)
characteristics of the 41-60 h per week 10 11 21 (27.3)
sample (percentages may 61-75 h per week 4 4 8 (10.4)
not total 100 percent More than 75 h per week 1 10 11 (14.3)
due to rounding) No response 1 1 2 (2.6)

qualitative responses that revealed several emerging themes which included:

perceptions of hijab in Islam, perceived and experienced discrimination, and overall
experiences of Muslims wearing hijab in the workplace. Each of these themes reflected
a need to better understand the exercise of religious freedom in the USA and the need
to teach tolerance to address perceptions of Islam.

Perceptions of hijab in Islam

When participants discussed why they did not wear hijab, an unexpectedly large range
of variability was revealed in regard to Muslim women’s beliefs about the relationship
of hijab to Islamic precepts, scriptures, and/or practices. This wide variability was
reflected in the following comments taken directly from the women’s written responses:
I have my own personal expression of modesty and identify as a Muslimah. Hijab does not
define my concept of Islam/practicing Muslim.
 It is not in my culture to do so (wear hijab) and also I don’t believe it’s the only route to Muslim women’s
modesty in Islam.
workplace
I do not feel culturally tied to the tradition of wearing hijab in daily life. experiences
Hijab consists of modest behavior in lowering the gaze, guarding the private parts, and
avoiding showing off by modest dress.
57
I don’t completely believe in hijab. I believe in honesty, modesty, and humility but since I have
been disillusioned by people in hijab I prefer not to wear one.

Hijab is a grey area and I don’t believe such a burden should be placed on women.

I think it is a personal choice after reviewing the Qur’an and Sunna to mentally accept to wear
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hijab,

(there is) no mention of it (hijab) in the Qur’an,

I do dress conservatively but I do not wear the headscarf.

I do not believe the hijab is a requirement in Islam.

Dressing modestly is mentioned, but not covering of the head.

I don’t feel comfortable wearing it.

I just feel uncomfortable in it.

It is an illusion of modesty, sometimes falsely.

The surprisingly wide variation among Muslim women in their beliefs about the
meaning of hijab was, for the most part, based on the women’s personal religious or
scriptural beliefs. However, several responses mention disillusion about Muslim
women, i.e. themselves. This variation was not evident based on dichotomous
questions or quantitative data and it would likely not have been discovered without the
qualitative approach used in this study.

Perceived or experienced discrimination?

Even among women who believed that the hijab should be worn for Muslim modesty,
many said that the consequences of wearing it may be negative. For these women, the
decision not to wear hijab in the workplace was influenced much more by the
consequences than by their interpretation of Islamic precepts. Often, workplace issues
were specifically mentioned. For example, we found the following from those who
choose not to wear hijab:
It (wearing hijab) is a challenge in today’s society.

It was very nerve-wracking as I knew many of my patients would not like a covered woman
in their home. I finally decided to wear my scarf tied in the back rather than wearing it the
correct way and since then, I have had no negative comments.

I don’t wear hijab in my current job because after searching for a position for over a year,
I found that as soon as I took off the hijab, I was hired!
 EDI It would be hard for me to wear hijab and be able to concentrate at work [y] I think I am not
ready for that kind of rejection.
32,1
Afraid of judgment and hostility both from within Muslim community, employers/school, and
family. I hate that it has become such a lightning rod as far as who people think you are or
what you stand for.

58 Personally, lack of courage.

I may not be strong enough to take the risks of wearing hijab.

I am a convert to Islam and do not yet feel ready to make a change in my external
presentation since I began my professional relationship without wearing hijab. It takes time
to change one’s identity and plan on wearing hijab when I feel psychologically and
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emotionally strong enough to handle situations and events that change brings about.

It seemed to create a barrier [y] I was told that it was creating a barrier between other
colleagues and patients.

I don’t wear hijab because I feel that it just makes things harder in a society that may not
always be understanding.

It is an act that requires great courage and I applaud those who wear hijab.

I am afraid of discrimination by my employer, co-workers, and patients.

I don’t want to stand out or be singled out.

I actually was afraid to wear hijab at a VA hospital in a suburban area.

It was especially interesting to find that for Muslim women in this study, it was
perceived intolerance or discrimination, and not experienced discrimination that
affected their decision to wear hijab. Prior research has shown that stigmatized
individuals reported mental health effects from both perceived and experienced
discrimination (Gee et al., 2006). Similarly, we sought to examine any behaviors such as
anxiety, fear, depression, or isolation that may have resulted from perceived or
experienced discrimination from the Muslim women in this study. The responses from
our sample should thus be of interest to organizations that seek to embrace all forms of
diversity in that most of the respondents expressed some level of worry of fear about
disclosing religious persuasion and the potential consequences in the workplace.
Organizations may not be aware that suppression of desired religious expression in the
workplace creates psychological stressors that may impact engagement within the
workplace.

Workplace experiences when wearing hijab

As we wanted to learn more about discriminatory experiences associated with wearing
hijab, we asked the participants to discuss positive or negative experiences they might have
encountered as Muslims. This question elicited the experiences, but in addition, respondents
began to address the causal factors that resulted in such experiences as follows:
Positive:
Someone at work asked me about Islam and I was able to answer her questions and show her
how I cover my hair.
 I am better able to communicate with patients from the same religion and ethnic background. Muslim women’s
I am able to provide better care to my Muslim patients. workplace
experiences
When I have needed to pray, others at the hospital have always been supportive.

I think some patients take me more seriously because I look more “wholesome”
59
After 9/11, people were concerned about me being harassed in general.

Negative:
A lot of recruiters require us to go out for drinks and sometimes it’s hard to be the only one
around who does not drink alcohol.
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Patients, mostly the elderly, express disgust that I became a Muslim.

Sometimes I have gotten distant feelings and actions when someone found out I was Muslim

I was told by the manager that she hoped that I did not think I could work in her store with
that “rag” on my head.

After 9/11, all of sudden I found myself being reprimanded and written up for things I have
been doing for years and as a result I watched a lot of people get fired.

My former supervisor was Jewish and she joked about the tension that exists between
Muslims and Jews.

Some people react negatively when they find out that I am a Muslim and they are surprised
because I am White. No one seems to have an open mind about White people and diversity.

Socially, I feel stifled by the culture of drinking and each outing seems to focus on alcohol,
which makes me less prone to participate.

I was asked NOT to encourage fellow sisters to wear hijab.

People ask me if I feel subservient to my husband or men in general, which makes me wonder
if they think I can’t handle a management position.

After 9/11, I sometimes felt embarrassed to admit I was Muslim.

The Muslim women in our study experienced more negative than positive interactions
and consequences when wearing hijab in the workplace. Many participants felt the
negative reactions were due to portrayals of Muslims in US media in their references
to 9/11 and the war against terrorism. They felt that the media invoked more fear
and false perceptions and only in rare cases did they fault the person making the
negative comment.

Discussion
We found that many women chose to disclose that they were Muslim and to experience
any possible consequences of stigmatization, intolerance, or discrimination.
Roughly 30-40 percent of Muslim women in the USA wear hijab (Ahmed, 2011a),
thus we found it surprising that a greater proportion of the study participants chose
to subject themselves to possible stigmatization. This finding may be partially due to
 EDI self-selection bias among women who wear hijab as participants in this study.
32,1 However, there are at least two other reasons to explain why this group of highly
educated women might choose to wear hijab. Ahmed (2011a) has suggested that
wearing hijab does not represent a step toward repression for US Muslim women,
unlike the situation of women in predominately Muslim countries (Syed, 2010). Instead
for US women, wearing hijab represents a step toward a new Islamic activism
60 focussed on social justice of all sorts in all situations, not just equality for Muslim
women (Ahmed, 2011a). Another possible reason suggested by the literature is that
perhaps wearing hijab represents greater freedom for these Muslim women in that it
demonstrates to parents and co-religious members that the woman wearing the hijab
has conservative mores. Thus, wearing hijab would allow her more freedom of
movement in public spaces (Ahmed, 2011b), while at the same time allowing
her to express her complete autonomous identity (Williams and Vashi, 2007).
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Both of these reasons were supported by the participants’ comments and the
underlying themes found in those comments.
The first theme involved varying beliefs about requirements for wearing hijab
based on the Qur’an or other Islamic precepts or practices[1]. Although the variability
in beliefs surprised us, our surprise may demonstrate the general lack of knowledge
among most US citizens and organizations about Islamic beliefs and practices. It also
illustrated the ease with which people can be categorized into stereotyped groups.
Given the wide range of variability in religious beliefs and expressions among
non-Muslims in the USA, we should not have been surprised to find similar
variation among Muslims. It is unlikely within any religious group for all members
to have uniform beliefs, thus, organizations can learn that this also holds true for
Muslim women.
The second theme that emerged was about prejudice, discrimination, or barriers in
the workplace due to wearing hijab. Respondents reflected about experiences
with hiring difficulties, prejudice or discrimination, and fear. It was notable in the
respondent’s comments that most experiences occurred in society at large and were not
exclusively associated with the workplace. Even without mentioning discrimination
per se, many women reported they felt uncomfortable wearing hijab in the workplace,
or they talked about lacking the courage, confidence, or strength required to wear
hijab. This level of discomfort may be likely to carry over into negative workplace
engagement. Especially in the life-or-death circumstances often encountered in
healthcare organizations, negatively engaged workers may become liabilities to their
employers when healthcare issues are overlooked or not fully explored.
The third theme to emerge reflected both positive and negative experiences in
the workplace attributed to being Muslim, and may provide further insight for
organizations seeking to create and/or maintain a diverse and inclusive work climate.
The positive experiences described by our participants also revealed that members
of diverse groups may be best suited to enhancing cultural awareness among
organizational members. Participants reported the pleasure involved in explaining
Islamic beliefs and practices to co-workers to enhance their understandings of Islam.
These conversations originated as co-workers inquired about wearing the hijab and
what it means for the individual. Organizations may be able to increase inclusiveness
by encouraging Muslim women to actively discuss their religion and to wear attire that
makes them comfortable. The negative experiences described revealed the problems
people experience when they believe they are or will be stigmatized. While very few
participants reported actual instances of discrimination, many respondents believed
 that discriminatory consequences might result if they were to disclose that they were Muslim women’s
Muslim by wearing hijab. workplace
The fact that many of the women’s employing organizations had hired women
who wear hijab might represent highly beneficial change toward more inclusive experiences
workplaces in US healthcare organizations. A 2009 New York Times poll showed
that US Muslims are thriving and that “American Muslim women, contrary to
stereotype, are more likely than American Muslim men to have college and post- 61
graduate degrees. They are more highly educated than women in every other religious
group except Jews. American Muslim women also report incomes more nearly equal
to men, compared with women and men of other faiths” (Goodstein, 2009, p. 11).
Organizations may be missing out on the benefits that could accrue from religious
diversity and its inclusion in workplace diversity initiatives (Reeves and Azam, 2012).
Healthcare organizations that pay particular attention to increasing possibilities
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for positive experiences among Islamic women may find that those experiences
translated into positive experiences and better compliance among Islamic patients.
The women’s positive comments support this suggestion.

Conclusions and implications for strategic diversity initiatives

For this study, we drew on the employment discrimination and stigma literature to
examine the experiences of Muslim women in the US workforce, but their experiences
also inform diversity research. Prior research has examined stigmas associated with
race, gender, disability, and sexual preference, and several comprehensive reviews of
diversity research have tended to focus on the various ways in which diversity
constructs were conceptualized (DiTomaso et al., 2007; Nkomo and Stewart, 2007), but
few have examined religious expressions and disclosure in the workplace and the
associated impact on the employee and their employment outcomes. The comments of
women who chose not to wear hijab support the stigma literature and our expectation
that wearing hijab exposed the women to more negative outcomes and impacted
their decisions to disclose religious affiliation. However, the study’s findings also
highlight an additional dimension to diversity climate, religion, which has received less
attention than race and gender issues in prior research. At the least, our study suggests
that organizations need to be cognizant of inadvertent stigmatization and
discrimination due to religion. Additionally, this study recommends that
organizations take the initiative to create workplaces in which disclosure of hidden
characteristics like religion are encouraged and in which employees may reap the
benefits in attaining inclusive work environments. If women want to wear hijab in
the workplace and suffer no negative consequences as a result, they may be more
engaged employees and they may better serve clients who are, in turn, happier clients.
Dass and Parker (1999) identified four ways that organizations approach diversity
management practices within the organization. These approaches serve as a useful
typology for understanding how organizations integrate diversity representations and
diversity climate practices, and can be applied to assess organizational responses to
diversity in the workplace. The typology identified both the strategic perspective and
the associated strategic responses for organizations seeking to improve and build
inclusive work environments. It also includes possible organizational outcomes.
Specifically Dass and Parker (1999) classified organizations as representatives of one of
the four perspectives (resistance, fairness, access, or learning) based on how they have
approached diversity, the diverse groups of interest in the organization, their responses
to diversity, and the expected outcomes of diversity.
 EDI The resistance perspective is used by organizations that believe diversity is not a
32,1 problem for the organization. For these organizations, maintaining the status quo
is the only outcome of interest. The major strategic response is to manipulate the
system to insure maintenance of the existing system, and if challenged, any response
to diversity is merely reactive (Dass and Parker, 1999). Some of the women in our
study spoke about organizations that might fall into this category, but the majority did
62 not. The fairness approach to diversity is more legalistic with a focus on making
decisions that minimize the likelihood of discriminatory lawsuits (Dass and Parker,
1999; Roehling and Wright, 2006). In firms using this approach, diversity management
practices are defensive (e.g. diversity practices target women and minorities to
the exclusion of other members). These strategies reflect an approach to enlarging
diversity representations and generally address specific groups rather than
organizational members as whole. Conceptually, it is suggested that these strategies
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result in a backlash against women and minorities and may create diversity climates
that are hostile and unfriendly (Dass and Parker, 1999). Several women spoke of
the challenges they faced in wearing hijab in the workplace and of the hostility. It is
these consequences that organizations must seek to avoid when attempting to creative
diversity climates that would be inclusive of Muslim women.
In contrast, the access and learning approaches to diversity focus on promoting or
affirming differences, whether they are legally protected or not, and view diversity
as a source of competitive advantage (Dass and Parker, 1999). Competitive advantage
may arise from the demographics of the workforce and/or the customer base, or from
the long-term learning produced as a result of diverse viewpoints. These approaches
may be more effectively managed when firms provide a balanced focus on minimizing
risks and maximizing rewards that increased workforce diversity provides (Roehling
and Wright, 2006). Firms that employ access approaches emphasize the economic
reasons for incorporating diversity and proactively pursue strategies for diversity
enlargement to tap into diverse markets, employees, and customers. Similarly, firms
that adopt the learning approach seek multiple objectives from diversity including
efficiency, innovation, customer satisfaction, employee development, and social
responsibility. Both the access and learning perspectives are more likely to consider
diversity climate and engage in strategies that create positive diversity experiences
for all members. Our respondents’ mention of their ability to better serve and
communicate with patients demonstrates some of the benefits that may be available
to organizations that have adopted access or leaning approaches to diversity.
Many organizations have been proactive, using diversity audits that assess the
current environment and making appropriate changes so that espoused commitments
to diversity were reflected in strategic organizational initiatives to facilitate inclusive
work environments. Our study represents a first step toward understanding how
organizations might better be accommodative and proactive in dealing with religious
diversity. Religious expression is a facet of diversity that has been considered less in
diversity audits or other diversity initiatives than race and gender. However, as our
study has shown, perceptions about disclosing religious affiliation can have an impact
on workplace experiences.
Given that Islam is the second largest religion in the world and growing in
representations in the workplace, surprisingly little is known about its practices and
how it affects both personal and work lives of those who adhere to the faith (Ball
and Haque, 2003). One of the most interesting portrayals in this study from the
workers’ experiences was that Islam was misunderstood by many of their co-workers.
 As diversity initiatives continue to be the focus in organizations, a truly proactive Muslim women’s
stance would foster open dialogue about differences and how they can be appreciated workplace
and practice tolerance of these differences. Roberson (2006) noted that diversity is
distinctly different from inclusion. The former is focussed on representations and experiences
the latter focussed on specific practices that create positive diversity climates for all.
Inclusion practices are those that pay attention to the experiences of workers. When
they are proactively addressed, they will enhance diversity climate by creating 63
inclusive cultures that enhance organizational commitment and reduce turnover
(McKay et al., 2009). Our findings from the experiences of women in the current study
highlight the importance of including religion in examinations of diversity climate
for creating inclusive work cultures.
Future research is needed about the workplace outcomes associated with open
expression or with fear to disclose religious affiliation to aid organizations in being
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strategic in their diversity initiatives. The current study is an important first step
but additional research is needed. In this study, we examined the experiences of
workers who represent a relatively small cross-section of the US population. While,
most studies of diversity climate and creating inclusive cultures are conducted within
a single organization oriented to provide specific initiatives (Kossek et al., 1996;
McKay et al., 2009), we need generalizable results to better inform other organizations.
What can be gleaned from the current qualitative study is that future research is
needed to understand religious diversity and to explore ways in which it cannot only
be accommodated as legally required but also be appreciated without expecting
assimilation. With increasing globalization of the workplace and the likelihood of
increased workplace religious diversity, organizations would be better served to be
proactive in addressing religious expression and its impact on diversity climate.
Note
1. There is a relatively large literature that discusses both the exact English meaning and the
meaning in context of the Qur’anic verses often cited as the basis for wearing hijab, but no
consensus has been reached. Moreover, whether or not wearing hijab is enjoined by the
Qur’an is not the topic of this paper. We merely observe that some Muslim women choose to
wear hijab in the workplace and some make the opposite choice. In addition, while this paper
discusses workplace factors that may influence a woman’s choice about wearing hijab in the
workplace, we do not claim that workplace factors are the sole reasons for that choice.

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About the authors
Terrie C. Reeves (PhD – University of Alabama, Birmingham) is currently an Associate Professor 67
of Business Administration at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she teaches
Strategic Management and Health Care Management in the Bryan School of Business and
Economics. Her research interests include professionals in healthcare and international
health services.
Arlise P. McKinney (PhD – Virginia Tech) is currently an Assistant Professor of Management
and Decision Sciences in the E. Craig Wall Sr College of Business Administration at Coastal
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Carolina University, where she teaches Human Resource Management, Organizational Behavior,
and Fundamentals of Management. McKinney’s research interests include workplace diversity
with a specific focus on employment equity in personnel selection, diversity climate and
inclusion, and construct measurement and validation. Arlise P. McKinney is the corresponding
author and can be contacted at: amckinney@coastal.edu
Laila Azam is the Admitting Manager at Froedtert Hospital, which is affiliated with the
Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She received her MBA with a Healthcare
Management concentration from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

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