18 April 2006

AMSTERDAM — Women who can't get a job because they wear the burka should lose the right to unemployment assistance, Amsterdam's Social Affairs Alderman, Ahmed Aboutaleb has said.

Aboutaleb, who was born in Beni Sidel in Morocco in 1961, told magazine 'Opzij' that women who choose to wear the face-covering garment are hindering their ability to get work. Therefore they should not be automatically eligible for welfare payments.

A member of Amsterdam's Labour Party (PvdA), Aboutaleb said he did not object to the burka on principle. But he added that the government had a right to expect citizens take responsibility. "Nobody wants a an employee in a burka. In that case, I say: off with the burka and apply for work. If you don't want to do that, that's fine, but then you don't get a benefit payment".

He was responding to the example of a ruling by the Equality Commission that backed a Muslim woman who refused to shake hands with men while working in education.

Aboutaleb questioned whether such a woman was in the right line of work. "She has to realise her behaviour is building enormous obstacles for her in almost every situation. This woman must recognise that she is sidelining herself and that she runs the risk of being turned down for a job more often".

[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2006]

Subject: Dutch news