The study by Nadia Hasan, assistant professor at the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at the University of York, according to which 73% of Muslim women would like to leave Quebec has sparked a great debate. The research methodology, scrutinized and widely publicized, casts doubt on the validity of this result. At the Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCFM), we are not surprised to see such a result.
Founded in 1982, the CCFM’s mission is to help Quebec and Canadian Muslim women fully integrate into society so that they reach their full potential while preserving their faith values. We consider that employment, and what it implies in terms of social commitment, is an essential factor in achieving this objective.
Muslim women, particularly those who wear the veil — the hijab — have difficulty finding employment, with equal skills, in all fields. Certainly, this situation does not arise from Law 21, the Law on State Secularism, but the latter breathes on the fire of discrimination.
Apart from the lack of possibilities and its economic consequences, this law generates a climate of ideological clashes which favors a withdrawal into identity and a deep feeling of marginalization.
Already in 2007, during our presentation to the Bouchard-Taylor commission, we demonstrated that, according to Canadian statistics, Muslim women were among the best educated religious groups — coming in second place, after Jewish women — but their rate unemployment was the highest.
While this fact is well noted in the final report, no concrete measures have been considered.
And since then, the situation has deteriorated. Research continues to multiply and always arrive at the same observation: Muslim women, immigrants or those born in Quebec, particularly those who wear the hijab, encounter multiple obstacles in finding employment, in all professions.
Additionally, overqualification appears to be endemic in our community. We frequently encounter women with medical training and engineers who are confined to daycare centers.
We report the following statistics, taken from research entitled “The impact of immigration on the economic dynamics of Quebec” by Brahim Boudarbat and Gilles Grenier.
1. Compared to other provinces in Canada, Quebec has the highest unemployment rates for immigrants.
2. For equal skills, the unemployment rate is significantly higher among immigrants than among non-immigrants for each field of study observed.
3. Belonging to a visible minority increases the probability that a person will find themselves unemployed, whether they are an immigrant or not.
In this category, women are the most disadvantaged in terms of employment.
Muslim women who immigrate to Quebec are educated and have often been active in their country of origin (an important factor in selection at the federal level). Yet a myth persists. They would be seen as women who do not access the job market because they did not work in their original society or because they do not wish to integrate because of their religion.
Law 21 does not only affect Muslim women. It creates a climate of frustration and anxiety in the family. Children ask us “if mom is going to lose her job “.
We would like to fully share Quebec values, namely the emancipation of women and the equality of men and women. Unfortunately, for us, Bill 21 goes against this ideal through the obstacles it creates to employment and the feeling of exclusion it engenders. Surprising that we want to leave Quebec?