Not Such a Small World, After All: Disney's Latest Discrimination<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the latest hijab shake-down, Imane Boudlal was taken off the schedule as a hostess at Disney\u2019s Grand Californian Hotel because she insisted upon her\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Not Such a Small World, After All: Disney's Latest Discrimination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the latest hijab shake-down, Imane Boudlal was taken off the schedule as a hostess at Disney\u2019s Grand Californian Hotel because she insisted upon her\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Muslimah Media Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-09T07:00:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sarahaji\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"sarahaji\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/\",\"name\":\"Not Such a Small World, After All: Disney's Latest Discrimination\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-09T07:00:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-09T07:00:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/4c582a3148abaf86f2990fc89640f2fc\"},\"description\":\"In the latest hijab shake-down, Imane Boudlal was taken off the schedule as a hostess at Disney\u2019s Grand Californian Hotel because she insisted upon her\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Not Such a Small World, After All: Disney’s Latest Discrimination\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\",\"name\":\"Muslimah Media Watch\",\"description\":\"Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/4c582a3148abaf86f2990fc89640f2fc\",\"name\":\"sarahaji\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b5532bc67e92ff684eca1a47b035e14?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b5532bc67e92ff684eca1a47b035e14?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"sarahaji\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/author\/sarahaji\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Not Such a Small World, After All: Disney's Latest Discrimination","description":"In the latest hijab shake-down, Imane Boudlal was taken off the schedule as a hostess at Disney\u2019s Grand Californian Hotel because she insisted upon her","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Not Such a Small World, After All: Disney's Latest Discrimination","og_description":"In the latest hijab shake-down, Imane Boudlal was taken off the schedule as a hostess at Disney\u2019s Grand Californian Hotel because she insisted upon her","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/","og_site_name":"Muslimah Media Watch","article_published_time":"2010-09-09T07:00:56+00:00","author":"sarahaji","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"sarahaji","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/","name":"Not Such a Small World, After All: Disney's Latest Discrimination","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-09-09T07:00:56+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-09T07:00:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/4c582a3148abaf86f2990fc89640f2fc"},"description":"In the latest hijab shake-down, Imane Boudlal was taken off the schedule as a hostess at Disney\u2019s Grand Californian Hotel because she insisted upon her","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Not Such a Small World, After All: Disney’s Latest Discrimination"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/","name":"Muslimah Media Watch","description":"Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/4c582a3148abaf86f2990fc89640f2fc","name":"sarahaji","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b5532bc67e92ff684eca1a47b035e14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5b5532bc67e92ff684eca1a47b035e14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"sarahaji"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/author\/sarahaji\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":6870,"date":"2010-09-09T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2010-09-09T07:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muslimahmediawatch.org\/?p=6870"},"modified":"2010-09-09T00:00:56","modified_gmt":"2010-09-09T07:00:56","slug":"not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/09\/not-such-a-small-world-after-all-disneys-latest-discrimination\/","title":{"rendered":"Not Such a Small World, After All: Disney’s Latest Discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In the latest hijab shake-down, Imane Boudlal was taken off the schedule as a hostess at Disney\u2019s Grand Californian Hotel because she insisted upon her right to wear hijab to work.<\/p>\n

Boudlal, a Moroccan-born Muslim woman, already wore the hijab at home, but said that she learned of her Constitutional right to wear it to work while studying for her U.S. citizenship exam a few months ago. In accordance with Disney\u2019s notoriously stringent employee agreement, Boudlal asked her manager in June whether an exception could be made for her religious expression. Her manager said the request would have to be approved by Disney corporate, which had Boudlal fitted<\/a> after some time for a Disney-approved headscarf. When she followed up two months later, the hijab was still not ready, and she received no further word from corporate. The hostess of two years then decided to wear her hijab to work\u2014a hijab that, it should be noted, is the same color as the Disney uniform at the caf\u00e9 and is remarkably discreet\u2014at the beginning of this year\u2019s Ramadan, and was promptly removed from the work schedule.<\/p>\n

Suzi Brown, a Disney spokeswoman, said that the company was making every effort to accommodate Boudlal. These efforts included offers to work \u201cbackstage,\u201d operating phones or working in a bakery for the same pay as Boudlal\u2019s hostess position, and to wear a poorly fashioned bonnet-and-hat creation<\/a> that ostensibly works better with \u201cthe Disney look,\u201d as it\u2019s called. Boudlal has said that she is willing to accept a \u201csimple and decent\u201d Disney alternative to her hijab, but that she won\u2019t be pushed into a back room. On August 18^{th<\/sup>, she filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her case has been picked up by both the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the 2,100-person local hotel union, UNITE HERE.<\/p>\n}

Disney has proven disobliging in the past, but it recently relaxed its antediluvian dress code<\/a> (so we at least know that \u201cthe Disney look\u201d can move, if only 50 or so years behind the times). Interestingly, the company had a nearly identical problem in 2004,<\/a> when Aicha Baha was fired from a Disney position in Florida for refusing to remove her hijab at work. That case, however, was settled out of court almost a year later.<\/p>\n

That Disney is making few concessions in the current case with Boudlal, despite her substantial backing by both the union and CAIR, could very well be reflective of the current national climate. Far from discussing religious freedom as a larger and ongoing issue with private companies, comment boards online are teeming with xenophobic and Islamophobic rhetoric, placing Boudlal\u2019s struggle within a long line of incidents that portend the \u201cIslamization of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given the three-month frenzy of anti-Muslim media and the politicization of Park51, Disney corporate truly couldn\u2019t pick a better time to fight a long battle with a Muslim woman over her hijab\u2014which is sad for its religious employees, of course, but also for its larger image as representative of the diverse American cultural landscape.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"