Austria: Muslim women often victimised, report says

Austria: Muslim women often victimised, report says

Via the Austrian Times:
More and more headscarf-wearing women are becoming victims of racist attacks, according to an organisation’s annual report.

Civil courage and anti-racism institution ZARA said yesterday (Mon) it had been informed of 745 cases of racist abuses in Austria last year, around 50 fewer than in 2009.

The organisation – which stressed that the actual number of offences is much higher – emphasised that the number of verbal abuses of devout Muslims wearing headscarves was on the rise.

ZARA explained Muslim women were experiencing difficulties applying for jobs in Austria if they are unwilling to remove the scarf during working hours. The organisation claimed these developments were primarily not based on racist tendencies among businesspeople, but their concerns that the number of clients may decline if a headscarf-wearing woman was hired.

(source)


ZARA reports that they've received 133 complaints of racism (PDF, German) in 2010. 59% were related to swastikas and antisemitism, 19% were anti-African, 14% were 'racist', 4% were anti-Turkish and 4% were anti-Muslim.