Having grown up in Dearborn, I think it was because the two women are African-American converts to Islam, and the hijabs were just an excuse.

There have never been great relations between the local Arab (Muslim or Christian) and African-American communities. The former seem to have bought into a lot of preexisting American racism, the latter have seen the Arabs, about the only convenience store and small market owners in the city, as over-charging outsiders taking advantage of them.

Just because two women allege that they weren't hired for wearing the hijab, doesn't mean that it's really the reason. If Broadsheet is going to run an article on this, don't they need to find out the other side of the story? Isn't that basic journalism?

I'm sure McDonald's has a company wide policy on what constitutes a proper uniform. I doubt it includes scarves or other head coverings. If they let these girls wear what they want to then they will have to let everyone wear whatever they want.

Do you think American Muslims are tourists in their own country?

More like Khanzeer McDonalds.

McDonald's isn't fit for a pig.

If they are "American Muslims", then, yes, I do think they're tourists, because this isn't their country. If they're Muslim Americans, then no.

Hmmm...it seems that a HALAL restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan (a community with one of the biggest Arab and/or Muslim populations in the country) would be a good place to find hijab-wearing women, so it's not like a headscarf would offend the customer base.

Plus, one would think that a headscarf would do more for keeping hair out of the food than the baseball caps and visors most McDonald's employees wear.

My guess though is that a long, flowing headscarf would be considered a safety hazard, whatwith the hot grease in the open fryers and the griddles and such. Perhaps if the scarf were tucked into the McDonald's uniform shirt it wouldn't be a problem.

Hmmm...it seems that a HALAL restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan (a community with one of the biggest Arab and/or Muslim populations in the country) would be a good place to find hijab-wearing women, so it's not like a headscarf would offend the customer base.

Plus, one would think that a headscarf would do more for keeping hair out of the food than the baseball caps and visors most McDonald's employees wear.

My guess though is that a long, flowing headscarf would be considered a safety hazard, whatwith the hot grease in the open fryers and the griddles and such. Perhaps if the scarf were tucked into the McDonald's uniform shirt it wouldn't be a problem.

Chilly Dog has a good point. They usually wear visors or baseball-style caps, no? I believe the main point of the hijab is to cover the hair.

I bet this McDonalds has other Muslim women employees. What do they wear? It appears this particular manager said exactly the wrong thing to exactly the wrong people. I guess he could have told them they needed to wear regular McDonalds headwear, with maybe a dewrag underneath, if they wanted to cover all their hair.

or they could have not been hired because the owner did a background check and found something shady, they lied on their application, were rude at the interview, couldn't work the necessary hours, weren't citizens or a host of other reasons that millions of other americans don't get hired over. might want to look into that before starting a flap.

I agree with other letter writers that we would need a lot more information about the situation to be able to figure out of sexism or religious bias was at play here. For all we know these hijab-wearing prospective employees just didn't hire them because they didn't seem responsible or lacked recommendations or whatever. Or maybe they just weren't hiring.

Also there is an error in your headline: Two Michigan Muslim women allege McDonald's refused to employee them because they wore the hijab. The kicker? It was a halal McDonald's.

Employee should be employ.

forget religious reasons, let's keep long hair contained in kitchens, even McDonald's kitchens.

Caused a weak feminine Muslim factory worker to get decapitated in an industrial accident where some nasty machine sucked it in. Because THAT would be bad.

Doesn't mean you would know more than the already established regulations. Either a place is Halal or it's not. It's not a 'mostly' sort of Halal. Because if it's not in any small way, it's not Halal at all. Period. Though I can appreciate the nature of not having people come work who stuffed a ham and cheeses sandwich in their pocket.

I'm sure McDonald's has a company wide policy on what constitutes a proper uniform. I doubt it includes scarves or other head coverings.

Here in Boston, it's not unusual to see a women in a hijab working at a fast food restaurant. I've seen plenty of hijab-clad women working at McDonald's. When I worked at Peet's, religious headcoverings were the only "hats" allowed. As far as I can tell, Wendy's allows religious headcoverings.

Let's recap: Two women from a sexist, homophobic, supremacist religion engaged in an act of rank superstition with grossly inegalitarian meaning can't get a job at a McDonald's. So what? My agnostic heart bleeds.

The alleged problems of these women has nothing to do with feminism. This piece belongs at a conservative/Muslim website where the 'believers' can all commiserate about how the cruel 'secular humanist' establishment puts them down at every turn. Joining a business usually means following a dress code, which in the service industry often means uniformity. Why does religion privilege you above any other feeling or belief to break these rules and norms?

Besides were these two Christian fundamentalists this piece would not be here at Salon, at all, period.

"Hmmm...it seems that a HALAL restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan (a community with one of the biggest Arab and/or Muslim populations in the country) would be a good place to find hijab-wearing women, so it's not like a headscarf would offend the customer base."

I'm not so sure about that. Just because the muslim customer base isn't offended by the head scarf doesn't mean they wouldn't be offended to see women working. Particularly if they are in a coed environment where they must interact with strange me. Couldn't conservative muslims be offended to see that?