Muslim woman quits job after being told to shake hands with male colleagues

Fardous el Sakka says she prefers to put her hand over her heart and bow when greeting men

A Muslim woman working at a school in the coastal city of Helsingborg in Sweden left her job after being told to shake hands with her male colleagues.

In a statement reported by The Local, the principal of the school said that the Muslim woman, Fardous el Sakka was not fired, but that she “chose to leave after I explained what the school’s core values are”.

She added: “I would also like to carefully point out that the issue was not her religious beliefs, but rather it is about choosing to treat men and women differently by shaking the hands of women but not men.”



The 20-year-old had chosen not to shake hands with her male colleagues and instead preferred to put her hand on her heart and bow as a greeting.  However, one of her male colleagues took offence because of which Ms Sakka was ordered to meet the principal and was told she must conform to the institution’s "core values" if she wanted to continue working there.



Lidijia Münchmeyer, principal of the school, told Swedish newspaper Expressen that the man in question felt “tremendously discriminated against”, adding, "The school doesn’t differentiate between people or treat them differently. That’s what we advocate from our students, so the staff also have to do that.”

As a result of this, Ms Sakka quit the job and took the case to the Equality Ombudsman. “It’s a special school for me because I was a student there. But I don’t think I can see a way back there now.”

She went on to say that this was the first time anyone had ever objected to her for not shaking their hand.



The incident comes just months after a Swedish city councillor was forced to resign after refusing to shake hands with a female journalist. He justified his actions saying that shaking hands with someone from the opposite sex was too “intimate” and so instead chose to put his hand over his heart.

The statement was criticised by many who said that his behaviour was an insult to women. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven responded to Khan’s statement saying that in Sweden, “you shake hands with both women and men”.

This article originally appeared on Independent.