Muslims in EuropeMuslim woman in Sweden quits job after being instructed to shake hands with male colleagues

A 20-year old Muslim woman in Helsingborg, Sweden has quit her job after being told she must shake hands with her male colleagues.

Fardous El-Sakka had been working as a supply teacher for Kunskapsskolan, a group of independent schools in Helsingborg, since August. 

The Local reports that she had told her fellow employees that she preferred not to shake hands with her male colleagues, and instead would rather put her hand on her heart and bow as a greeting. 

One of her male colleagues, however, took offense at her suggestion, complained to the school principal where she was working at the time, and the principal informed her that she must conform to the institution’s “core values” if she wanted to remain working there.

Lidijia Münchmeyer, the principal of Helsingborg Kunskapsskolan, told the Swedish newspaper Expressen that the man in question felt “tremendously discriminated against.”

She said: “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.”

Sakka, who resigned on the spot after being told she must shake hands with her male colleagues, is a member of Unionen teaching union, so her case was referred to the Equality Ombudsman.

Sakka told the Local that it was the first time anyone had objected to her not shaking their hand and said she did not think she would be able to return. 

She said: “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.”

Münchmeyer, the school principal, stressed that the school did not fire Sakka and that she “chose to leave after I explained what the school’s core values are.” 

“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,” she added.

The incident comes just months after Green Party city councilor Yasri Khan was forced to resign from the Helsingborg city council after refusing to shake hands with a female journalist on religious grounds. He said that shaking hands with someone from the opposite sex was too “intimate” and instead chose to put his hand over his heart.

The two incidents have ignited an intense debate in Sweden over the issues of religion and culture, with supporters of Sakka and Khan claiming that criticism of the two’s refusal to shake hands with members of the opposite sex amounted to “Islamophobia,” while critics of the two say their behavior was an insult to the concept of gender equality.

Sweden’s prime minister, Stefan Lofven, joined the debate, declaring that in Sweden, “you shake hands with both women and men.”