Islamophobia. How is it an issue in the workplace What are the implications for HR - Research Paper Example

Hence Islamophobia creates polarisation in the wide society and provokes discrimination and injustice toward Muslims in all walks of life including the workplace. According to Ramberg (6), Islamophobia is the apprehension of or prejudice view of Islam, Muslims and affairs concerning them. Islamophobia is not a fresh trend; however, many Muslim communities experience increased hostility characterized by mistrust, deep-rooted intolerance and ignorance. Regardless of whether Islamophobia takes the form of discrimination and intolerance, this phenomenon remains an infringement of human rights and threatens social cohesion (Semati 262).

There is real discrimination against Muslim women in America within the workplace accompanied by different public treatment and mistreatment of veiled women. Many Muslim women suffer real and tragic oppression like gender oppression that manifests in persistently low pay and promotion rates within the workplace (Gottschalk and Gabriel 106; Ernst 107). . The expansion of news networks and the internet offer channels of representing Islam as hostile to Americans and constantly increased and later on compounded by the events of 9/11 (Ali 1032).

The problem with Islamophobia is that it considers Islam to be unacceptable in the modern circumstances and Muslims as unable of being proper citizens. Hence, in this murky situation, the national identity ends up being a negotiation between the law and the custom, which influences HR. One main problem to Muslims is that they do not benefit from unity building exercises because existing stereotypes condemn Muslims to retrograde positions in politics, religion and gender. Though Islamophobia is relatively new in North America where the numbers of Muslims are increasing steadily, Muslims suffer open discrimination and prejudice in public domains (Lalami 20-21).

In case the US society was serious in combating Islamophobia, US Muslims, government and U.S. intelligent agencies would take immediate proactive steps in promoting balanced and accurate view of Islam. Moreover, Muslims would have to learn to work with the system for them to survive in the West while at the same time non-Muslims have to show great respect for the religion; however, this remains a huge challenge to HR. Through such cooperation, it is possible to envision a thriving multicultural US community in the future within the country.

Moreover, the notion of good Muslim citizen suggests that Islamophobia can be dealt with through religious Multiculturalism and tolerance; however, it is hard to eradicate it by simple religious tolerance because Islamophobia is linked to US foreign policy (Jung 122). There are various recommendations for combating Islamophobia like education