News & Comment
Many Women Living in Liberal Democracies suffer from a double disadvantage of discrimination

News

On the 7th December 2018 the BBC published a news report outlining the double disadvantage of non-white women who experience lower wages than their male counterparts. The BBC sent freedom of information requests to 24 universities in the Russell Group of highly selective, research-based universities, and 22 responded.

At these universities, the data showed average salaries of:

• £52,000 for white academics

• £38,000 for black academics

• £37,000 for academics from an Arab background

This means that black and Arab academics at the UK's top universities earn an average 26% less than white colleagues. And female academics fare even worse, with an ethnicity pay gap on top of the gender pay gap.

Comment

It is commonly assumed that women living in Liberal Democracies have access to every privilege and better opportunities. However, the recent study shows clearly that this is not the case. This report was initiated after disclosures made by highly qualified ethnic minority women who faced the lowest wage bands and reported that they are “struggling financially” and felt “depressed and devalued” and they described the current injustices as one that "it's not an equal race.” These problems that minority women face are a result of the problem of non-Islamic economic viewpoints where women are payed less due to the fact that companies factor in the loss of profit when they take maternity leave or other matters related to gender. In this manner the money before morals principle is very much in play here against women and that is why regardless of decades of protests and lobbying government, nothing has changed for women in this regard. In a similar manner, the inherent problem of racism and nationalism allow recruiters to use bias allowing pay scales for individuals. Ethnic background is made an issue on many of the recruitment and government forms that citizens fill in. This is done under the pretext of facilitating equality, when in fact this data is used to do exactly the opposite. What we see with these two social ills in place under liberal capitalist laws is an ongoing situation where women face a double discrimination when they are both female and from an ethnic background. These factors have absolutely no relevance under the Khillfah.

All citizens are equal before the law and nationalism is an idea that is forbidden and has no value. It is recognised to be a cause of racism and inhuman behavior in people and does not allow harmony in society. Allah (swt) stated this in the Quran;

(يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ)

“O people, We have created you male and female and made you nations and tribes that you may know one another. Verily, the most noble of you to Allah is the most righteous of you. Verily, Allah is knowing and aware.” [Surat Al-Hujurat 49:13]

In the Khilafah, injustice in wages and any kind of racist action or calling is a matter of criminal activity and will be punished by the Judicial System. If the laws of the Creator were in place as it would be under a true Islamic State, women of all backgrounds would not have to face this eternal struggle that is sure to exist regardless of the superficial rhetoric or laws that are in place in Liberal Democracies.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Imrana Mohammad
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir