Hiiraan Online
3/29/2024
Today from Hiiraan Online:
Home
Somali Map
Sports
Opinion
RSS
Somali Music
Contact Us
Facebook
Twitter
Google Plus
advertisements
Hijabi Lawyer Succeeds Against All Odds
Cheema finally got a job offer last August from Ashish Kapoor, who runs his own law firm here.
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
advertisements
CAIRO – For a veiled Muslim woman in the US, making a career in law field has never been an easy task, being judged on what is on her head rather than what is in it.
“Every time I walk into the room, the first thought is, ‘There’s a Muslim,’ ” Zahra Cheema, 25, told the News York Times on Monday, June 8, describing that moment when she meets with a potential employer or argues a case in court.
“I worry that essentially the hijab will override all my other merits.”
Cheema, an American-born daughter of Pakistani immigrants, has been seeking a career in law since she graduated from the City University of New York School of Law.
She grew up in a predominantly white town on Long Island, and her secular family initially frowned on her decision to wear the hijab, a step she took when she was a freshman in college.
“They were like, ‘Who’s going to hire you?’ ” she said, recalling her parents’ concerns and her determination to prove them wrong.
Taking the decision to don the hijab when she was a freshener, Cheema took a long journey from law school to finally establishing her own law firm.
It can be “very lonely,” said Cheema.
Her anxieties started when she started to craft her resume, facing concerns about whether she should include her membership in the Muslim Law Students Association or no.
Hijab in her photos has also posed another challenge questioning whether law firms will ask her in for interviews if hiring managers saw pictures of her wearing a head scarf on Facebook and LinkedIn.
Facing difficulties to get job offers, she decided to remove the photographs from her accounts.
“I get callbacks” when her LinkedIn and Facebook profiles appear without photos, Cheema said ruefully. “The other way, I don’t.”
One law firm manager asked flat out whether she was Muslim or not. “Yes, I am,” Cheema recalled telling her.
Another manager gestured at her clothing and asked, “How does that affect things?”
“It hasn’t up to now,” she said.
Success
Going through painful experiences, Cheema finally got a job offer last August from Ashish Kapoor, who runs his own law firm here.
“She does stand out a little,” said Kapoor, who is not a Muslim and who has fielded questions about Ms. Cheema from curious members of his staff.
Accepting her choice to don hijab, he wondered whether she will be comfortable in dealing with clients and appearing in court. This wonder evaporated as she quickly proved herself.
“She’s very ambitious,” he said.
This month, the ambitious lawyer started her own firm specializing in immigration and family law with support from her parents and from Kapoor, who is providing office space and referrals.
Going through a new life experience, Cheema knows it won’t be easy.
“It might be uncomfortable sometimes,” she said, “but I’m going to take that risk.”
The United States is home to a Muslim minority of between six to eight million.
A US survey has also revealed that the majority of Americans know very little about Muslims and their faith.
Islam sees hijab as an obligatory code of dress, not a religious symbol displaying one's affiliations.
Mogadishu-bound Turkish Airline abandons passengers at Djibouti airport
- HOL
Kenya seeks UAE cash to fight Shabaab in Somalia
- daily-nation
MasterCard Taps Into Somalia's Remittance Money, Battles Visa In Africa
- IBtimes
Judge OKs home release for MN man convicted of threatening FBI agents
- mprNews
Community Invited to Somali Independence Day Festival in Mpls.
- KSTP
Africa tracks: construction of key Djibouti-Ethiopia rail line to finish
- AFP
Man, 25, shot dead near Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis
- Star Tribune
flydubai touches down in Hargeisa, Somaliland
- flydubai
Recounting stories of Mediterranean boat migrants
- Aljazeera
The madness of reducing our Armed Forces to a ferry service for migrants
- Mail Online
Two California men plead not guilty of seeking to help Islamic State
- Reuters
Man, 25, shot dead near Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis
- StarTribune
Somali Australia Council of Victoria gets $50,000 to fight radicalisation and extremism
- Herald Sun
Thousands of parents protest Ontario's graphic sex-ed curriculum at Queen’s Park
- LifeSiteNews
Somali leader predicts defeat of extremists by end of 2015
- AP
Somalia: UN envoy applauds successes as country ‘comes together’
- UNnewscentre
Qatar Charity launches Iftar project in 40 countries
- ThePeninsula
20 intl drug smugglers sentenced in Finland
- xinhua
Yemeni families sue President Obama over deadly drone strike
- presstv
TAGTALK: : New Perspectives on Somali-Canadian, social and Economic Participation.
- HOL
Home
Email