Women Win Fights to Wear Head Scarves

(RNS) -- A female Muslim firefighter in Maryland has won the right to wear a religious head scarf while at work, and state officials in Idaho have agreed to allow a Christian woman to wear a head scarf in her driver's license photo.

Stacy Tobing, a seven-year veteran of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service who converted to Islam last year, began wearing a traditional "hijab" at work in June, but was placed on administrative leave while fire department officials evaluated department policy on the issue, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"We were worried about what would happen in the event of a fire or if we were to run into an unruly patient who might want to reach out and grab her," Fire Administrator Gordon Aoyagi told the Washington Post.

But according to that newspaper, "Tobing showed her supervisors a special head scarf held together with Velcro that rips away if pulled. She also proved she could take off the scarf and don protective headwear in seconds if forced to battle a fire."

Under the agreement reached July 12, Tobing can wear a dark blue or white head scarf while on duty, and when she needs to wear protective clothing she can replace the head scarf with a fireproof hood and helmet.

In a similar case, the Idaho Department of Motor Vehicles has decided to permit a Christian woman to wear a religious head scarf in her driver's license photograph.

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