“When [Muslim] women want to enter the workplace in places like the UK for instance, they may end up facing a triple penalty. The penalty of being a Muslim, the penalty of being potentially from a different racial background and also being a woman. It’s almost instead of facing the glass ceiling, you’re facing a triple glazed or a concrete ceiling which is almost impossible to penetrate.”
In Episode 17 of the ‘Why Care?’ podcast, I am joined by Rukasana Bhaijee, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Lead, EMEA Technology at Google, to discuss being a Muslim Woman in various industries, her identity as a British Muslim and as a hijab-wearer, and her views on the unique DEI challenges of the tech industry.
Rukasana’s professional journey is certainly one of the most unique I’ve ever heard. Following the completion of her A Levels, Rukasana started her career in the world of banking, first at Bank of England and then JP Morgan. After some time in this industry she took a decade out to be a mum, during which she reskilled as a complementary therapist with a focus on massage and worked part-time with the east London Asian community to promote ideas of wellness.
Following her therapy roles she “fell into” the world of HR at Queen Mary’s University and discovered DEI. She then spent some time at Ernst & Young in the professional services industry, before moving to tech giant Google. In 2019 she was recognised by the European Diversity Awards as an Inspirational DEI Leader.
We discuss our experiences of being first-generation UK-born children of parents who emigrated to the UK and how being caught between two cultures shaped our childhood experiences. We reflect on the lack of representation in the media for us as children, and when we first started to challenge the rather rigid gender roles of our parents’ cultures.
Post 9/11, Rukasana noted a visible change in the narrative about what it means to be Muslim in the UK, and how these conversations were not led by, or inclusive of, Muslims themselves. In response to this, Rukasana decided to “reclaim” her Muslimness and become more visibly Muslim by wearing a hijab. We then discuss her experiences of discrimination and otherness resulting from being a Muslim woman and the differences of before and after adopting the hijab, particularly when applying for jobs. Rukasana then gives tips on managing and overcoming systemic prejudices as an underrepresented person.
Rukasana shares Google’s unique DEI challenges and the impressive path they’ve taken to tackle them and develop an inclusive culture. We close the episode discussing the greater need for inclusive leadership across all industries, particularly after the Covid-19 pandemic sent many organisations into “survival mode” which caused the focus on DEI strategies to slip.
Links:
For more from Rukasana you can find her on LinkedIn at Rukasana Bhaijee, and on Twitter at @RukasanaBhaijee
The Google Diversity Annual Report Rukasana mentions can be found here: https://diversity.google/annual-report/
The Harvard Business Review Article from Google about Product Inclusion Design Practices can be found here: https://hbr.org/sponsored/2021/03/the-business-case-for-product-inclusion-design-practices
The Google Retention team blog can be found here: https://blog.google/inside-google/googlers/rachel-spivey-retention-progression/
