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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

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Fashion magazine for the unemployed

18 April 2006 – Women who receive social assistance must take off their burqa when applying for a job. If they prefer to keep it on, their benefit will be terminated, says Alderman Ahmed Aboutaleb in Opzij magazine.

According to Aboutaleb, this measure is necessary because women will otherwise remain unemployed. “As you know, no one wants an employee who is wearing a burqa”. Every year, a small number of women would fail to find a job as a result of this.

Although Aboutaleb’s statements have received extensive media coverage, they hardly come as a surprise. Earlier, Utrecht alderman Hans Spekman announced exactly the same measure, and in December last year Amsterdam organised a conference on piercings, burqas and personal hygiene among social assistance recipients.

At that time, the Bijstandsbond (an organisation of social assistance recipients) found it surprising that the municipality would organise a ‘very expensive debate’ on this subject, rather than study the causes of mass unemployment. However, the organisation was good enough to think along: “We propose to use special income support to give the unemployed a subscription to fashion magazines”.

Incidentally, employers may not tell employees what to wear, unless there are good reasons to do so.