sitting in a meeting yesterday we got into a discussion about vacation time. the university provides 4 weeks of vacation. only, some of those days must be taken at certain times. so instead of just providing a day off for christmas eve and boxing day and the monday after easter, instead that get’s chiseled away from your annual leave.
and it seems like this small thing, only there is, what i persume, a muslim woman in our office. and i coudln’t help but wonder how she felt knowing that her “vacation” was mandated around not just dates, but religious dates that do not apply to her.
my boyfriend said that in nigeria, because of the mix of religions divided more or less equally throughout the country, both muslim and christian holidays are national holidays. and i thought how nice that must be for religous relations to be able to invite someone to your celabration (at no cost to them regarding vacation days or choices) to learn more about what you believe and how you celabrate…to share instead of demand of someone else.
i know that ever every religion can’t be represented in a country’s holidays, but i do wonder about the fairness of mandating that someone else wrap their family vacations around days that are not meaningful for them, i wonder how people would feel here if they were forced to take vacation time for eid.