--- title: Police Officers Can Now Wear Hijabs in Scotland and Canada description: Scotland and Canada will allow police officers to wear hijabs on the job in a bid to attract more Muslim women to join their ranks canonical: https://time.com/4468336/hijab-police-scotland-canada/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-26T16:30:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:14.959Z og:title: Police Officers in Scotland and Canada Can Now Wear Hijabs og:description: Both forces want to recruit more Muslim women og:url: https://time.com/4468336/hijab-police-scotland-canada/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd8de96734da5b63/6988a3d6cf40a8bd17c449aa/canada-scotland-hijab-police.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Queen & Duke Of Edinburgh Officially Reopen Canada House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Police Officers in Scotland and Canada Can Now Wear Hijabs twitter:description: Both forces want to recruit more Muslim women twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd8de96734da5b63/6988a3d6cf40a8bd17c449aa/canada-scotland-hijab-police.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Police Officers in Scotland and Canada Can Now Wear Hijabs  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Aug 26, 2016 4:30 PM UTC  Two Royal Canadian Mounted Policemen ride their horses in the force's traditional uniform on February 19, 2015 in London, England. Two Royal Canadian Mounted Policemen ride their horses in the force's traditional uniform on February 19, 2015 in London, England.Max Mumby/Indigo—Getty Images  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney Aug 26, 2016 4:30 PM UTC Scotland and Canada will allow [police officers](http://motto.time.com/4312461/high-paying-jobs-high-school-degree/?iid=sr-link3) to wear hijabs on the job in a bid to attract more [Muslim women](http://motto.time.com/4345655/muslim-mexican-racism-bigotry-politics/?iid=sr-link2) to join their forces. Both countries announced their policy changes this week amid controversy over a French town’s [ban on burkinis](http://motto.time.com/4463478/burkini-ban-cannes-beach/?iid=sr-link1), which was [overturned by the country’s highest administrative court](http://time.com/4468202/france-overturn-burkini-ban/?xid=homepage) on Friday. Scotland police said [in a statement](http://stage.scotland.police.uk/whats-happening/news/2016/august/hijab-ratified-as-option-for-police-scotland-uniform) it hoped the policy change “will contribute to making our staff mix more diverse and adds to the life skills, experiences and personal qualities that our officers and staff bring to policing the communities of Scotland.” Only [2.6% of police applicants in Scotland](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-36468441) from 2015-2016 were minorities. It’s unclear how many of those applicants were Muslim women, or how many Muslim women are currently serving in Police Scotland. [_Follow Motto on Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/)_._ The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, called “Mounties” and known for their famous uniform of red coats and hats, said in [a statement to CNN](http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/25/world/canada-royal-mounted-police-to-allow-hijabs-trnd/index.html) that the change was designed to “better reflect the diversity in our communities and encourage more Muslim women to consider the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a career option.” It’s also unclear how many Muslim women serve in the Mounties, but [the force pledged in 2014 to aggressively recruit women](http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/rcmp-sets-an-ambitious-new-goal-recruit-as-many-women-as-men), hoping to have women represent 30% of officers by 2025. Julie Gagnon, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, [told the Associated Press](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/613ba23b873f429dbccf323d77d0ae13/canadian-mounties-allow-officers-wear-hijab) that no officer had requested the policy change, but Canada’s [La Press reported](http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/politique/politique-canadienne/201608/22/01-5013092-le-hijab-nouvelle-piece-dequipement-des-agentes-de-la-grc.php) officers made 30 requests in the past two years to soften their uniform rules for religious or cultural reasons. In 1990, the Mounties lifted a ban on officers wearing turbans after the force was [sued](http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1990-sikh-mounties-permitted-to-wear-turbans) by a Sikh officer. In the U.S., there’s no federal police governing whether police officers can wear hijabs on the job, though some states have policies allowing it. Minnesota [welcomed its first hijab-wearing officer to its force in May 2015](http://www.fox9.com/news/1836113-story), while a Muslim woman quit an Ohio police force the same month [because they barred her from wearing her hijab](http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/05/07/police-recruit-ismahan-isse-leaves-academy-because-she-was-barred-from-wearing-a-hijab/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4468336/hijab-police-scotland-canada/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4468336/hijab-police-scotland-canada/"},"headline":"Police Officers in Scotland and Canada Can Now Wear Hijabs","datePublished":"2016-08-26T16:30:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:14.959Z","description":"Both forces want to recruit more Muslim women","url":"https://time.com/4468336/hijab-police-scotland-canada/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd8de96734da5b63/6988a3d6cf40a8bd17c449aa/canada-scotland-hijab-police.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd8de96734da5b63/6988a3d6cf40a8bd17c449aa/canada-scotland-hijab-police.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Queen & Duke Of Edinburgh Officially Reopen Canada House","caption":"The Queen & Duke Of Edinburgh Officially Reopen Canada House","creditText":"Max Mumby/Indigo—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4468336/hijab-police-scotland-canada/","name":"Police Officers in Scotland and Canada Can Now Wear Hijabs"}}]}] ```