WELLINGTON: Zeena Ali hopes to inspire other Muslim women to join the New Zealand police, by wearing a Hijab and serve the country.
According to details, the 30-year-old woman has graduated as a police officer and to cap her achievement, she will become the first person in New Zealand to wear a police-issued hijab as part of her uniform.
Talking to an international magazine, Zeena Ali said that she had even helped design her hijab, offering recommendations and improvements where necessary. “It feels great to be able to go out and show the New Zealand Police hijab as part of my uniform,” she said.
“I think that seeing it, more Muslim women will want to join as well.”Ali had been working in customer service, but was inspired to join the police by the tragedy of the Christchurch mosque shootings of March 2019.
“The Christchurch terror attack happened and that’s when I realised more Muslim women were needed in the police, to go and support people with things like this,” she said, adding, “If I had joined the police earlier I would have been down there to help.”
Zeena Ali feels that some women may previously not have considered joining the police because they would have been unsure how the job would incorporate their religion or culture.
Earlier, New Zealand Police introduced a hijab to their official uniform for the first time. This will allow female Muslim officers the chance to honour their faith in a way that is in keeping with the standards set by the official uniform.
