South African Pagan files religious discrimination complaint against employer

SOUTH AFRICA — In September 2017, shop manager and Pagan Shuvey Bower-Louw lodged a complaint with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration against The Foschini Group (TFG), a South African fashion and lifestyles retailer. Bower-Louw says her previous employer discriminated against her because she is a Pagan. Bower-Louw does not call herself a Witch. She describes herself as a Pagan seeking the Higher Self, who follows the cycles of the All Mother. “I have been privileged to have been born within a line of healers.”

Column: Religious Discrimination in the Workplace

[Join us in welcoming Manny Tejeda-Moreno, our new monthly columnist. Manny is a professor and social scientist. His scholarship has been focused in research methods, leadership and diversity, and he has a masters degree in psychotherapy. Manny was born in Cuba and and was raised as a child of Oyá. He is a witch and has been in the Pagan community for almost four decades.]

While attending a Pagan conference recently, I was reminded of a behavior that, while is second nature at Pagan gatherings, seems starkly odd in a modern hotel: the no photography rule.