scholarly journals The lived experiences of veiled Muslim women as ‘undeserving’ victims of Islamophobia

2018 ◽  
pp. 63-82
Author(s):  
Irene Zempi
Keyword(s):  
Hate Crime ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Religious Fundamentalism ◽  
Global War On Terror ◽  
Gender Oppression ◽  
The Veil ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Media Discourses ◽  
Global War ◽  
The Ideal

Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and 7/7, and more recently the ISIS-directed attacks in Paris and Brussels the religion of Islam is associated with terrorism and the global ‘war on terror’. Muslim women who wear the veil in public are stigmatised as ‘other’ and demonised as ‘dangerous’. The wearing of the veil is understood as a practice synonymous with religious fundamentalism and Islamist extremism. Correspondingly, media discourses and political rhetoric about Islamist extremism are often illustrated by the image of a Muslim woman in veil. The veil is understood as a ‘threat’ to notions of integration and national cohesion, and a visual embodiment of gender oppression and gender inequality. Consequently, veiled Muslim women are vulnerable to hate crime attacks in public. Drawing on Christie’s (1986) concept of the ‘ideal victim’, this chapter considers the implications of the label of ‘undeserving victims’ for veiled Muslim women who have experienced anti-Muslim hate crime. It argues that they are often denied the ‘ideal victim’ identity due to the demonisation and criminalisation of the veil, especially in light of the banning of the veil in European countries such as France and Belgium.

scholarly journals Women, Men and Gender Equality in Development Aid – Trajectories, Contestations

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Signe Arnfred
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
Global South ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Global War On Terror ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Development Agents ◽  
Popular Images ◽  
Global War

Women, men and gender equality in development aid - trajectories, contestations. The Beijing Platform for Action introduced notions of gender equality, which have been picked up by donors and development agents in increasingly popular images of strong enterprising women, however with an emphasis on economic entrepreneurship, disregarding aspects of care- and motherwork. At the same time ‘colonial feminism' is still around, with its notions of women in the global South as oppressed under ‘tradition' but rescued by development and ‘modernity'. Such images have been re-invigorated in the global War on Terror, from 2001 onwards. The article investigates implications of these different but co-existing images of women in development contexts. It also discusses limitations of notions of gender equality, when used by donors and by women's organizations, and when discussed and critizised by post-colonial feminists.

scholarly journals Veiled Muslim women’s responses to experiences of gendered Islamophobia in the UK

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Zempi
Keyword(s):  
Hate Crime ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Gender Performance ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
The West ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Uk

In a post-9/11 climate, Islamophobia has increased significantly in the UK and elsewhere in the West. ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks in the UK as well as in France, Belgium, Germany and, more recently, in Sri Lanka have triggered an increase in verbal and physical attacks on Muslims. Drawing on intersectionality (as a nexus of identities that work together to render certain individuals as ‘ideal’ targets to attack), veiled Muslim women are likely to experience gendered Islamophobia in the cyber world but also in ‘real’ life due to the intersections between their ‘visible’ Muslim identity and gender performance. In the British context, although Islamophobia is recorded as a hate crime nationally, and misogyny as a hate crime locally in some police forces, veiled Muslim women are unlikely to report their experiences to the police. Drawing on qualitative interviews with Muslim women who wear the niqab (face veil), the purpose of this article is to examine the ways in which they respond to experiences of gendered Islamophobia as well as their reasons for not reporting their experiences to the police.

scholarly journals European Muslim Youth and Gender (in)Equality Discourse: Towards a More Critical Academic Inquiry

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 133
Author(s):  
Colleen Boland
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Religious Fundamentalism ◽  
Structural Inequality ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Religious Difference ◽  
Muslim Youth ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
And Gender

In Europe, gender equality can be framed as a secular value, juxtaposed against affiliation with and practice of Islam. Academic and public debate has either given special attention to the spread of religious fundamentalism in Europe, or to the way Muslim women dress, citing how both purportedly jeopardize gender equality. This is despite findings that a link between gender equality and religiosity or practice of Islam is neither inherent nor circumscribed. Moreover, it is possible to demonstrate that such discourse rests on implicitly racialized conceptualizations of the Muslim “other”. Meanwhile, Muslim youth in particular are benchmarked against these imagined standards of gender equality, as compared with non-Muslim peers. This work examines ways in which normative secular frameworks and discourses, taking ownership of gender equality narratives, have shaped Europe’s academic inquiry regarding Muslim youth. It notes what is absent in this inquiry, including intersections of race and class, which remain divorced from the limited conversation on gender and religious difference. A reflexive, intersectional approach to this discussion, conscious of the importance of embedded racial or structural inequality and what is absent in current inquiry, better serves in understanding and navigating power relations that ultimately contribute to multiple exclusion of these youth.

Neoliberalism and Gender Equality: Canadian Newspapers’ Representations of the Ban of Face Coverings at Citizenship Ceremonies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Previsic
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Full Text ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Newspaper Coverage ◽  
Gender Oppression ◽  
Conservative Government ◽  
The Press ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Canadian Citizenship

In late 2011, Canada’s Conservative government banned face coverings for those taking oath at citizenship ceremonies. The ban was unequivocally interpreted by the press to be targeting veil-wearing Muslim women. This paper analyzes newspaper coverage in the month following the announcement of the policy. It argues that most commentators conceptualized citizenship to be a neoliberal tool of rescuing veiled Muslim women from their male oppressors and making them more like the equal/neoliberal “us” and/or as a reward for those who already are or will become equal/neoliberal. Most non-Muslim commentators constructed gender oppression as the reason for which veiled women should (not) become citizens. Gender equality in Canada was represented as a key national value and inequality was erased or minimized and presented as a Muslim problem. In attempting to deflect these arguments, most Muslim commentators silenced gender inequality among Muslims by arguing that veiled Muslim women choose the practice and by relegating gender oppression to Western societies, thereby constructing veiled Muslim women as ideal neoliberal subjects worthy of Canadian citizenship.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v11i1.253

scholarly journals Neoliberalism and Gender Equality: Canadian Newspapers’ Representations of the Ban of Face Coverings at Citizenship Ceremonies

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Previsic
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Newspaper Coverage ◽  
Gender Oppression ◽  
Conservative Government ◽  
The Press ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Canadian Citizenship

In late 2011, Canada’s Conservative government banned face coverings for those taking oath at citizenship ceremonies. The ban was unequivocally interpreted by the press to be targeting veil-wearing Muslim women. This paper analyzes newspaper coverage in the month following the announcement of the policy. It argues that most commentators conceptualized citizenship to be a neoliberal tool of rescuing veiled Muslim women from their male oppressors and making them more like the equal/neoliberal “us” and/or as a reward for those who already are or will become equal/neoliberal. Most non-Muslim commentators constructed gender oppression as the reason for which veiled women should (not) become citizens. Gender equality in Canada was represented as a key national value and inequality was erased or minimized and presented as a Muslim problem. In attempting to deflect these arguments, most Muslim commentators silenced gender inequality among Muslims by arguing that veiled Muslim women choose the practice and by relegating gender oppression to Western societies, thereby constructing veiled Muslim women as ideal neoliberal subjects worthy of Canadian citizenship. 

Protecting the home front: The 10-year global war on terror and our military families

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candice A. Alfano ◽  
Jessica Balderas ◽  
Simon Lau ◽  
Brian E. Bunnell ◽  
Deborah C. Beidel
Keyword(s):  
War On Terror ◽  
Military Families ◽  
Home Front ◽  
Global War On Terror ◽  
Global War

The Global War on Terror.

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail B. Calkin
Keyword(s):  
War On Terror ◽  
Global War On Terror ◽  
Global War
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