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.

scholarly journals Bringing diversity to nature: Politicizing gender, race and class in environmental organizations?

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 874-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seema Arora-Jonsson ◽  
Mia Ågren
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Organizational Practice ◽  
Environmental Organizations ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Swedish Society ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Do So

Environmental organizations play an important role in mainstream debates on nature and in shaping our environments. At a time when environmental NGOs are turning to questions of gender-equality and ethnic diversity, we analyze their possibilities to do so. We argue that attempts at ethnic and cultural diversity in environmental organizations cannot be understood without insight into the conceptualizations of nature and the environment that underpin thinking within the organization. Serious attempts at diversity entail confronting some of the core values on nature-cultures driving the organization as well as understanding the dimensions of power such as class, gender, and race that structure its practices. We study what nature means for one such organization, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, and the ways in which thinking about nature dictates organizational practice and sets the boundaries of their work with diversity in their projects on outdoor recreation. We base our analysis on official documents and interviews, analyze how “diversity” and “gender-equality” are represented in the material and reflect on the interconnections as well as the different trajectories taken by the two issues. Our study shows that the organization’s understanding of nature is a central and yet undiscussed determinant of their work with diversity that closes down as much as it opens up the space for greater inclusion of minorities. We argue that for environmental organizations wanting to diversity membership, a discussion of what nature means for people and their relationships to each other and nature is vital to any such efforts.

Secularism, Feminism and Race in Representations of Australianness

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Randell-Moon
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Civil Law ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Women's Autonomy ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Gender ◽  
John Howard

In 2005 and 2006 members of the John Howard led Coalition Government, including the Prime Minster and Federal Treasurer Peter Costello, questioned whether Muslim dress, such as the hijab, conformed with ‘mainstream’ Australian standards of secularism and gender equality. In doing so, Howard and Costello used a feminist-sounding language to critique aspects of Islam for purportedly restricting the freedom and autonomy of Muslim women. I argue that race is implicated in the construction of Islam as a “threat” to secularism and gender equality because an unnamed assumption of the Australian ‘mainstream’ as Anglo-Celtic and white informs the standards of normalcy the Government invokes and constructs Islam as a ‘foreign’ religion. Further, whilst the demand for Muslim women to conform with ‘mainstream’ norms potentially contradicts the Government’s commitment to women’s autonomy, such a contradiction is not peculiar to the Howard Government. Using the work of Jean-Luc Nancy and Stewart Motha, I place the ‘hijab debates’ within the tension in liberal democracies between fostering autonomy and requiring a universal civil law to guarantee (but exist above) individual autonomy.

Gender equality, norms and practices: Post-script to special issue on new actors, old donors and gender equality norms in international development cooperation

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Barnett
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Development Organizations ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
General Movement ◽  
And Gender ◽  
International Development Cooperation

The contributions raise several important issues regarding the norm of gender equality in development organizations, and I want to raise the following points for further consideration. Does it matter if we treat gender equality as a norm or practice? The articles suggest that there is general movement toward the norm, but what it means to do gender equality is quite fractured. Who decides what gender equality means? Why do organizations feel the need to adopt this norm? Organizations have different motives, and these motives are probably important for understanding whether these norms have any impact. Impact refers to effects, and there are various kinds of effects raised by the articles, though focused mainly on the norm’s institutionalization rather than its impact.

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 Institutional Sufism in Contemporary Pakistan: Theorizing Gender through Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saad ali Khan
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Critical Examination ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Secondary Literature ◽  
Gender Egalitarianism ◽  
Gender Hierarchy ◽  
Asymmetrical Power ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Analytical Category

The article aims to question the easily given and accepted notion of “gender equality” and “gender egalitarianism and justice” in Sufism in Pakistan, which does not (otherwise) question the power relations between man and woman given within practice of Sufism. The analysis does not draw on theological undertones rather it relies on socially lived reality of understanding “gender” and the hierarchy as it is practiced, mediated and legitimized in the daily life of people through Sufism. The study problematizes the concept of ‘gender’ in practice of Sufism in Pakistan through the works of Joan W Scott. It attempts to examine how gender is articulated within Sufism through practice in Pakistan. Sufism in contemporary Pakistan practiced through shrines, orders and mater-disciple relationship, when analyzed through the analytical category of gender i.e. power relations between men and women that operate within and across four interrelated social levels, reveals its gendered nature. I contend, that claims of gender egalitarianism or gender equality within Sufism (discursive level) is not actually practiced in the realm of activity instead, Sufism in practice reconstitutes or reestablishes gendered order or duality and gender hierarchy within society. With the critical examination of secondary literature, these assumedly claims and notions of gender egalitarianism, when contested or problematized, reveals the hidden gendered face of Sufism in Pakistan. Therefore Sufism as practiced in contemporary Pakistan constitutes discrimination, difference, hierarchal and asymmetrical power relations between women and men.  

Swedish study shows how managers in forestry and mining industries blame gender inequality on male, blue-collar workers

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Blue Collar ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Blue Collar Workers ◽  
Workplace Relations ◽  
Gender Patterns ◽  
And Gender

Purpose In previous studies of the subject women had received more attention as both the problem and solution. Instead, the authors wanted to focus on how power relations of gender, class and place all have a role to play in how the problem is “constructed.” Design/methodology/approach They used material from four previous research projects in the same industries as a point of departure. The first project examined gender equality in four forestry work organizations. The second project analyzed existing methods for increasing gender equality in forestry organizations. The aim of the third project was to examine gender patterns and equality initiatives in Nordic mining organizations. Finally, the fourth project merged theory concerning industrial workplace relations with gender theory and knowledge about gender equality interventions. Findings The data revealed that gender, class and place are powerful intersecting forces when it comes to “constructing” gender equality in male-dominated industries. Company managers formulating policies tended to blame gender inequality on groups of male, blue-collar workers who represented ‘uneducated’ masculinity in a rural context. Originality/value Framing the issue of gender inequality as a problem of rural, blue-collar masculinity risked reinforcing class-based and place-based inequalities in forestry and mining. Therefore, bringing these exclusionary norms into light helped to broaden the discussion. Instead, companies should focus more on the structures and daily practices embedded in their organizations. From a research point of view, the study had a lot of lessons about challenging organizational inequalities. Meanwhile, from an organizational perspective, a heightened awareness of the interrelated power relations of class, place and gender could help sharpen processes for change.

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

Religious Agency and Gender Complementarity

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-207
Author(s):  
Maria Jaschok
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Religious Faith ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Expressive Culture ◽  
Gender Complementarity ◽  
Changing Times ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Context Specific

The aim of the article is to probe the unique tradition in central China’s Hui Muslim community of women-only, female-led mosques and their enduring, expressive culture of chanted worship, learning, and celebration as trans/local translations of Western feminist core notions of “agency” and “gender equality.” Women’s agency—here understood as entailing the capacity for informed and purposeful choice from context-specific options and resources—is framed by a religious faith-infused subjectivity, by women’s aspirations to reach their full potential as Muslim women. A broad outline of the evolution of women’s mosques from inward-oriented and assigned facilities to outward-oriented institutions provides historical context for both the institutionalization of an intense gendered piety and for mosque-based facilitation of educational and development needs. Moreover, the popularity of rediscovered Islamic chants among Hui Muslim women has ignited heated debates surrounding the propriety in Islam of performed, publicly audible female sound. It is the contention of the article that global references and values, such as “gender equality,” continue to matter as references for local translations. The changing nature of “gender complementarity” as a vernacular version of “gender equality” is seen by Hui Muslim women as testifying to changing times and opportunities.

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