WiFP Marks Islamophobia Awareness Month 2019

As a visibly Muslim woman, and also a woman of colour, I find it frustrating that when Islamophobia is discussed, there is a tendency to group the discrimination faced by all Muslims together. This is because, personally, I know that the way I am affected by Islamophobia is different to how it impacts Muslim men, and it is difficult for me to separate my experiences of misogyny, xenophobia and racism.  “Gendered Islamophobia” is a term which is useful in avoiding this kind of oversimplification. It articulates the targeted discrimination experienced specifically by visibly Muslim women, emphasizing intersections between characteristics of being a woman, who is a person of colour and wears the Islamic veil (most commonly a Hijab or a Niqab). 

There are many ways that gendered Islamophobia can restrict the social mobility of Muslim women. The most obvious threats are hate crimes, which can be verbal and physical, and range from  having veils ripped off, pregnant women being kicked in the stomach, and more recently acid attacks. Women wearing a veil are statistically the most vulnerable group to attacks. This was demonstrated in France after the 2015 Paris terror attacks, when 80% of all Islamophobic attacks were directed towards visibly Muslim women. Often, gendered Islamophobia is not recognised for what it is, for instance in New York a Muslim woman was literally set on fire in an Islamophobic attack, hours before a 9/11 memorial and the media reported the incident as being motivated by possible racial bias, but uncertain on whether it was a hate crime. Failing to recognise the specific violence Muslim women experience has normalised it, making it increasingly difficult to tackle. Gendered Islamophobia also significantly impacts the socio-economic reality of Muslim women. Figures show that Muslim women are three times more likely to be unemployed than non-Muslim women, largely owing to prejudice assumptions inherent in recruiter bias, as well as wider issues of structural Islamophobia, with 50% of Muslim households considered to be in poverty in the UK.

However, gendered Islamophobia is not limited to hate crime and socio-economic discrimination. Investigating its colonial roots helps us to understand how it has historically been inherent in foreign policy discourse. ‘If we want to destroy the structure of Algerian society… we must first of all conquer the women; we must go and find them behind the veil where they hide themselves’… Summarised by post-colonial writer Frantz Fanon - during the 1950s this was the French government’s political doctrine for colonising Algeria. It relied on opportunistic and monolithic portrayals of veiled and supposedly ‘oppresssed’ Muslim women. In recent times, gendered Islamophobia has continued to legitimize military humanitarianism. For instance, the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan was in part, premised on the humanitarian endeavour to liberate and restore the rights of women living under the Taliban regime. The U.S. military campaign used familiar gendered tropes - constructing a universal image of oppressed and passive veiled Muslim women in need of saving. This was harmful, because it erased the agency and grassroots activism of empowered and radical feminist groups on the ground, such as the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). At great risk to themselves, they were bravely resisting by organising everything from underground schools to underground beauty parlours. These women demonstrated clearly that their religious faith must not be conflated with a lack of agency. In spite of this, mainstream foreign policy discourses have sustained a sensationalised and colonial portrayal of ‘oppressed’ Muslim women which has been central to legitimizing foreign policy decisions, such as the invasion of Afghanistan.

This Islamophobia Awareness Month, WiFP invites readers to consider how they can show solidarity and challenge gendered Islamophobia. From simply understanding what gendered Islamophobia is and recognizing the autonomy and choices of Muslim women, to amplifying their voices and inviting them into pollitical and foreign policy spaces – it is important that we collectively challenge gendered Islamophobia which not only effects the day-to-day lives of Muslim women, but also informs foreign policy decisions with far-reaching and devastating impacts.

Sara Sajjad is WIFP’s Newsletter Manager.