Muslim European Women: Challenges
and Opportunities

Speaker remarks

Habiba Boumlik began by noting that the topic of Muslim women is a “hot” one, judging by NPR and other media news outlets’ coverage. Islam is the second largest religion in the world, after Christianity — a fact that is not often recognized — and the variety of Muslim experiences is in keeping with the community’s size. Muslim European women face different experiences in different political contexts; Boumlik agreed with Stanton that their realities are more diverse and more textured than generally acknowledged.

One example of the diversity of Muslim European women’s experiences is the tension between labeling these women by their religion, versus by their ethnicity. West African women, who are Muslim, are referred to in the media not as Muslim women but as African women, often in association with female genital mutilation and polygamy. However externally defined, Muslim European women make up a heterogeneous group in terms of their experiences, the ways they negotiate their circumstances, the resistance mechanisms they adopt, and the strategies of community formation they employ.

Boumlik noted that the development and practice of Islam in Europe is as diverse as it is in the Muslim world. What makes Muslim women more visible in Europe today is that, whether they claim to be secular or religious, Muslim women are claiming the right to be publicly identified as Muslims. They are increasingly assertive about this identity, although this assertiveness does not necessarily take the expected form. Muslim European women’s conception of modernity defies conventional European notions and takes “modernity” in new directions.

In Boumlik’s view, Muslim European women do share three things: a history of immigration to Europe; an appreciation of the importance of education; and growing visibility. With respect to European immigration, the main difference between Muslim and non–Muslim immigrants — with the exception of the Pakistani community — is that women were not part of the first wave of immigration, which was largely comprised of male workers. Women were brought over later to join their husbands or fathers under family reunification provisions. Their arrival facilitated the emergence of a new dynamic with their host countries, and brought new challenges for these women as well. For example, some Muslim women found it difficult to adapt to European apartment layouts, which introduced unfamiliar ideas about the division and occupation of space.

With respect to education, Muslim European women have ardently pursued educational opportunities despite facing family or community restrictions (in both primary and secondary schooling). While immigrant communities were initially reluctant to allow their children — particularly girls — to participate in after–school activities, second and third generations have adapted to the system, which serves to integrate students into the broader community. On the whole, girls have enjoyed greater academic success than boys. While education does not necessarily protect against the continuation of practices such as honor killings, it is important to also recognize that these communities are increasingly speaking out against these practices.

Externally, Boumlik stated, there have been two approaches to dealing with issues like these. The first is the “culturalist,” which blames problems on the culture — either the culture of a particular community or the ‘culture’ of Islam. The second is the “universalist,” focusing on human rights and gender empowerment while minimizing the impact of culture. Human rights activists have been particularly vocal in the “foulard affair” — the French controversy over Muslim women’s headscarves.

With respect to the growing visibility of Muslim women in Europe, Boumlik suggested that this is largely due to the increasing involvement of women in the European community generally, and particularly within the government as well as charitable and religious organizations. Involvement in these areas also often necessitates a re–negotiation of their Islamic identity.

This “negotiation” is complicated by the fact that Muslim European women face discrimination from within their ethnic and religious communities as well as from the national community. Boumlik described Muslim European women as “a minority within a minority,” discriminated against as Muslim immigrants and as women. Nevertheless, they are increasingly finding a voice. For example, Muslim feminists helped reshape the discourse in France on the “foulard affair” — which is also a sign of the way in which second and third generation women and men are reshaping their faith, since the Islam practiced by these generations is different from that of first–generation Muslim Europeans. The new forms of modest dress adopted by younger Muslim European women are one manifestation of this shift: their clothing is neither traditional nor ethnic, but self–consciously “modern,” and its advocates often explain it as providing women with new freedoms and access to new spheres of activity.

The phenomenon of “modern” modest dress is linked with a broader project, Boumlik stated: the use of religious discourse in the service of gender equality with an intra–community approach that employs Islamic principles as a discursive strategy. Muslim European women use religious discourse as a means of empowering themselves and claiming quality from within, rather than by using the “outside” arguments of secular European feminism. For example, one way in which today’s Muslim European women work to neutralize the power of patriarchy is by referring back to the early Islamic past, and citing the Prophet Muhammad’s just treatment of women as well as the role that women played in the early Muslim community. This interpretation makes equality an Islamic virtue, and attributes gender discrimination to misunderstanding, cultural influences, or historical deviations, Boumlik concluded.

Ambassador Ann Dismorr began by thanking the audience for their attendance, noting that the issue of Muslim European women is both interesting and relevant. She mentioned having spent time in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and other parts of the Middle East, and noted that conversations about “Muslim women in Europe” often forget to include women in Turkey, although Turkey is very closely associated with Europe. For example, the number of Muslims in Europe is often cited as between 15 and 20 million — but with Turkey included, the number jumps to 72 million. In comparison, only 5 million Muslims are estimated to live in the United States.

Despite the focus on numbers, Muslim European women should not be defined solely or primarily by their religious beliefs. Dismorr mentioned a recent meeting with the chair of the Swedish Muslim Council. The chair — a woman — stated that although Muslims in Sweden have not faced any major conflict with Sweden’s major religions and cultures, they still feel vulnerable. What they seek above all is mutual respect, and to no longer be viewed as a threat to society. In Dismorr’s view, Muslim Swedes are at times viewed as a possible threat, and they do face discrimination.

She noted that there is a human rights aspect to this issue — a human rights aspect that is independent of religious or cultural issues — that becomes visible when assessing the impact of the European Union. Although the E.U. began as an economic union, it is also a community of common values. As is well known, Turkey has applied for membership, and is currently struggling to fulfill the conditions that the E.U. has established with respect to human rights. Some Europeans fear that Turkey’s accession to the E.U. could jeopardize the rights that women in Europe have legally earned. Yet if Turkey can prove that it can protect women’s rights within a Muslim society, it will show that it can be a part of the E.U. and its accession will be a great victory for Muslim European women. In other words, human rights may be a fault–line for both sides — but religion is not. Europe is part of Islam and vice versa.

Dismorr stated that one major challenge for Muslim European women today is becoming part of the political process. This requires networking and highlighting their active participation in various political and social arenas. Citing an example from southeastern Turkey, which has a low percentage of women both in political life and in the workforce overall, she noted that working is often a key first step toward political engagement. However, Dismorr emphasized, governments still bear a major responsibility for legislation and other supportive measures to advance women’s rights. Parliaments and courts have the responsibility to make sure that laws protecting civil rights are not only passed, but also implemented.

Dismorr also noted that Sweden, like some other Western countries, has been experiencing fears of radicalization within its Muslim communities. For example, there is a growing concern about gender–segregated religious schools, which teach children in less diverse classrooms and could be potential vehicles to radicalization. There is also a concern about imams who come from the Muslim world, with training from and exposure to more traditional societies. These imams preach to Muslim women about religious piety without understanding the way in which Muslim Swedish women live, or understanding Swedish society in general. The five Nordic countries are currently working together to address concerns about imam education by establishing a clerical training institute in one of these countries.

Dismorr concluded by noting the importance of avoiding double standards: European countries cannot criticize the Muslim world’s treatment of women when they themselves do not fully support domestic gender empowerment initiatives.

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