More on Muslim women...
at 4:33pm on Thursday, 12th October 2006
The current preoccupation with religious dress for Muslim women is further evidence of a worrying pattern in the way in which women in general - and Muslim women in particular - are involved with political debate. Rather than being invited to comment on questions accross the political spectrum, Muslim women are invited to give an opinion only on issues perceived as relating to their own experience, such as religious dress, arranged or forced marriage, or the role of women within their faith.
Even on those occasions, their voices are rarely given the primacy they deserve within the range of opinions being expressed. To make matters worse, the subjects on which they are invited to comment serve only to further sensationalise and polarise images of Muslim women, portraying them either as Lady Macbeth-style "terrorrist sympathisers", or as oppressed and invisible prisoners of their own homes. These stereotypes serve only to force their communities on to the defensive, diverting attention away from the pressing economic and social needs faced by them and their families, which are many times more oppressive than a particular sort of dress could ever be.
The position of Muslim women within British media and politics is particularly acute. But there are lessons in their experience that relate to the way in which women and girls are viewed more widely by our politicians. Election time often lures forth politicians of all persuations keen to attract female voters by addressing "women's issues": childcare, health and so on. But most women - like most men - spread their political interest accross a range of issues, some of which affect them direct and some of which don't. If women don't seem to be as engaged on foreign affairs, for instance, it often has far more to do with the questions that they are asked, than the answers that they give. This is, if anything, is even truer of many Muslim women than those from majority white communities.
The fact that women are most likely to experience the injustice that follows from poor childcare, inadequate access to justice or inflexible employment should not result in those issues being pushed into a "women's issues" political ghetto; for a Labour government, these structural unfairnesses are - and should be - everybody's problem. Equally, when our government's foreign policy jeopardises the trust of many of its most loyal voters - both Muslim and non-Muslim - we should be casting the net as widely as possible to ask the questions that will hopefully start to repair the damage. Above all, that means engaging with the full spread of opinion within Muslim communities. For that, a necessary first step will be looking beyond questions about dress, marriage and child-rearing and engaging with Muslim women on their own terms.
Even on those occasions, their voices are rarely given the primacy they deserve within the range of opinions being expressed. To make matters worse, the subjects on which they are invited to comment serve only to further sensationalise and polarise images of Muslim women, portraying them either as Lady Macbeth-style "terrorrist sympathisers", or as oppressed and invisible prisoners of their own homes. These stereotypes serve only to force their communities on to the defensive, diverting attention away from the pressing economic and social needs faced by them and their families, which are many times more oppressive than a particular sort of dress could ever be.
The position of Muslim women within British media and politics is particularly acute. But there are lessons in their experience that relate to the way in which women and girls are viewed more widely by our politicians. Election time often lures forth politicians of all persuations keen to attract female voters by addressing "women's issues": childcare, health and so on. But most women - like most men - spread their political interest accross a range of issues, some of which affect them direct and some of which don't. If women don't seem to be as engaged on foreign affairs, for instance, it often has far more to do with the questions that they are asked, than the answers that they give. This is, if anything, is even truer of many Muslim women than those from majority white communities.
The fact that women are most likely to experience the injustice that follows from poor childcare, inadequate access to justice or inflexible employment should not result in those issues being pushed into a "women's issues" political ghetto; for a Labour government, these structural unfairnesses are - and should be - everybody's problem. Equally, when our government's foreign policy jeopardises the trust of many of its most loyal voters - both Muslim and non-Muslim - we should be casting the net as widely as possible to ask the questions that will hopefully start to repair the damage. Above all, that means engaging with the full spread of opinion within Muslim communities. For that, a necessary first step will be looking beyond questions about dress, marriage and child-rearing and engaging with Muslim women on their own terms.
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