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The biggest challenges generally faced by Muslims in Europe are socioeconomic. |
In a Europe run mainly by middle-class white men, to be a member of a minority and a woman is to be doubly disadvantaged. There are 15 million Muslims in Europe, representing approximately 3 percent of the population. The Muslim woman is thrust forth into the media glare as a symbol to be discussed, labeled, defended, rescued, pitied, admired, judged, manipulated, or attacked. She is seen as torn between two identities, and is subjected to conflicting advice and suspicion from all sides.
Disadvantaged by discrimination as a member of a minority and as a woman, she is subject to further restrictions as a result of the requirements of her faith and certain cultural practices. Some argue that the Muslim woman in Europe, due to relative religious freedom, has an opportunity to revitalize and reinterpret her faith in a way that is customized for life in a modern industrialized European society. At the same time, especially if she is singled out by her dress, she poses a challenge to the limits of the Enlightenment experiment in European religious tolerance. Political developments after 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have put increasing pressure on Muslims to prove themselves loyal to Europe. It also has led some Muslims to question whether they can ever be accepted as European.
High Expectations
European Muslim women are faced with conflicting expectations from those around them. Both Muslim and non-Muslim women are primary caregivers shouldering responsibility for domestic chores. Muslims value the role of a wife and mother highly, and there is an expectation that Muslim women should put their family responsibilities before outside work. Some Muslims are concerned that women working outside the home will be exposed to too many difficulties that might conflict with Islamic teachings on free mixing of the sexes. At the same time, European culture values paid work outside the home most highly. There is an expectation in Europe that women should take paid work outside the home, which is perceived as necessary if one is to attain a reasonable standard of living.
Then there is conflicting advice on how to dress. In European culture, women are expected to "make the most of themselves" and "show off their assets." An attractive physical appearance is seen as a symbol of self-respect and self-worth. Covering up is associated with low self-esteem and of having something to be ashamed of, while dressing to get noticed is seen as assertive and liberated. This is in contrast with Muslim culture that a woman's physical appearance is a private matter and that dignity arises from being concealed from prying eyes.
Women often carry the burden of family respectability in Muslim cultures. This burden can intensify in Europe. Some families are ultra-protective of women if they perceive the non-Muslim culture as a threat. The Muslim woman's dress code has taken symbolic importance among Muslims who are limited in their expression of Islam in a non-Muslim society. Traditional ways of doing things, such as marriage, are under pressure as some young women prefer to marry someone of their choice rather than a cousin from abroad. Thus Muslim women can feel pushed around in all directions, undervalued in their traditional roles and suspected to be too Europeanized by some in their own community.
Challenge
Arguably, the biggest challenges generally faced by Muslims in Europe are socioeconomic. For example, in Britain, only two in ten Pakistani women are in paid work, and the unemployment rate for men is several times higher than the average. Muslim women have worse health than the general population. They tend to live in substandard overcrowded accommodations in the most deprived areas, such as the vast housing projects of France or the backstreet terraces of Britain. In addition, women, and Muslims generally, suffer from a lack of educational qualifications, with nearly half of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women having no qualifications (Muslim Council of Britain).
Home Office research study 220, Religious Discrimination in England and Wales, by Paul Weller, Alice Feldman, and Kingsley Purdam, published in February 2001, found that Muslims reported a consistently higher level of unfair treatment than other religious groups in every aspect of life: housing, education, employment, law and order, and government services. Muslim women's need for women-only facilities further discriminates against their accessing mainstream services. For example, our local leisure center is reluctant to put on a women-only exercise class — even though existing classes are attended only by women 99.9 percent of the time — because this would discriminate against men and contravene equal-opportunity legislation.
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| Muslim women in Europe are seeking to get involved in Muslim organizations. |
However, despite the extent of socioeconomic disadvantage faced by Muslims, many are more worried about the political climate where it is openly debated whether Muslims can be loyal citizens of Europe. Many blame the media for presenting negative and distorted stereotypes of Muslims. Islam is often presented as opposed to what are described, rather exclusively and arbitrarily, as "European" values. All this contributes to a climate where Muslim women can feel unsafe. After Blackburn politician Jack Straw's comments that Muslim women should remove the face veil were picked up by the national press, a number of Muslim women were attacked on the street.
Opportunities
The picture is not all negative. We live in a unique period of history in which, for the first time, Muslims are living in Europe and are free to openly practice their faith. The European environment has led Muslims living here to look again at the universal and simple faith of Islam and question how it can be applied in a modern, industrial context and how it can provide answers to problems facing European societies. They are seeking to distinguish religious rulings from mere cultural practice in order to abandon what is irrelevant or inappropriate while retaining what is essential, appropriate, and beneficial. Muslims are also contemplating how Islam can be applied within a European framework, thus facilitating the development of a uniquely European Islamic culture.
Some Muslim women in Europe are seeking to get involved in Muslim organizations and within some mosques, although they face resistance from some quarters, mainly on grounds of how it is being done rather than disputing that it ought to be done. I believe this could be a positive step that will assist us in carrying out our obligations as Muslims, shaping our own future, and reclaiming ourselves from the analysis of others. It will make it easier for us to work together, men and women, as protective friends of each other as the Qur'an describes:
[The believers, men and women, are protectors one of another. ] (At-Tawbah 9:71)
The Way Forward
We live in challenging times, but as Muslims we remember that this life is a test and we expect challenges and must trust in Allah. In this new situation, it is important that we turn to Allah for guidance and that we seek to educate ourselves as much as possible about our religion and the countries in which we live. Not only can knowledge provide support and guidance for us as conflicting voices surround us all, telling us what to do, but it will also help to safeguard our rights from abuse due to improper practices of Muslims or discrimination by non-Muslims.
Knowledge will also enable us to counteract negative and misleading stereotypes of Islam. As caregivers, women are responsible for culture reproduction. Muslim women must be educated if they are to practice, preserve, and pass on their religion in a non-European environment. Above all, we must resist being manipulated or deflected by other people's agendas and prejudices from the noble responsibility we have of conveying our message accurately to those around us. To do this, we must earnestly and sincerely seek to properly understand this message and those around us, to seek out what is common between us, and to build up good relationships. If we put this responsibility above all other considerations, then this should be the beacon that lights our way ahead.
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