Discrimination against Muslim Women in the UK

In the United Kingdom, Muslim women face both religious and racial inequality

The majority of discrimination takes the form of intimidation and bullying in public spaces like classrooms and workplaces. The double-bind prejudice consists of misogyny and myths regarding their religious beliefs and practices, as well as assumptions about their religious beliefs and practices. This type of sexism is troublesome because it impedes women’s socioeconomic advancement in the region. More importantly, the key behaviors that suggest prejudice towards Muslim women include derogatory conceptions regarding marriage and childbearing, an ever-expanding pay differential between them and women from religious majority communities such as Christians, and a lack of respect for Muslim women and questions that portray religious profiling during job interviews. Because of the religious stereotypes and biases, Muslim women find themselves at the lowest stratum in the UK’s ethnocultural and racial system. This essay demonstrates that the experiences of discrimination that Muslim women go through in the UK emanate from their failure to comply or subdue to the demands of the popular culture.

Hate Crimes

The discrimination that Muslim women experience in the UK emanates from the dogmatic attribute of the UK society. Ideally, the mainstream majority celebrate minorities that adore the mainstream culture while the majority scorn and demonize the culture of the minorities. Research reveals that approximately 3 million Muslims reside in the UK (Dailymail). The negative perception about them escalated recently after the terrorist incidents of Paris, London (Manchester) and London Bridge Car and stabbing attacks that led to seven fatalities (Aljazeera News). For instance, in the Northern city of Manchester, the hate crime against Muslims intensified by five hundred percent after the deadly suicide bombing in a pop concert. Such incidents have created a scenario where Muslim women are afraid to be identified publicly. For example, when speaking to the mainstream media, the women are forced to hide their faces to avoid recognition (Nicholson). The negative consequences of such hate crimes are easily visible. For example, after the 9/11 attack, the Muslim women were forced to begin taking roles of their husbands as a result of increased incarceration of their husbands that were accused of terrorism. The surveillance of the women also increased. The hate crime that the Muslim women undergo in the UK is a reflection of what Kenjo Yoshina refers to as “severe punishment for claiming publicly that one is different from the majority.” More specifically, the way they are treated is similar to a punishment that other minority groups such as gays and lesbians go through.

Retardation in Career and Social Progress

Muslim the women are less likely to graduate from learning institutions. Their chances of having a graduate level job that is similar to their Christian counterparts is low, despite having equivalent qualifications. Only 20% of the Muslims aged between 16 and 74 years are likely to be employed as opposed to their counterparts (30%) (Ahmad & Nye). Based on economic activity, the Muslim women have a lower likelihood of being economically inactive compared to Christian women (Easton). Only 35% of the Muslim women are unemployed compared to 69 % of their non-Muslim counterparts (Easton). The interviewers can listen to them over the phone with a positive attitude but whenever they go for a face-to-face interview, the tone changes. The trend has reduced the positive attitude that the Muslim women have towards applying for jobs.

The enormous challenge of social mobility in schools, higher learning and workplaces holds the women back in achieving their full potential at every stage of their lives. Muslim women’s pay-scale also tends to be lower than that of other religious communities. The ability to rise up the social ladder is also visible in the popular culture. Research reveals that only 6% of the Muslims are likely to be employed as managers and executives, administrators and professionals (Metro). The proportion is different from that of Christians whose rate of employment is approximately 10% (Metro). The reduced likelihood to succeed in the labor market is as a result of Islamophobia, racism, and discrimination. Ideally, the difference in the likelihood to rise in the job scale is a form of punishing the Muslim women for belonging to a minority group as suggested in Kenjo Yoshina’s article ‘Preface.’

In Reflection of Kenji Yoshina’s “Preface”

Within the popular culture, instead of being acknowledged as a minority community, Muslim women are perceived as a threat to other religious communities. Many employers are less likely to hire the qualified Muslims, especially when there are candidates from majority religious groups that are popularly perceived as less threatening. Nonetheless, after applying for jobs, they are less likely to receive replies, unlike their white counterparts (Independent). The discrimination extends to interviews whereby potential employers pay more attention to their name, cultural and religious dress, and marriage, childcare, and family aspirations during job interviews compared to other job applicants that come from the majority communities. For example, the Muslim women are sometimes forced to answer questions regarding their expectations about love and marriage. The applicants from religious majorities are not asked such questions. Approximately half of the Muslim women admit that they have been discriminated against during job interviews in their lives.

Nearly 20% of the UK ‘employers are hesitant to hire Muslim women because of strongly-held assumptions and stereotypes about Muslim women and childcare. The women are easy targets for exclusion because they express their religious identity through clothing, which in turn makes them easily noticed easily. For instance, hijabs have been identified as influential visual markers that play a crucial role in the discrimination of Muslim women by coworkers. Most of the Muslim women admit that they have missed one or more opportunities as a result of their faith. In the public, the adverse perceptions about the Muslim women are seen when other people shout to them that ”you should not go beheading people” because the women are often linked with terrorist groups such as ISIS.

Verbal harassment against Muslim women in public areas is also common. Some people spit on the women while others attempt to rip off their hijabs off. Such verbal harassment extends to online social platforms. Several troll accounts and websites have been created on the social media to single out and target Muslim women for wearing hijabs. Criticizing the wearing of hijabs is a reflection of punishment for expressing themselves openly that their culture is different from the culture of the majority as suggested by Kenji Yoshina. Ideally, by the religious targeting that the women face is an indicator of criticism because of having an indifferent as suggested by Kenji Yoshina in ”Preface.” As suggested by Kenji, the women who are the minorities are expected to cover up their culture and conform to the majority culture to receive the privileges and treatments that they are denied because of their religion. For instance, they are expected to change from wearing religious clothes and resort to clothes that are popular in the mainstream culture.

By concealing their identity, the women would be depicting their desire to conform to the mainstream society. Emphasis is made on paying extra attention to white supremacy while ignoring the religious values of Islam. The religious majority expects the women to disfavor Muslim identity to fit into the mainstream culture as a way of managing their public image as well. Giving more importance to assimilation holds the minority group back according to Kenji Yoshina’s article “Preface”. Allowing the situation to persist threatens the cohesion in the UK’s multicultural and multiethnic society.

In reflection of Kenji Yoshina’s ”The New Civil Rights”

The experiences of the women can be viewed from the eye of stereotyping and weakened or discriminatory women activism in the UK. It is the role of the government to create a level playing field for Muslim women and the rest of the society. However, given that women activism is prohibited in Islam, it is hard for the women to get off the hook of the discriminatory encounters. Islam culture emphasizes that women must emphasize on becoming good homemakers and caregivers. The religion also teaches the women to cover their hair and face as a sign of their adherence to the Islamic faith. Interestingly, the law tends to be blind to the encounters of the women, hence women find it hard to rise above the stereotypic depictions and utterances.

In Kenji Yoshina’s ”The New Civil Rights”, such inability to address the religious bias effectively is as a result of the failure of the society to rise above the current situation to the new and more inclusive register. Expecting the Muslim women to act like the mainstream majority as a precursor for addressing their problems by the law is equivalent to forcing them to cover up their differences. However, the better option is enacting policies and measures that permit legal protection for their behaviors (New York Times. P7). According to Kenji, respecting both the majority and minority identities facilitate the notion of ”a majority group in the UK” to make sense (New York Times p.8).The UK society should work towards enhancing the rights for everyone, including the minorities by leaving people with unique identities such as the Muslim women free to develop their human capacities without the impediment of witless conformity. To achieve the objective, the UK society should think within and outside the law to enable the women to enjoy their rights. In general, the implementation of civil rights laws should shift from satisfying the UK majority group to liberty for everyone by stripping protections given to the majority.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the discrimination that Muslim women experience in the UK results from their unwillingness to cover up their identity and act in accordance with the wishes of the majority. The discrimination is attributed to their gender, religion, and ethnicity. Their failure to give in to the demands of the popular culture about assimilation makes them the most economically and socially deprived communities in Britain. Despite that they are equally learned as the members of the mainstream communities such as Christians, levels of economic inactivity and unemployment are astronomical. In the public, the women are perceived as uninformed, passive and uninterested in activities that are beyond their doorstep. Wearing an Islamic dress makes the mainstream media perceive them as people holding onto backward faith and unwilling to be civilized. Interestingly, the law casts a blind eye to the sufferings that the women go through as a result of religious discrimination. For the women to achieve their civil rights, the law should be renewed to permit the women to enjoy their rights similar to other members of the UK society.

Works cited

Ahmad, Athar, & Nye, Catrin. Muslims in Britain: What Figures tell us. BBC News. February 12, 2015. Web October 26, 2017

Aljazeera News. Britain’s Muslims face workforce discrimination: report. 7 Sep 2017. Web. 26 Oct 2017.

Dailymail. Muslims in UK top 3 Million for First time with over 50% born outside Britain: Number in county doubles in a decade as immigration and Birth rates Soar. January 30.2016. Web. October 26.2017.

Easton, Mark. Muslim women most disadvantaged, say MPs. BBC News. 11 Aug 2016. Web. 26 Oct 2017.

Independent. British Muslims face worst job discrimination of any minority group, according to research. November 30, 2014. Web. October 26, 2017

Metro. Muslims are being held back in the workplace because of Islamophobia, study finds. September 7, 2017. Web. October 26.2017

Nicholson, Alan. Yes, Muslim women face discrimination – but they’re pushing for change. 2016 August 2016. Web. 26 Otober 2017.

The New York Times. ”The pressure to Cover By Kenjo Yoshida”. January 15, 2006. Print

Yoshini, Kenjo. “Covering: The hidden assault on our civil rights.” (2006). Print