Veiled Submission: Gender,Power, and Identity Among Evangelical and Muslim Women in the United States

The past decade has witnessed a proliferation of studies that illuminate devout women's affiliation with conservative religious communities. Despite the increasingly multicultural character of contemporary social and religious life, few studies to date have compared the experiences of conservative religious women across faith traditions. Guided by insights from cultural theory, this study begins by comparing elite gender discourses within evangelical Protestantism and Islam. Elite evangelical gender debates hinge on biblical references to women's submission. Similarly, Muslims dispute the meaning of the veil to Islamic womanhood. After outlining the contours of these debates, we draw on in-depth interview data with evangelical and Muslim women to demonstrate how these two groups of respondents negotiate gender in light of their distinctive religious commitments. In the end, we reveal that the unique cultural repertoires within these two religious communities enable women to affirm traditional religious values while refashioning such convictions to fit their post-traditional lifestyles.     

Framing the Muslim subject,contesting the secular citizen: Tablighi Jamaat and the (trans)nationalization of Islam in Singapore

This paper explores how the (trans)nationalization of Islam can lead to differential understandings of the Muslim subject and secular citizen in Singapore. (Trans)nationalization problematizes the state-led regulation of religion by revealing the complexities that emerge when religious subject positions are indexed to citizenship status. Islamic expression is closely regulated in Singapore, meaning the Singaporean Muslim subject is framed by the state in secular-first terms. Complicating this framing is the presence of Bangladeshi migrant workers, who, by virtue of their visa and residency statuses, are viewed as transient members of society and denied access to citizenship. Non-citizenship causes a variety of Islamic expressions to become viable pathways to religious subject formation, including those associated with Islamic missionary movement, Tablighi Jamaat. By claiming these subject positions, Bangladeshi Tablighis become vectors through which Singapore's Muslim spaces are exposed to transnational Islamic influences, causing the mosque to be imbued with divergent, and sometimes contested, meanings and attributions of value.     

The politics of engagement between Islam and the secular state: ambivalences of 'civil society'

The paper reveals contemporary transformations of the interaction between Islam and secular states from opposition to engagement. In-depth ethnographic evidence challenges the predominant juxtaposition of Islam against the secular state. Following micro-sites of interaction between the Gülen movement and the state from Turkey to Kazakhstan, my fieldwork revealed a continuum of engagements between them. The paper analyses the engagements ranging from contestation and negotiation to co-operation. The case illustrates the extent to which scholarly interest in opposition and clash has left a wide-ranging variety of state-Islam interaction understudied with regard to civil society. It also reveals the conditions under which effective Islamic horizontal organizations have provided the platforms of vertical engagements with the secular states. The major argument of the paper is that both civil and uncivil outcomes in the Muslim world are primarily shaped by the nature of state-Islam interaction. The evidence suggests that the key to understanding the relationship between Islam and civil society is the state.     

An intersectional perspective on Muslim women's issues and experiences in employment

Drawing on a qualitative study of second‐generation Pakistani heritage Muslim women in employment in the UK, this article uses and develops an intersectional perspective to explain the interconnected and overlapping factors, such as gender, ethnicity and religion that affect these women at work. It also considers individual strategies and resources these women use to address any obstacles in the way of their employment and careers. The article uses the notions of inequality regimes and intersectionality to explain inequality in the workplace and the complex challenges facing Muslim female employees. The results show that these women continue to face a myriad of challenges in the UK workplace, and that a unilateral focus on gender does not sufficiently explain the work‐related experiences of second‐generation Muslim women in the UK. Therefore, it is important to take into account gender's intersection with ethnicity and religion.     

Family,religion, and work among Arab American women

Using data from a national survey of 501 Arab American women, this study examines the extent to which family behavior mediates the influence of religion on women's labor force activity. Prior research on families has largely overlooked the role of religion in influencing women's labor force decisions, particularly at different stages of the life cycle. The analysis begins to address this gap by examining whether religious affiliation and religiosity have direct relationships to women's work behaviors, or whether they primarily operate through family behaviors at different phases of the life course. The results show that religiosity exerts a negative influence on women's labor force participation, but only when children are present in the home. Among women with no children, religiosity has no effect on employment.     

Theorizing equal opportunity in Muslim majority countries

This article offers an interdisciplinary and transnational review of feminist, management and Islamic literatures to develop an understanding of philosophical theorization and institutional framing of equal opportunity in employment in Muslim majority countries (MMCs). The review suggests that ‘the mainstream’ western literature on gender and equal opportunity, along with its secular orientation, may not capture the complexity of gender and equal opportunity in MMCs. Through integrating Islamic writings and gender scholarship, the article examines how equal opportunity theorizing may be advanced by Islamic philosophies and interpretations. In particular, it presents two concurrent principles of gender relations in Islam, for instance, equality and difference of women and men. While Islamic scholars generally agree that women and men are equal because both are created by one God, there are two competing interpretations with respect to the principle of difference between women and men. The first is an egalitarian interpretation which advocates affirmative action in women's favour, and the second is a patriarchal interpretation which supports women's subordination to men. We present this discussion and use it to develop our understanding of equal opportunity or lack thereof in MMCs.     

Muslim Women's Challenges to Islamic Law The Case of Malaysia

The reform of Islam by women and especially the lessons this activism might contain for feminist praxis is a highly topical and important issue. This article outlines some of the lessons to be drawn from studying this area with a specific focus on the activism of some groups of Malaysian Muslim women aimed at the reform of Islam. Two different strategies for reform are explained and traced in their attempts to reform religious interpretation and the Islamic legal system, the Syar'iah. The aim of the article is to provoke dialogue over the relationship of Islam to women's rights, while highlighting the agency of Muslim women within an Islamic framework. Another aim is to contribute to the debate over what constitutes feminism and the need to subject the debate continuously to cross-cultural and international perspectives.     

Domestic Violence in the South Asian Muslim Immigrant Population in the United States

This paper describes the phenomenon of domestic violence in the South Asian Muslim population living in the United States. Religion, culture, and family play significant and positive roles in the lives of South Asian women. This paper highlights some of the problematic areas in which these institutions are not responding to the needs of women. These findings are based upon the author's work in a committee for the prevention of domestic violence in the Muslim community and upon personal experience of the South Asian culture.     

A plea to end Platonist theology posing as the Science of Religion: religion as a cultural system reasserted

Despite several complaints that what passes for Religious Studies represents liberal theology in disguise, the reworked Platonist religion of the twentieth century, which drives that theology, remains to be adequately exposed. This needs to be done if the Science of Religion is to recognize its own origins, and so at last move on to the non-theological cultural studies science that has been in preparation. The first half of this article elicits the Platonist faith enjoyed by Max Müller and illustrates the consistent application of religious anthropology to the present day through key figures such as Mircea Eliade, Peter Berger and Robert Bellah. The conclusion of this review confirms that the Science of Religion has been a confession of faith in disguise: it is Platonist theology posing as the Science of Religion. The second half of the article proposes a clear distinction between the two methodologically incommensurate perspectives of Platonist Science of Religion, and (Humanist) Culture Science of Religion. To draw together elements of a distinguishing methodology in a future Culture Science of Religion, Clifford Geertz’s definition of religion as a cultural system is taken up and incorporated into a reciprocal relationship with culture. This is stated as: cosmos confirms culture.     

Religious involvement in public sphere in a secular state: institutions,interests and attitudes

The article focuses on the relations between religious institutions and state in a secular environment. The example for the secular environment has been taken from Estonia that is considered a highly secularized society, and Estonia is by its constitution is a secular state. The article, however, argues that even in a secularized society and in secular state religiously motivated lobby may influence political decision-making processes if the aims of the religious lobby manage to hide its overly religious agenda and present it in the context of ethno-cultural heritage. The example of this approach is taken from the activities of an indigenous neopagan religious association that has been lobbying for the protection of sacred landscapes or natural sacred sites in Estonia which sounds with the general societal approach on nature protection. At the same time new issues concerning the protection of holiness in natural environment have emerged.     

Negotiating Gender Relations: Muslim Women and Formal Employment in Pakistan's Rural Development Sector

Drawing on evidence from qualitative field research, this article explores how Pakistani female development practitioners experience their work situations as they are shaped both by local sociocultural norms and globalized development agendas. In this context, policies at global and national levels demand that more female development practitioners work in remote rural places in Pakistan, thus creating new employment opportunities for some Pakistani women. This article argues that, in this work environment, these women are exposed to different expectations about their gender behaviour and that they therefore develop physical strategies on the one hand and discursive strategies on the other in order to negotiate gender relations in a way that allows them to engage in formal employment. This article adds to under‐researched debates on gender and work in Muslim countries as well as to debates in critical development and gender studies.     

(Muslim) Woman in Need of Empowerment

Why, in the current geo-political and strategic context seemingly in stark contrast to the “War on Terror,” does the emphasis on women in US foreign policy persist? Why the repeated references to the vulnerability of women who “need” US help to become “empowered” in the countries of the Arab Spring? An examination of US policymakers’ discourses indicates a neo-orientalist biopolitical construction of the (Muslim) female population as one in perpetual need of “empowerment,” presumably by American or western benefactors. Public statements by US foreign policy officials, discussions of government programs and Congressional testimony add to the repertoire of a western-constructed archaeology of neo-orientalist knowledge of Islam. Further, these gendered discursive “imperial encounters” create open-ended possibilities for US interventionist policies in the region for years to come. The Arab (Muslim) woman may have participated in sparking and sustaining revolutions and even bringing down dictators, but she must still be trained and taught – by Americans or westerners. The sometimes didactic, often foreboding “concern” for her empowerment is more nuanced, but no less significant, than the professed commitment to “saving” her as justification for military operations in the heyday of the War on Terror.     

Temporary liberties and uncertain futures: young female Muslim perceptions of life in England

This article explores how young female Muslim university students in London and Birmingham experience life in England. Through focus groups and interviews, talk about three main topics was collected: how young Muslims frame their identities; how they are perceived by others; and how they perceive Muslims to be portrayed and represented in public life. Analysis shows that the participants: presented themselves as ambitious and autonomous; experienced direct and indirect exclusion as young Muslims; perceived a lack of diverse Muslims role models and ambassadors in public life; and that, despite their optimism, felt their futures in Britain were uncertain. The young people recognised the temporary liberties they have around dress and practice as university students that are potentially restricted in wider society. The research highlights the problems created by stigmatising public discourse around Islamist extremism that fuels narrow, deficit-focused policy that exacerbates the exclusion of young Muslims.     

Strategic Intersectionality and Political Representation: Female Muslim Councilors in London

This article addresses questions of how race/ethnicity, gender, and religion influence political representation. We use original interview data to test a strategic intersectionality theory developed by Fraga and colleagues (2005) in the case of female Muslim councilors in London, the United Kingdom. The original strategic intersectionality theory proposes that women are more effective advocates for ethnic group interests due to their unique capacity to leverage three primary resources: a substantive policy focus, multiple identity advantage, and gender inclusive advantage. We modify the thesis by analyzing religion as an additional identity marker and further disaggregating the three primary sources of leverage. We use the modified thesis to test whether female Muslim councilors of three London boroughs are more effective advocates for Muslim interests than their non-Muslim colleagues. We find mixed evidence for the presence of the three sources of leverage associated with strategic intersectionality, resulting in a more complex theorizing of this phenomenon than that found in prior research. This study offers a new contribution to the operationalization of intersectionality and the literature on intersectionality and political representation.     

Intersectional oppression: A reflexive dialogue between Muslim academics and their experiences of Islamophobia and exclusion in UK Higher Education

Islamophobia has seen a disturbing rise in British and international contexts; however, we see limited attention being afforded to this in the context of Higher Education (HE), particularly the impacts of this through the lens of staff members. HE continues to frame itself as a post-racial, secular, progressive, and inclusive space, yet is perpetually opposed due to its surreptitious and violent incidences of racism, classism, sexism and ableism. We discuss here, using liberatory-based and autoethnographic methodologies, Muslim staff members' experiences and insights of Islamophobia in UK HE institutions (HEIs)—a severely underrepresented group and largely invisible issue in the academy. We highlight the need to expose, challenge, question, and destabilise the continuous victimisation of Muslims within these spaces and beyond. We unpick issues related to intersectionality and different levels of exclusion by exploring the sense of belonging felt by Muslim staff; specific challenges and episodes of Islamophobia faced; and ways the sector can dismantle Islamophobia and begin developing practices to genuinely support anti-Muslim, anti-racist inclusion and social justice.     

COVID‐19: A threat to educated Muslim women's negotiated identity in Pakistan

This study attempts to explore how the lockdown/containment measures taken by the government during the COVID‐19 pandemic have threatened educated Muslim women's negotiated identity regarding wifehood and motherhood in urban Pakistan and how they struggle to reposition to reconstruct it. Through semi‐structured interviews, making an in‐depth comparative study of three differently situated cases (Muslim women), this study argues that the abnormal situation that has ensued from the pandemic has reinforced the vulnerability of women's nascent negotiated identity by landing them in a space where they are supposed by the normative structures to step back to carrying out their traditional responsibilities as ‘good’ wife and mother during the crisis. It has found that the pandemic has similarity in its impacts for the women in their familial lives, despite their being variously situated and resistive, due to the general religio‐culturally defined patriarchal social behaviour of the place (Pakistan) toward women and lack of action on the part of the state for implementing its laws of women's empowerment.     

Transnational religion: Hindu and Muslim movements

In this article I deal with transnational Hindu and Muslim movements. I reject the common assertion that migrant communities are conservative in religious and social matters by arguing that ‘traditionalism’ requires considerable ideological creativity and that this significantly transforms previous practices and discourses. I suggest that religious movements, active among migrants, develop cosmopolitan projects that can be viewed as alternatives to the cosmopolitanism of the European Enlightenment. This raises a number of challenges concerning citizenship, integration and political loyalty for governmentality in the nation‐states in which these cosmopolitan projects are carried out. I suggest that rather than looking at religious migrants as at best conservative and at worst terrorist one should perhaps pay some attention to the creative moments in human responses to new challenges and new environments.     

Secularisation is an ecclesiastical regime of truth not a sociological event: a practical definition of religion re-visited

In a previous article, in this Journal (2011, 21.1) Steve Bruce put forward a practical definition of religion which he held out as offering considerable explanatory scope: religion consists of beliefs, actions and institutions which assume the existence of supernatural entities with powers of action, or impersonal powers or processes possessed of moral purpose. This article proposes that this definition holds dramatic explanatory scope that has yet to be realised by sociology. The element ‘moral purpose’ in that definition represents a not clearly acknowledged, but nevertheless substantial, agreement amongst sociologists that religion is a life-meaning-making enterprise defined by the imposition of moral order on a universe that is incomprehensible and indifferent to human existence. The full implication of that definition is the reversal of the conventional perspective on secularisation. If the placement of life within a meaningful sense of existence is the domain of religion, it follows that today's secular placing is just as much a religious enterprise of world building. The use of supernatural entities is only one method to anchor that placement: they are a dispensable adjunct to religion. The Gods are representatives of the truly sacred fact, which stands independent of them, that human existence has to make meaning for itself. To treat the supernatural entities as essential to the definition of religion is to adopt an ecclesiastical conceit from which a sociological perspective needs to free itself. The way forward for sociology is to deconstruct the present regime of truth through the recovery of the secular religion that comprises today's life-meaning-making enterprise. The article falls into two parts. The first identifies elements of consensus among sociological theorists that religion is defined by life-meaning-making and seeks to reinforce that consensus with a range of working examples that illustrate different ways in which religious life-meaning is constructed. The second part develops theory and a selection of research avenues in the new task to characterise today's secular religion.     

The changing meanings of religion. Sociological theories of religion in the perspective of the last 100 years

The main aim of the article is discussion of the conceptual framework for defining religion from a sociological perspective. One of the possible orderings of its development is showing historical periods and conceptual streams. As far as history is concerned the author distinguishes three periods: classical, post-classical and contemporary, showing dominant themes and ways of approaching religion in each of them. An alternative way of ordering is proposed in the second part of the article based on the source of religious change identified as the crucial point by sociologists working on theories of religion. There are three perspectives in identifying religious change: giving priority to individuals, to social systems and to religion itself. Every perspective has some outcomes for understanding the place of religion in social and individual life. The last part of the article is devoted to presenting the impact of religious conceptions on interpretational disputes between sociologists of religion.