Women Promoting Community Cohesion

Many Muslim women are now actively involved in fighting Islamophobia and also working hard to promote community cohesion, according to research at the University of Birmingham. Haifaa Jawad from the University's Department of Theology and Religion investigated leadership roles and public representation of Muslim women in Muslim countries and Diaspora Muslim communities. Results of her study reveal that for a long time Muslim women have been discouraged from assuming powerful positions in public life. The underlying factor for such attitude has been the patriarchal interpretations of the Islamic sources, setting forth women as inferior to men. Educated Muslim women decided to challenge stereotypes by re-reading the Islamic sources from a female perspective in order to redress the inequality between men and women. Recent social, educational and political developments played a major role in strengthening such a movement, commonly known as Islamic feminism. Jawad explains: "For a long time British women have been struggling against external as well as internal marginalisation, and have been notably absent from positions of authority in both wider society as well as internal activities of Muslim communities.