Contestations of feminism, secularism and religion in the West: the discursive othering of religious and secular women

Secular and religious women have a history of fighting for women’s rights and gender equality. Yet, contemporary feminist and women’s movements in the West are largely understood as secular, and as rejecting religion, and religion is often perceived as the antithesis of empowerment and emancipation. In this article I problematise the relationship between feminism, secularism and religion via a discussion of secular feminist views on women and religion, and religious women’s views on secular feminism. Bringing together previously separate strands of work, this article provides an original analysis of how both secular feminist women and non-feminist religious women engage in discursive articulations of Othering, constructing inferior subjects who are (dis-)placed outside the boundary of ‘women like us’. Such discursive representations, which are rooted in perceptions of feminism and religion as unitary and static, contribute to the construction and maintenance of sharp boundaries between secular and religious women, thus hindering the potential for dialogue and collaboration in support of women’s rights and gender equality

The role of religious faith in the understanding and practicing of citizenship and civic engagement among religious women, with an emphasis on Muslim and Christian women

The role of religious faith in the understanding and practicing of citizenship and civic engagement among religious women, with an emphasis on Muslim and Christian wome

Mosques as gendered spaces: The complexity of women’s compliance with, and resistance to, dominant gender norms, and the importance of male allies

Women’s presence and role in contemporary mosques in Western Europe is debated within and outside Muslim communities, but research on this topic is scarce. Applying a feminist lens on religion and gender, this article situates the mosque as a socially constituted space that both enables and constrains Western European Muslim women’s religious formation, identity-making, participation, belonging, and activism. Informed by qualitative interviews with twenty Muslim women residing in Norway and the United Kingdom, the article argues that women’s reflexive engagement simultaneously expresses compliance with, and challenges to, male power and authority in the mosque. It contends that a complex practice of accommodation and resistance to “traditional” gender norms is rooted in the women’s discursive positioning of “authentic Islam” as gender equal. While men typically inhabit positions of religious and organizational power in mosques, the article also suggests the importance of male allies in women’s struggles for inclusion in the mosque

Conceptualizing lived religious citizenship: a case-study of Christian and Muslim women in Norway and the United Kingdom

The concept of ‘religious citizenship’ is increasingly being used by scholars, but there are few attempts at defining it. This article argues that rights-based definitions giving primacy to status and rights are too narrow, and that feminist approaches to citizenship foregrounding identity, belonging and participation, as well as an ethics of care, provide a more comprehensive understanding of how religious women understand and experience their own ‘religious citizenship’. Findings from interviews with Christian and Muslim women in Oslo and Leicester suggest a close relationship between religious women’s faith and practice (‘lived religion’) and their ‘lived citizenship’. However, gender inequalities and status differences between majority and minority religions produce challenges to rights-based approaches to religious citizenship

Religion og deltakelse: Moskeen som kjønnet arena

The article discusses the participation of immigrant Muslim women in mosques in Oslo. Muslim women have to relate to a religiously given patriarchal structure, but are also actors that can make choices and take advantage of possibilities that challenge patriarchal gender regimes. At times, complex and contradictory processes increase the participation of women, while at other times they constrain women’s activities through various forms of discipline and control. The study shows that immigrant women are decisive for the building of religious institutions among Muslim migrants in diaspora, and that women tend to achieve greater space and be included in more varied forms of participation in the mosque after migration. Despite signs of increased participation by women, the mosque may still be described as a patriarchal gender regime where such participation to a large extent depends on the goodwill of men

Gender equality, intersectionality and gender diversity in Europe [review]

In this excellent book, Rolandsen Augustín examines processes of institutionalization and mobilisation related to gender equality policies at the European level. Through the analysis of institutional and organisational policy documents, as well as interviews with EU institutional stakeholders and representatives of civil society organizations, Rolandsen Augustín studies how transnational policy discourses about gender equality, and specifically discourses about gender-based violence, evolve, are negotiated and contested, and change over time

Religion, citizenship and participation: a case study of immigrant Muslim women in Norwegian mosques

This article analyses the increasing participation of Muslim women in mosques in Norway in light of current discourses on citizenship, gender and migration. It discusses how various processes in the mosques can be interpreted as contradictory and complex by sometimes increasing the participation of women and promoting liberation, while at other times constraining women’s activities through various forms of discipline and control. Women are vital for the building of religious institutions among Muslim immigrant communities, and they are slowly achieving more space in such institutions. They are also being included in new forms of participation in some mosques. Recently, some Muslim women in Norway have made public calls for the reinterpretation of the Qur’an in ways that are more inclusive towards women. Despite pressures from both within and outside the mosques, however, Muslim congregations in Norway can still be described as patriarchal gender regimes where the participation and citizenship of women depends on the willingness of men to include them

Britain's 'missing' Muslim women

Britain's 'missing' Muslim wome

Citizenship, religion, gender and the politics of belonging: A case study of white, middle-class christian men in the East Midlands, United Kingdom

Religion, and in particular Christianity, is losing ground in the UK as fewer people identify as Christian and more people report having no religion. Although religion remains influential in politics, education and welfare, the role and legitimacy of religion in the public sphere is highly contested. This context of religious and cultural change provides the background for a case study of white, middle class, Christian men in the East Midlands and how they understand and experience citizenship in everyday life. The article examines how religious faith and citizenship are linked, and whether religion provides resources or barriers to citizenship. The article argues that the interviewed men draw on both status and practice based understandings of citizenship, and on both instrumental and expressive forms of masculinity, depending on context. Notably, some of the men invoke a defensive discourse in reference to alleged threats posed to Christianity by secular forces and by Islam. The findings have larger implications for the politics of belonging in the UK and Western Europe