Gender roles and Muslim women’s activism in post-2014 Crimea

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article addresses changing gender roles and Muslim female activism in post-2014 Crimea. It focuses on the civil society organisation Crimean Solidarity (Krymskaia solidarnost’), which appeared in 2016 as a result of the Russian authorities’ criminalisation of Hizb ut-Tahrir (The Party of Islamic Liberation). At the time the study was conducted, August–November 2019, 70 male members of Hizb ut-Tahrir were in prison. Crimean Solidarity unites the families of arrested men, their lawyers, human rights defenders, journalists, and other sympathisers. The article is based on interviews with the women of Crimean Solidarity and analysis of their public speeches during the organisation’s monthly meetings. I argue that the 2014 ‘Crimean crisis’ contributed to a change in gender roles in the families of arrested party members and opened up space for women activists of Hizb ut-Tahrir in public spheres previously occupied mainly by men. This study contributes to the ongoing academic discussions on gender roles, women’s agency, and empowerment in conflict zones. It also sheds light on the contemporary situation of the Crimean Tatar people in post-2014 Crimea.