Intersectional Representation Between Gender, Religion, and Nationality

Osnat Akirav

doi:10.5539/res.v13n4p32

Abstract

Immigrants who came to Europe in recent decades (work immigrants and/or refugees) grapple with intersectional identities, such as religion, nationality and gender, yet current political research addresses these issues only in part. To address these omissions, I conducted a content analysis of all parliamentary questions Muslim representatives raised in their parliamentary activities in three Western countries. I also investigated whether the representatives&#39; invisibility pertains only to their descriptive representation or whether it affects their substantive representation by analyzing five research hypotheses for differences in the content of the parliamentary questions. I found that male and female Muslim representatives ask parliamentary questions about Muslim men and women. In addition, I developed an Intersectional Representation Index to measure and demonstrate the complexities Muslim representatives face in Western countries. The index shows that such representatives have several identities, some of which have become invisible, as previous studies indicated.

Highlights

Scholars have argued that little research attention has been given to the political representation of Muslim minority women in the West (Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach 2008; Ruedin 2013; Hughes 2016)
I maintain that intersectional representation leads to greater invisibility among representatives who belong to several disadvantaged groups and have several identities, compared with those who belong to only one disadvantaged group
Muslim women's issues are generally invisible in the UK and Germany, whereas in Israel they are addressed more often

Summary

Introduction

Scholars have argued that little research attention has been given to the political representation of Muslim minority women in the West (Purdie-Vaughns and Eibach 2008; Ruedin 2013; Hughes 2016). My goal is to combine these different identities into one overall concept of intersectional representation by discussing how each identity is reflected in the content of parliamentary questions that male and female Muslim representatives ask. I maintain that intersectional representation leads to greater invisibility among representatives who belong to several disadvantaged groups and have several identities, compared with those who belong to only one disadvantaged group. I compare the Muslim representatives in the UK, Germany, and Israel. My results indicate that while Muslim representatives in Israel are more coherent regarding their Muslim identity, Muslim representatives in Germany and the UK address religious issues in their parliamentary questions but have other identities to represent as well. Muslim women's issues are generally invisible in the UK and Germany, whereas in Israel they are addressed more often

Methods

Results

Conclusion