Mediating British Asian Muslim Women

Abstract

This chapter traces the ways in which British Muslim women of South Asian descent are represented in British tabloid and broadsheet newspapers. The analyses draw on some contemporary events that led to increased coverage of British Asian Muslim women from 2006 to 2011. One such news event includes Jack Straw’s comments in October 2006 on the wearing of the veil by women, during his surgery in his Blackburn constituency. I shall also discuss the ways in which the media portrayed the event, when in 2006 a Pakistani father was accused by his wife and the state of abducting his 13-year-old daughter to Pakistan from Britain for the purpose of an arranged marriage. The third piece of news that I will focus on is the issue around ‘forced’ marriages in relation to the passage of an anti-forced marriage bill enacted in 2007. In addition, this chapter discusses some of the visual representations of British Muslim women in the print media. The chapter highlights how through ideological constructions, the media continues to position young women and young teens either as victims of South Asian culture and Islam, or/and as an ongoing threat to British ‘values and ways of life.’ This chapter relies on close analysis of several feature articles, columns and editorials in British print media.KeywordsNews StoryMuslim WomanPrint MediumSouth Asian WomanForced MarriageThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.