‘Smoothing down ruffled feathers’: the construction of Muslim women's feminine identities

Abstract

Based on interviews with 30 Muslim women in Glasgow (Scotland, UK), this article examines and explores the construction of their feminine identities. Very little research has attempted to examine the ways in which Muslim women understand and perform gender, and how their version[s] or meanings of femininity serve to reify gender differences. The study reveals that participants base their identities on four ideals of femininity: the possession of (stereotypical) feminine qualities; appearance; motherhood; and a belief in the traditional gender ideology. These ideals of femininity are distinct from Eurocentric assumptions, which promote particular images of feminine behaviour that my participants neither adhered to nor embraced. The research clearly illustrates a belief in a rigid demarcation between what is considered feminine and masculine.