Experiences Of Muslim Women Research Articles

Listening to Muslim Women with Refugee Backgrounds in the Health Encounter

IntroductionResearch indicates that health disparities persist for people who are minorities in the United States. Sources of health disparities may stem from differences (eg, linguistic, cultural, religious, gender, education) between health care provider and patient. The perspective of Muslim women in the health care encounter is relatively uninvestigated. Qualitative research methods uniquely explore perceptions and experiences of women that are not captured by other research methods. Through use of a critical ethnography lens and framed by a post‐colonial feminist framework, the study aimed to understand and uncover the relationship between patients (Iraqi Muslim women) and health care providers within the health encounter, specifically in the context of how the intersection of race‐ethnicity, gender, and religion shape the encounter. The framework accounts for a broader context of care that includes the influence of historical, political, and societal discourse, and personal conceptualizations of the other.MethodsParticipants were purposefully selected from 4 urban clinics and included 15 Iraqi Muslim women patients with refugee backgrounds and 10 primary health care providers. All 10 provider and 5 patient interviews were conducted in English; 10 Iraqi patient interviews were conducted in Arabic, transcribed in Arabic, and translated into English for analysis. Supportive methods included field notes and discussions with key informants. From inductively coded data, categories were formed according to the repetition of main ideas. Through analysis and interpretation of the data, themes emerged from the categoriesResultsIraqi Muslim women face many barriers in seeking health care that are both health system and health provider based. Themes from the study point toward barriers to care, Muslim female identity, and data collection that can be culturally distressing. Expectations for the visit are embedded in past experiences and highlight women's ideas of their role, gender norms, religious values, and language. Providers will benefit from remembering that although Muslim, women vary greatly and providers who inquire about women's preferences can adjust care accordingly. Health system challenges include time limitations and inadequate interpretive services that narrow opportunities for clear communication and understanding between health care providers and women. Family and friends can be supportive if allowed to accompany the woman in the visit, as she desires. The health encounter is a complex interplay of individual perceptions and expectations that can open an avenue for misinterpretation, misdiagnosis, and stereotypingDiscussionKnowledge of Muslim women's experiences can give guidance to certified nurse‐midwife/certified midwife practice. To decrease cultural distress for patients, recommendations include assessment of routine questions used in the health encounter, increasing time for the visit if interpretation is needed, preserving modesty in the visit, and creating a woman‐centered environment to foster psychological support and empathy. It is recommended that women should be offered a voice in educating health care providers about their care and cultural concerns.

The experiences of spirituality during pregnancy and child birth in Indonesian muslim women

To understand the experience of spirituality in pregnancy and labor from the perspective of Indonesian Muslim women. This study used a qualitative descriptive design and analysis to explore the meaning and experiences of spirituality in pregnancy. Seven Indonesian Muslim women who had a baby under one-year-old participated in this study. This study found 5 themes related to the Muslim women's experience of spirituality during pregnancy: (1) Submission to God makes it easier for mothers to endure pregnancy and childbirth; (2) Meaning-making through spiritual stories enhances confidence, motivation, and persistence during pregnancy and childbirth; (3) Remembrance of God is a way of self-control, overcoming anxiety and labor pains; (4) Faith in God's help raises self-confidence during labor and delivery; and (5) Faith and close relationship with God can overcome the challenge of pregnancy and childbirth. Spirituality strongly affects Indonesian Muslim women's behavior in caring for their pregnancy. This study offers insights into the experiences of Indonesian Muslim women in living their spiritual values during pregnancy and labor. Nurses should be sensitive to the spirituality of the women and integrate this element in providing maternal nursing care.

Living Compound Marginality: Experiences of a Japanese Muslim Woman

The present article discusses the ways in which ethnic Japanese Muslim women are perceived and treated in contemporary Japanese society, through a case study of one Japanese female convert. It examines the complexity found in her experiences of marginality by highlighting three inter-related modes of marginalization: marginality deriving from being a Muslim, from being a Japanese Muslim and from being a woman. It discusses her responses to these discourses of marginalization and how she establishes her identity as a Muslim, through responding to them. The article first shows that ethnic Japanese Muslims suffer ‘inverted marginality’—marginalization due to belonging to the ethno-cultural majority. It then demonstrates their experience of ‘double marginality’, marginalization by the wider Japanese society and foreign-born Muslims alike. It argues that their experience of double marginality has partly resulted from the absence of a self-sufficient ethnic community of Japanese Muslims. Ethnic Japanese Muslim women experience further marginalization when they become targets for criticism of Islam, such as that Islam is a religion of female subjugation—a notion of gender orientalism that deprives these women of their agency. However, the process of responding to these challenges of marginality helps ethnic Japanese Muslim women consolidate their identity as Muslims.

Placing faith in creative labour: Muslim women and digital media work in Britain

Since the 2000s, a rapidly expanding Muslim marketplace has offered faith-centred digital content produced by and aimed at Muslim women. In geopolitical events post 9/11, adoption of the term ‘Muslim women’, especially by younger generations, has grown in an act of supra-national identification with the Muslima – Muslim female community – that crosses race, ethnicity, sects and class. This is reflective of a wider prioritisation of religion in the construction of personal identity by ethnic minorities and in particular by Muslims, understood as a response to unfair treatment, stigmatisation, and higher levels of social and economic exclusion (McGhee, 2008, Khattab, 2009). In the UK social exclusion has most impacted on sense of belonging for Muslim women (Karsen and Nazroo, 2016). Yet the professional and civic roles of Muslim women in challenging negative representations and discrimination are often overlooked, along with the personal impacts of performing this labour. This article highlights the experiences of Muslim women working in media as they attempt to build new Muslim female identities and spaces of belonging, and renegotiate their own position in the process.

“You don't belong anywhere, you're ‘in-between’”: Pious Muslim women's intersectional experiences and ideas about social change in contemporary Turkey

This study investigates the experiences and the related social change attitudes of pious Muslim women in Turkey. Twenty self-identified pious women living in Istanbul were interviewed about their experiences of disadvantage based on gender and religious identity, the position of women in religious teachings and practices, and attitudes towards the women's movement. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Participants expressed facing distinct forms of marginalization in secular and religious settings, leading to a state of “in-betweenness” characterized by a psychological distance from both communities. Participants' attitudes regarding social change, and how they voiced their critiques about women's issues, were also informed by the tensions between the two contexts. Findings suggest that this state of “in-betweenness” may decrease pious women's intentions to act and limit their potential for activism.

The diversity of professional Canadian Muslim women: Faith, agency, and ‘performing’ identity

AbstractThis article examines how identities are constructed and performed by a sample of Muslim women in the Canadian workplace. This research will provide new insights on how Muslim women disclose or ‘perform’ their identities in different contexts. This study will build upon previous research on identity construction of ethnic minorities in the workplace and intersectionality and the workplace experiences of Muslim women by conducting interviews with 23 professional Muslim women in Canada. The findings have important implications for understanding Muslim women’s identity work in broader contexts of discrimination, as well as accommodation and inclusion in organizations.

An intersectional perspective on Muslim women's issues and experiences in employment

Drawing on a qualitative study of second‐generation Pakistani heritage Muslim women in employment in the UK, this article uses and develops an intersectional perspective to explain the interconnected and overlapping factors, such as gender, ethnicity and religion that affect these women at work. It also considers individual strategies and resources these women use to address any obstacles in the way of their employment and careers. The article uses the notions of inequality regimes and intersectionality to explain inequality in the workplace and the complex challenges facing Muslim female employees. The results show that these women continue to face a myriad of challenges in the UK workplace, and that a unilateral focus on gender does not sufficiently explain the work‐related experiences of second‐generation Muslim women in the UK. Therefore, it is important to take into account gender's intersection with ethnicity and religion.

Making Space in Social Media: #MuslimWomensDay in Twitter

At the end of Women’s History Month 2017, social media sites were filled with posts using the hashtag #MuslimWomensDay. Muslim women have often been framed in media as either victims of a violent faith and its believers or enablers of that violence, rarely are they given the space to tell their own stories. The #MuslimWomensDay hashtag was designed to draw attention to the stories and experiences of Muslim women. This qualitative textual analysis of approximately 300 tweets explores how Twitter users deployed the #MuslimWomensDay hashtag in their posts in order to understand the story users told of what it means to be a Muslim woman as well as what narratives of Islam they had to fight against.

Qatari Women Navigating Gendered Space

ADespite growing interest in the lived experience of Muslim women in Arab countries, there is still a dearth of studies on the Gulf region. This article focuses on Qatar, a Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) country, to explore its changing sociocultural landscape and reflect on Qatari women’s agency within the framework of the traditional gendered space model. Applying Grounded Theory methodology to data collected from a variety of scholarly and non-scholarly sources, the author offers a themed overview of factors that facilitate and constrain Qatari women’s mobility. The findings testify to a significant increase in female presence and visibility in the public sphere—specifically in the spaces of education, employment, and sports. They also show that young Qatari women exercise agency through navigating the existing systems rather than question traditional socio-cultural norms. The paper identifies this search for a middle ground between tradition and modernity and its ideological underpinnings as the area of future research that should be led by Qatari women themselves.

Experiences of Hijabi Women: Finding a Way Through the Looking Glass for Muslim Americans

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences of Muslim women who wear the hijab, their perceptions of the how wearing the hijab impacted their relationships, identity formation and cultural adaptation in the American workplace. Through the analysis of qualitative data, this exploratory phenomenological study investigated the lived experiences of Muslim women to gain an understanding of how the wearing of the hijab impacted cross-cultural interactions, how they maintained their personal and social identities, coped with stress, and perceived discrimination and feelings of isolation. Qualitative interviews with seven participants were conducted in the U.S. and the results varied.

Muslim Women's Experiences with Stigma, Abuse, and Depression: Results of a Sample Study Conducted in the United States.

The aim of this study was to explore associations between internalized stigma, exposure to physical abuse, experiences with sexual abuse, and depression in Muslim women residing in the United States. We analyzed self-reported data collected online in late 2015. Women who self-identified as Muslim, were at least 18 years old, and were residents of the United States met the inclusion criteria (n = 373). Logistic regression models were used to estimate associations between socioeconomic status, nativity, and the abovementioned indicators. Internalized stigma measured through heightened vigilance was associated with depression. Each increase in the abbreviated heightened vigilance scale (higher scores indicate lower vigilance) was associated with 7.6% lower odds of meeting the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale 10 (CES-D 10) cutoff for depression (OR = 0.924, 95% CI = 0.888-0.962, p < 0.001). Among individual factors, education, household income, experience with physical abuse, and exposure to sexual abuse were associated with depression. Respondents who reported experiencing physical abuse had almost two times higher odds of meeting the cutoff for depression relative to respondents who had not experienced physical abuse (OR = 1.994, 95% CI = 1.180-3.372, p < 0.01). Likewise, respondents who reported exposure to sexual abuse had over two times higher odds of depression compared with respondents who had not been exposed to sexual abuse (OR = 2.288, 95% CI = 1.156-4.528, p < 0.05). These findings were from a group of well educated wealthy respondents; however, experience with negative exposures and rates of depression were high. Further research replicating these findings and evaluating evidence-based interventions designed to improve screening for mental illnesses and retention in care with this hard-to-reach population could produce valuable outcomes, particularly for clinicians and public health practitioners committed to improving population health.

A Muslim Woman’s Experience with Integrating into Canadian Culture while completing her Graduate Nutrition Degree.

Although there are many studies focusing on Muslim women experiences, first-hand Muslim woman experience regarding socializing and integrating into a culture is lacking. This paper presents an autoethnographic account of my experience as an international Muslim woman studying as a part of masters level nutrition program in Canada. A personal journal was my source of data; I used emotional recall to enrich my data and finally conducted a thematic analysis. Three metaphors were used as vehicles to convey major themes. The conclusion proposed that through reflexivity, individuals can determine their weaknesses, strengths, attitudes, and personal tendencies and use this discovery to successfully navigate and integrate more confidently into an unfamiliar culture.

Muslim Women in South India: Reading Selected Narratives of Sara Aboobacker

This paper explores the narratives of Sara Aboobacker (1936-), a prolific South Indian Muslim woman writer. In her thirty years of literary production, Aboobacker’s narratives showcase female characters from the South Indian Muslim community and highlight the varied experiences and the multiple identities they possess in a multicultural society. This study relies on the term “Muslimwoman” coined by Miriam Cooke whereby she homogenises Muslim women all over the world. The study proposes that undifferentiating the female experiences of Muslim women as suggested by Cooke requires a more refined categorisation incorporating the heterogeneous identity of Muslim women especially in multicultural societies. The current reading attempts to address this concern with a two-part discussion of Aboobacker’s narratives. The first part focuses on the three primary religious concepts of talaq or divorce, polygamy and purdah, and conveys that though Aboobacker’s female characters are situated in a local environment, their concerns mirror some of the issues pertinent to Muslim women around the world. The second part problematises the gendered, inter-ethnic and inter-religious connections in Aboobacker’s works through which she constructs the heterogeneous identity and experience of South Indian Muslim women parallel to the female issues of all downtrodden classes in a multicultural society like India. We contend that while Aboobacker’s narratives provide us with an insight into the ways in which South Indian Muslim women navigate various pathways that demonstrate the magnitude of their challenges in integrating multiple identities, they should also be recognised for showcasing perennial, universal challenges relating to Muslim women’s rights globally.

Destabilising Male Domination: Building Community-Based Authority among Indonesian Female Ulama

The concept of “ulama” in the Indonesian context usually refers to Muslim scholars who have mastered Islamic knowledge and acquired the religious authority to issue fatwas based on Islamic jurisprudence. In Indonesia, the formulation of fatwas is still undertaken almost exclusively by male ulama. This is despite the fact that a number of issues they discuss and the fatwas they produce are closely related to the lives and experiences of Muslim women. In response to this situation, female ulama cadre programs have been set up by non-governmental organisations concerned with women’s empowerment.Against the background of these recently instituted female ulama cadre programs, this paper examines the ways in which female ulama establish community-based authority. Two major questions provide the basis for this research. First, how do male ulama respond to and support female ulamas’ claims to religious authority? Second, to what extent does community-based female authority interact with or challenge Indonesia’s male-dominated religious authority? To answer these questions, I interviewed female ulama cadres of the organisation Rahima from different cohorts of the female ulama cadre programs and from different social backgrounds. The research shed light on the extent to which female ulama may in the future exercise fatwa-issuing, that is, juristic, authority in Indonesia.

Muslim immigrant women's views on cervical cancer screening and HPV self-sampling in Ontario, Canada.

BackgroundCanada has observed significant decreases in incidence and mortality of cervical cancer in recent decades, and this has been attributed to appropriate screening (i.e., the Pap test). However, certain subgroups including Muslim immigrants show higher rates of cervical cancer mortality despite their lower incidence. Low levels of screening have been attributed to such barriers as lack of a family physician, inconvenient clinic hours, having a male physician, and cultural barriers (e.g., modesty, language). HPV self –sampling helps to alleviate many of these barriers. However, little is known about the acceptability of this evidence-based strategy among Muslim women. This study explored Muslim immigrant women’s views on cervical cancer screening and the acceptability of HPV self-sampling.MethodsAn exploratory community-based mixed methods design was used. A convenience sample of 30 women was recruited over a 3-month period (June–August 2015) in the Greater Toronto Area. All were between 21 and 69 years old, foreign-born, self-identified as Muslim, and had good knowledge of English. Data were collected through focus groups.ResultsThis study provides critical insights about the importance of religious and cultural beliefs in shaping the daily and health care experiences of Muslim women and their cancer screening decisions. Our study showed the deterring impact of beliefs and health practices in home countries on Muslim immigrant women’s utilization of screening services. Limited knowledge about cervical cancer and screening guidelines and need for provision of culturally appropriate sexual health information were emphasized. The results revealed that HPV self-sampling provides a favorable alternative model of care to the traditional provider-administered Pap testing for this population.ConclusionTo enhance Muslim immigrant women screening uptake, efforts should made to increase 1) their knowledge of the Canadian health care system and preventive services at the time of entry to Canada, and 2) access to culturally sensitive education programs, female health professionals, and alternative modes of screening like HPV self-sampling. Health professionals need to take an active role in offering screening during health encounters, be educated about sexual health communication with minority women, and be aware of the detrimental impact of preconceived assumptions about sexual activity of Muslim women.

Asserting citizenship: Muslim women's experiences with the hijab in Canada

In Canada, hijab wearing Muslim women have increasingly faced discrimination in the post 9–11 era. In this study, we investigate Muslim women's experiences with the hijab and how they are viewed as the “other” in a multicultural country like Canada. Interviews were conducted with twenty-six Muslim women who describe their experiences with the hijab. The study focuses on how the hijab is perceived in public and how experiences with discrimination have motivated Muslim women to reclaim their voices in a space that perceives Muslim women to be oppressed. Thematic network analysis of the data revealed three central themes: religiosity, societal prejudice and internal struggle. Discrimination was experienced by all participants and internal struggles resulted in resolution techniques that helped in mitigating negative experiences.

Motherhood as Constructed by Us: Muslim Women’s Negotiations from a Space That Is Their Own

According to foundational Islamic texts, motherhood is a key aspect of women’s diverse social roles; however some Muslim religious commentaries position motherhood as the only aspect of women’s contributions to society. The everyday mothering experiences of Muslim women remain absent from these discussions. This anthropological article will examine Muslim women’s narratives of motherhood and mothering in contemporary Britain. In my research, Muslim women in Britain chose motherhood, firstly, as one of the many fronts on which to challenge patriarchy that is evident in some Muslim texts and to thus ‘reclaim their faith’ as articulated in foundational Islamic texts. Secondly, in their mothering experiences, Muslim women found a space of commonality that they shared with other women – motherhood was something these Muslim women believed they shared with their ‘sisters’ who were from backgrounds different to their own. Within their diverse and multifaceted struggles, Muslim women thus identified a space which they share with other women.

A Reformed Islamic Education: Grounds for Re-visiting Cosmopolitanism

Inasmuch as Muslims and Muslim women in particular, are struggling to find accommodation and expression in a pluralist society, cosmopolitanism is grappling in its understanding and acceptance of what constitutes the presentations and representations of Muslim women. By proposing a reformed approach to Islamic education as well as a renewed cosmopolitanism, this article sets out to show how cosmopolitanism can contribute to the lived experiences of Muslim women, and how the latter can indeed find a space of recognised articulation. It is the main argument of this article that by re-visiting the notion of the otherness of Other, in terms of cosmopolitanism, and by exploring options for a reformed Islamic education - by specifically looking at the elements of ta’lim (instruction), ta’dib (just action) and tarbiyah (nurturing) - the nurturing of a commensurable relationship is not only possible, but holds unexplored implications for democratic citizenship education.

Why Muslim women in Northern Ghana do not use skilled maternal healthcare services at health facilities: a qualitative study.

BackgroundMuslim women are one sub-population in Ghana among whom the rate of skilled maternal health services accessibility and utilisation is very low. However, there are no studies in Ghana that explore the maternity needs and care experiences of Muslim women, and why they do not utilise maternal healthcare services at health facilities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the maternity healthcare needs and care experiences of Muslim women and the barriers to accessing and using maternal health services.MethodsQualitative research was conducted with 94 Muslim women in three communities in northern Ghana between November 2011 and May 2012. Data were analysed using the Attride-Stirling’s thematic network analysis framework.ResultsFindings suggest that although Muslim women do want to receive skilled care in a health facility, they often experience difficulties with accessing and using such services. These difficulties were often conditioned by a religious obligation to maintain bodily sanctity through modest dressing and the avoidance of unlawful bodily exposure or contact with certain people including male or alien caregivers. Other related access barriers include lack of privacy, healthcare providers’ insensitivity and lack of knowledge about Muslim women’s religious and cultural practices, and health information that lacked the cultural and religious specificity to meet Muslim women’s maternity care needs.ConclusionMaternal healthcare services designed to meet the needs of mainstream non-Muslim Ghanaian women might lack the flexibility and responsiveness to meet the unique maternity care needs of Muslim women. Recommendations for change include cultural competence training for healthcare providers and cultural/religious matching to meet Muslim women’s care needs and to enhance their care experience.

A case study on the experiences of university-based Muslim women in physical activity during their studies at one UK higher education institution

The case study explores the experiences of Muslim women in the area of physical activity participation conducted whilst they were studying at one UK University. Previous research in the field indicated that Muslim women can be denied opportunities to participate in areas of sport-related physical activity through multiple factors such as socio-cultural, familial, religious or sporting structural constraints. Despite increased knowledge about the inclusion of Muslim girls in school-based physical education and sport, there is a dearth of literature on Muslim women's experiences post their school years. Informed by socio-cultural theories of the body, identity and embodied cultures, the study focuses on Muslim women's early physical activity experiences, university-based participation patterns and reflections on the influences that shaped their attitudes and beliefs towards such participation. Open-ended questionnaires, 34/50 returned (68%), and 6 in-depth interviews were conducted with volunteers studying a wide range of programmes. Content analysis revealed that values, attitudes and behaviours were largely influenced by the family; prior to university, the women's physical activity experiences were mixed and dependent on family activity patterns and school-based opportunities; university recreational sport-related provision did not cater for the women's Islamic needs denying them opportunities to participate. Religious belief and cultural expectations made a significant contribution to the women's preferences for participation environments that respected their Islamic beliefs.