Fighting Hislam : an investigation into Australian and North American Muslim women fighting sexism within their own communities from a pro-faith perspective

This research investigates how Muslim women in Australia and North America fight sexism within their own communities from a pro-faith perspective. It examines the stories of the women who engaged in such work, their motivations, and their path to fighting sexism, the support and criticism they received from both Muslims and non-Muslims, and the role faith played in their work. Little previous research has been done in this field. The majority of the accounts of Muslim women portray them as passive victims of, or willing accomplices in perpetuating, sexism. That the negative attitudes towards feminism in many Muslim communities are based on histories of colonisation and secularism adds an extra layer of complexity to understanding the topic. To develop a nuanced understanding of how Australian and North American Muslim women fight sexism within their own communities from a pro-faith perspective, this study is enhanced by interviews with 23 Australian, US and Canadian female theologians, activists, writers and bloggers who shared their beliefs and experiences of struggling against patriarchy against their co-religionists. The women in this study show how they reconfigure internal tensions into knowledge production, grapple with the Double Bind, and embody a Third Way, all of which leads to them ultimately creating a new component of third wave feminism in the West. The research offers a crucial new understanding of Muslim women in minority contexts, the religious legacy they utilise, the forces that shape them, and forces they shape.