Dr Sara Silvestri

1
Europes Muslim Women Potential, Problems and
Aspirations
Citizenship and Immigration Canada Ottawa 27
April 2009

• A seminar by Dr Sara Silvestri
• Cambridge University and City University London

2
My areas of work

• RESEARCH
• Interdisciplinary (across Internat.Politics and
  Sociology)
• mainly qualitative collaboration on
  quantitative projects
• ONGOING PROJECTS and INTERESTS
• Muslim political mobilisation and institutions
  in EuropeEuropean public policies towards
  religion and Muslim communitiesSuspect
  Communities (counter-terrorism and Irish
  Muslims in UK)
• Muslim women potential, aspirations and
  challenges
• Radicalisation counter-terrorismMigration,
  integration and social cohesion
• TEACHING
• Political Islam Muslims in EuropeReligion in
  Global Politics, EU, International Relations
• POLICY-RELEVANT WORK
• consultant/advisor on Muslims in Europe,
  intercultural dialogue, counter-terrorism
  (EuroMed, EU, UN Alliance of Civilisations, UK
  gov, think thanks)

3
Objectives of Muslim Women study

• Charter issues of concern to these women as
  subjects rather than objects. Eg. No focus on
  hijab
• Stress relational experience to faith (learning
  paths, appreciation, practice), minority
  community, organised Islam, mainstream society,
  family, work/school
• Investigate to what extent religions shapes their
  daily experiences
• Beyond the victim angle look at potential
  what they dream, for themselves and for their
  children, their contribution to society
• See if there are recurring trends across
  countries and ethnicities and compare to previous
  research
• Identify issues for future investigation and for
  policy makers to bear in mind

4
Research process

• 49 interviews
• 3 countries (UK, Italy, Belgium)
• Questionnaires and interviews
• 2 research assistants
• Mixed sampling method including snowball
• Review of diverse literature Islamic studies,
  migration, ethnicity, gender, feminism, politics,
  etc

5
Findings

• Touching human experience
• High response rate and gratefulness
• Respondents warmly welcomed project and thanked
  us for talking to them as individuals, as women
• Relationship to faith love, moral guidance in
  life, effort to study and understand it, personal
  empowerment through access to knowledge of the
  faith
• Belonging to Europe Pride, appreciation of rule
  of law and opportunities
• Prejudice and discrimination happen but not
  defining issue. Mindset of country of settlement
  influences
• Sophisticated critical approach to community and
  to society (eg prejudice goes both ways)
• Attempts to renovate community from within
  tradition
• Nuance, no rigid categories (eg Islamist,
  feminist, disaffected)
• Very unexceptional dreams and aspirations
• Oppression, self-segregation, low achievement
  remain realities but not useful to tackle them by
  demonising and attacking community
• Overall importance of project establishing
  contacts, trust, credibility