Islamic Feminism in Norway

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Abstract

This article discusses the efforts for women’s emancipation that have been taken by different minority organizations by and for women with a Muslim background in Norway since the late 1970s. It pays particular attention to the emergence of Islamic feminism from the 1990s onwards. Islamic feminism is a form of feminism that explicitly draws upon an Islamic discourse. Research is based on archival material and semi-structured interviews. A key argument is that Islamic feminism has increasingly become attractive for Norwegian Muslim women, because it not only enables them to contest particular patriarchal ideas and practices, but also to counter stereotypical images of Islam as an oppressive religion, in a context of growing Islamophobia and heated public debates about the emancipation of Muslim women. However, the same circumstances have urged many of these women to adopt particular forms of Islamic feminism that are characterized by essentialist representations of Islam.
Original languageEnglish
JournalLabrys: Études Féministes/Estudos Feministas
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2018

Keywords

  • Muslim women
  • Islamic feminism
  • feminist movements
  • Norway
  • stereotypes

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