Written evidence submitted by Dr Uzma Asif SFHEA, Senior Lecturer in Education, Manchester Metropolitan University [GIS0038]

The following submission is taken from my doctoral thesis, submitted to Manchester Metropolitan University in 2021. It includes an abstract, purpose, qualitative data and a brief conclusion with recommendations.

Title:

‘Miss are you a Muslim?’ An exploration of identity and image of female Muslim teachers and their implications in education.

Abstract:

The stereotypes around Muslim women include the perception that Muslim women are oppressed. While not all Muslim women project the same image and Muslim women practise their religion in different ways, the homogenisation of the category ‘Muslim women’ has implications for female Muslim teachers (FMTs) in education. At times this label is constructed widely in society and at times narrowly with individuals – in each case it usually works as a disadvantage to women. The negative impact of this is sometimes exemplified in educational contexts. Research is needed to understand the stereotypes and disadvantages faced by FMTs and Muslim women more generally. There is a need to unpack homogenisation to explore the impact of the prejudices and stereotypes against Muslim women. In this research, I explore implications for the image and identity of FMTs through investigating contemporary stereotypes of FMTs and Muslim women more generally. I use feminist methodology and apply multiple methods: semi-structured interviews and autoethnographic data in the form of Scenarios, used as prompts during the interviews; I apply thematic analysis to the semi- structured interview data. I explore the feminist praxis for Muslim women in a British educational context and whether this contemporary western discourse empowers them to regain and claim the rights already present in the religion, lost historically and traditionally to men. My data shows how FMTs navigate stereotypes and competing norms to generate self-regard and more complicated understandings of being Muslim and British. Therefore, the study contributes to a culturally sensitive version of British Muslim feminism in education. In addition, I use the Foucauldian notion of the panopticon (1975) to demonstrate surveillance culture in education and to conceptualise the scrutiny faced by FMTs. I conclude that some FMTs actively pursue teaching to challenge negative stereotypes around Muslims and that FMTs face pressure to adapt to their settings from both students and staff. I conclude that FMTs have a potentially transformational role in challenging the stereotypes of Muslims with Britain’s multicultural youth. The study will be of interest to the education sector as it complicates education both as a tool for liberation and oppression.

Purpose:

The stereotypes around Muslim women are diverse and widely held and include the perception that Muslim women are oppressed. Common misperceptions are that Muslim women are powerless and repressed individuals who are culturally strange or different. Abu-Lughod points to the importance of learning from the experiences of the homogenised sub-category of ‘the Muslim woman’ (Abu- Lughod, 2013:15). She notes that scholars have written about gender issues in all nations where Muslim women live and the diversity represented by this sub-category of women. These differences include marital rights, education and freedom and these stereotypes are often reinforced by various forms of media. The homogenisation of the category ‘Muslim women’ has implications in education, since in reality not all Muslim women project the same image and Muslim women practise their religion in different ways.

‘Miss are you a Muslim?’ is a question I have been asked many times in my career and have always responded with ‘why do you ask?’. For me, this raises fundamental questions about Muslim women and how they are perceived by young people and this represents a major contributory factor in writing the thesis. As a Muslim woman and an educator, I was well positioned to work with FMT participants to investigate the impact of the prejudices and stereotypes against Muslim women.

Tallbear (2014) notes, ethical research with marginalised communities should be with and not on participants. Subedi and Daza (2008) explain how it is not uncommon for the perceived identity of postcolonial subjects in schools and academia to be questioned. They describe further challenges faced by this group in their authority and authenticity of their work, for example. Subedi and Daza (2008) note how colonised subjects may contradict dominant discourses. Through the study I examine how FMTs negotiate perceived identity, but also practise agency as experts of our own experiences.

My experiences in education combined with the privileged position as a researcher have catalysed the need to pursue this study and have compelled me to question the mobilisation of Muslim identity and political agency. My initial focus was on belonging in educational contexts, however as the study progressed, the scope became wider and the implications more societal and the outcomes transformational. In conversation with other Muslim teachers, I learned there is scope and a need for exploring the stereotypes that pupils and colleagues engage with in UK schooling context. How and whether these stereotypes are tackled can have variable implications for both Muslim and non- Muslim agents.

Data:

Example 1 (autoethnographic scenario)

Context: 2013, A seminar about the Prevent Agenda at Manchester Metropolitan University, as part of the Master’s degree in Education.

Nick - Well in my school there is only one Muslim student, she wears a headscarf so stands out even more. We have the Prevent number printed on our staff badges so in case of an emergency we know exactly what to do.

Louise - Have you ever needed to call it?

Nick - Well I teach this girl RS, I set the class an assignment on the troubles in Israel and Palestine, you know to see her response….

Louise- That’s not on the curriculum

Nick- Well I knew she would have interesting viewpoints, best to get it out there and dealt with Louise- Sounds like you set her up

Nick- She openly expresses her religion by dressing as a Muslim so no I didn’t set her up, I gave her an opportunity to share her views

Louise- She’s allowed to dress any way she should please, without being set up so you can use your hotline…outrageous

Example 2: (autoethnographic scenario)

Context: 2010, Secondary, Independent Girls school in Manchester.

Mr Nixon- Hello, how would you feel about being the supervisor of Hindu Assembly every Thursday morning?

Me- Okay, do I need to be Hindu to do that?

Mr Nixon- Are you not Hindu? The principal said you are. Me- No, I’m a Muslim.

At this point the staff near us stopped their conversation and looked my way. Mr Nixon- Oh…I will let the Head know.

Me- Thanks for the offer, though. I can help with Muslim Assembly. Mr Nixon- No, that’s a job for the Director of Studies.

Me- Oh, is he a Muslim?

Mr Nixon- No. Bell for end of break.

Example 3: (autoethnographic scenario)

Context: 2009, Manchester, Mixed comprehensive Secondary school. Mr Sharston - You sure you have enough food there?

Me- Love fish and chips, it’s Friday, think I deserve it Mr Hirst- She probably doesn’t get fed at home

Mr Sharston and Mr Hirst laugh

Me- What do you mean by that?

Mr Hirst- You know with your Pakistani husband, surprised he lets you out of the house, arranged marriage, was it?

Example 4:

Interview data

▪ When I'm in Pakistan it's kind of we are British. So, we kind of feel…sometimes you feel you don't belong here, you don't belong there, so where do you actually belong?

▪ I think if I can change the perceptions of the students I teach, that’s my contribution to challenging the ignorance of people from predominantly white suburban areas who have never really come across anyone different

▪ a sense of responsibility I feel that I should…that I should do certain things as part of my own religious perspective and to show good manners.

▪ the way you dress, the way you carry yourself is such an important thing, straightaway they will notice that you are obviously from an Asian background, they will start to speculate whether you’re Indian, whether you’re Pakistani, whether you’re a Hindu, whether you’re a Muslim.

▪ when you’re a Muslim, you feel like the act of an extremist is almost something that you’re guilty for and something that you need to apologise for and something that you need to explain straightaway

▪ They ask me questions that they maybe couldn't go to someone else to ask.

▪ ...racism exists everywhere…you will get used to it.

Findings:

ues around disclosure and responsibility to act as role models

cialisation and cultural understanding of their pupils.

FMTs face pressure in the classroom and deploy methods as int

prejudices, a form of social activism in the classroom by shifting

FMTs have the power to create rival meanings and a potentially

challenging prejudice views in the classroom and beyond.

FMTs are using the rhetorical spaces in teaching and their ‘narra challenge misconceptions/stereotypes

(Goodson 2013) to

Recommendations:

Conclusion:

My study has focused on FMTs’ experiences in education; however, my data sometimes directly and at times indirectly raises questions for further inquiry. My study shows that there are alternative representations of Muslim women that challenge common stereotypes. This prompts the question: should the Muslim community do more to accept these representations and have a discussion

around identity politics in the workplace? The study could be widened to include the experiences of male Muslim teachers; experiences of female Muslims in other roles in educational settings; experiences of female Muslims in other workplaces. What can be done to reduce the pressure Muslim teachers experience to modulate their behaviour? I argue that there should be further research in the impact of top-down initiatives and government reports on ethnic minority groups. When government reports conclude ‘we no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities’ and very few of the impediments and disparities ‘are directly to do with racism’(UK Government 2022:online), what are the implications for this in multicultural educational settings? What happens with the spaces created by discussion in classrooms that may lead to gaps in knowledge or misinformation? If teachers leave difficult questions unanswered do pupils try to find the answers on their own? What stipulates and determines the levels of freedom that educators have in these spaces. What are the personal and professional boundaries here? A practical outcome of further research could be to set up a forum or organisation for Muslim women in British workplaces to share, exhibit and voice their experiences.

April 2025

References:

Abu-Lughod, L. (2013) Do Muslim women need saving? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Goodson, I. (2013) Developing Narrative Theory: Life Histories and Personal

Representation, London: Routledge.

Nyhagen, L. (2019) ‘Contestations of feminism, secularism and religion in the West: the discursive othering of religious and secular women’ Nordic Journal of Religion and Society, 32 (1) pp. 4-21.

Subedi, B. and Daza, S. L. (2008) ‘The Possibilities of Postcolonial Praxis in Education’ Race, Ethnicity and Education, 11(1) pp. 1–10.

TallBear, K. (2014) ‘Standing with and speaking as faith: A feminist-indigenous approach to inquiry’

Journal of Research Practice, 10(2), Article N17

UK Government. (2022) Inclusive Britain: government response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities [Online][Accessed on 14th April 2023] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-britain-action-plan-government-response- to-the-commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities/inclusive-britain-government-response-to-the- commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities