1 - Introduction

Summary

The rise of the Global Islamic Economy and Muslim women leaders in digital media and fashion has attracted recent attention. But how do these more celebratory stories align with, or interrupt, more familiar reports of Muslim women as less economically engaged, and the most likely to experience discrimination in many Western societies? Informed by over three years of fieldwork, this book offers an in-depth analysis of the everyday politics of labour and the roles of British Muslim women in the sub-sectors of fashion, media and visual arts.

British Muslim Women in the Cultural and Creative Industries sets out an innovative agenda for faith and religion in the lives of creative workers. Following the increasing visibility of digital and creative content on fashion and arts centring the voices of Muslim women, it reflects on the politics of identity and representation, and the ways in which Muslim faith and gender intersect, and are transformed by ethnicity, ‘race’ and racialisation, class and geography in working lives. Enriched by a historically contextualised, qualitative approach, everyday lived experiences of labour are explored through the narratives of different women. In many cases encounters with Islamophobia, sexism and racism are revealed. It further explores how faith, creativity and activism come together for Muslim women cultural producers.

Religion and faith have often been omitted altogether in equality and diversity work. Underscoring the point, Arts Council England commissioned a review into diversity and found that there is almost no data collected on religion and faith in culture and the arts in Britain. The importance of improved evidence and monitoring on religion extends to all areas of public life. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) collects compulsory data on ethnicity, gender and disability whereas religion as a category is treated as optional (House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee 2016/17: 14). A lack of available evidence can, somewhat perplexingly, be used as justification for inaction. For example, the paucity of data collected by HEFCE was given as the rationale behind why they were not looking at religion as a criterion for inclusion in higher education. This study on Muslim women considering the interrelations between education and employment, through creative arts and design in tertiary education and multiple sub-fields of the cultural and creative industries, makes an important inroad into addressing religion and faith in public life.