Introducing Muslim women's voices

In a perceived clash of civilisations (Huntington 1993), Islam and Muslims have been historically portrayed as the different Other who need to be civilised and educated. The Muslim woman signified the backwardness of Islamic society and her emancipation was essential (Bullock 2003; Kahf 1999; Ahmed 1992). In contemporary Western society, there are concerns about ‘Islamism’ – an interpretation of Islam with allegedly violent extremist undertones. There are also concerns about the assertion of identity among many young Muslims (Bowlby and Liod-Evans 2009). Young British Muslim women are a topic for public and media debate in the UK (Dwyer and Shah 2009) and the resurgence of the hijab ¹ in many Western societies adds to modern suspicions of the Other. Unfortunately, in some Muslim societies, patriarchy can cause the stereotypes to be true by denying Muslim women their social and personal rights.