Women and Society: Islamophobia and Discrimination Toward Muslim Women

Women and Society
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Canada is one of the countries whereby Muslims are facing much discrimination from people of other cultures. Various scholars have come up with studies to reveal the double standards being set for Muslims in society. Therefore, this paper will focus on addressing two essays regarding Muslims double standards.
In her essay, Honor, and Identity: An Ethnographic Account of Muslim Girls in a Canadian Islamic School", Jasmine Zine presents the claim that Muslim girls use various ways to construct notions of religious identity and gender within the dominant patriarchal discourses being promoted in Islamic schools. She also attributes Islamophobia in Canada with the school base socialization that leaves the Muslim student doing certain actions in order to fit in the Muslim in the society. The author provides the claims by an anti-racist feminist. The arguments are made following the death of a 16year old Pakistan-Canadian teenager (Zine, 2008). Reports indicated that the teenager had disagreements with her parents regarding the wearing of the hijab. Her murder was thus considered to be an "honor killing." Therefore, this made the author of the article raise the question of the impacts that Islamophobia is causing in society. She criticizes her claims by arguing that regardless of the Islamic schools being a center for creating gender and identities, the students are also faced with the challenge resulting from the society's view about Islam. For instance, the Friday prayers are mandatory for the men and optional for women. As well, some students have been reported to change their attires once they reach the school environment in order to fit in that particular setting. Such behaviors are caused by the Islamophobia taking place in Canada whereby the society does not fully appreciate the Muslims and their beliefs. People fail to honor the beliefs of the Islamic community, and this has created discrimination which influences the behavior of the Islam students. The author also gives an example of how the school funding was being allocated to Catholic schools while excluding Islamic schools. This is a clear indication of the discrimination taking place in Canada regarding Muslim society. The policing of the young female Muslim's bodies is also a part of the claims being made by the author. This is evidenced by the author`s argument that the development of Islamic girls' schools is a way of protecting their values while teaching them to be responsible adults. The schools are also made to protect the girls` identities because they do not have to compete with other people's cultures in order to fit into society. Therefore, Islamic schools act as a great way of reducing Islamophobia in Canada. The author criticizes the claims by pointing out that it is difficult to construct the gender-based identities in the world of socialization. The Muslim women are brought up according to the teachings of secluding the women. As the author terms it, "performance of piety" whereby the young Muslim female's group up into individuals that are afraid of using makeup and are shy from interacting with men. Given the current world of cultural changes, such characteristics would play a substantial role...