Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
American civil rights movement in Mississippi. Irons concludes her study by suggest-
ing that in-depth interviews and other qualitative measures will provide additional “ex-
planatory power” (708). “[P]rivileging the voices of movement actors themselves,” she
writes, “develop[s] a more complete picture of the ways social matrices of domination
are infused into social movements” (708). Indeed, only recently has gender been giv-
en significant attention in scholarly literature around advocacy organizations. Gender
issues were neglected by social scientists for decades (Taylor and Whittier 1998). In
part, the neglect of gender stemmed from what McAdam says was a general failure
to consider differences between activists working in the same organized protest groups
(McAdam 1992; Wiltfang and McAdam 1991). Verta Taylor (1999) was among the
first to note that “even in movements that purport to be gender-inclusive, the mobiliza-
tion, leadership patterns, strategies, ideologies, and even the outcomes of social move-
mentsaregendered”(9).MyresearchalsoaddressestheunderrepresentationofMuslim
Americans in the civil rights advocacy literature.
Thesetheoreticalquestionslendthemselvestoempiricalinvestigationsofhowgender
and privilege actually impact advocacy work at Muslim American advocacy organ-
izations. Recent empirical research suggests that Muslim American women are not
uniquely excluded from the privilege to participate in advocacy work.
Several recent studies have shown that images of the subjugation of women in these
communities are little more than overblown stereotypes (Read 2002; Kurien 2003;
Jamal 2005; Wadud 2006). While patriarchy affects women of all backgrounds, Jen'nan
Ghazal Read's extensive study of Arab American communities shows that the idea that
women from these communities are especially oppressed is “severely overstated” and
such images of Muslim Arab women in particular are “flawed” (Read 2002, 34). The
stereotypical presumption is that women in these communities are less likely to work
outside the home, less likely to be politically active, and more likely to suffer from do-
mestic violence. Read illustrates this by saying, “Too many, the veil symbolizes a patri-
archal religious culture that universally oppresses Arab women” (2002, 19). Read's sur-
vey finds that Arab American women in fact have a wide range of beliefs about gender
roles, and “progressive” gender ideologies are quite common (2002, 34). She also finds
that “differences in religiosity and ethnicity are more significant” in predicting gender
role beliefs than whether one identifies as Muslim or not (2003, 218). More deeply re-
ligious Arab American women, whether Muslim or Christian, were more likely to have
traditionalist beliefs around gender, Read concludes.
Similarly, Amaney Jamal's study (2005) of Arab Muslim women living near Detroit
found that gender attitudes as related to religion did not necessarily lead to a lack of
political activism. In fact, she found that involvement in mosques can increase politic-
al participation for Arab Muslim American women. Through interviews with dozens of
