American Muslim Women

The Muslims are a minority in the American community, and they face many challenges. American Muslim women in the country face a lot of discrimination from their own Muslim community. Then they also have to face the problem of ignorance of Islam. There are also other cultural attitudes that have been imported from some Muslim countries to demean women. Many people have felt that these women have not been treated according to the ways of Islam. It says in the Koran that they must be equal to the Muslim men. It was also a model provided to the society by Prophet Muhammad.

 

The ignorance of the religion in the country has lead to many people fearing, American Muslim Women and if they are very traditional then their dress poses a problem. Just because a few of the Muslims are extremists, even these women have been attributed with such acts. They are also questioned about the loyalty to the country if they are citizens. Most Muslims are looked at as wide spread purveyors of terrorism, and the Muslim women of the country are also included among this list. Many individual Muslims who are women have been detained and harassed by the government and also other citizens.

 

American Muslim women of course face the gender discrimination. While many people around the world think that this does not occur in this country, in fact it does exist. The salaries these women receive are also very less when compared to their Muslim male colleagues. They are projected as sexual objects by the media, and because of this many of them cannot achieve what they want in their professions. Those women who do work also have the prime responsibility of looking after the home and the children. They also have to maintain the house for their husbands, and prepare food.

 

The Muslim women in America do not receive any domestic help from their husbands. The women do not have high positions of influence and they are very rare if they do. The women also face one unique hurdle. That is they are discriminated by both Muslims as well as non-Muslims. They are taunted because some of them wear the hijab, and walk in public that way. They also face sexual harassment and many of them are not given jobs because they are Muslim women. They are obvious targets because of their traditional dress.

 

The Muslim women in America do not feel safe physically and emotionally. They are brought there most of the time, as brides from their home countries and many of them do not speak English. They are abused by their in laws and husbands as they are in a foreign land. There is also the problem of xenophobia, which is the fear of the Muslim immigrants. As the women come from many countries across the world, they fall under the immigrant category. They have also been blamed for social as well as economic problems that have been faced in the United States.

 

by Toby McLaren