Thinktank report shows majority of 16 to 24-year-old UK Muslims disagree that ‘a husband’s job is to earn money, a wife’s is to look after the home and family’.
The difference of views between younger and older British Muslims regarding the role of men and women in society is stark, according to new findings shared with the Guardian from the thinktank Demos, with more than half of 16- to 24-year-olds disagreeing with the statement: “A husband’s job is to earn money, a wife’s job is to look after the home and family.” Fewer than 24% agreed. In contrast, 50% of those respondents aged 55 or older agreed with the statement, while less than 17% disagreed.
The findings, taken from a sample size of 38,952 respondents from randomly selected households, builds on recent census analysis that shows there is a young and increasingly well-educated Muslim population in Britain. In the last census, there were nearly 330,000 Muslim full-time students in the UK, of which 43% were women. But analysis of the 2011 census shows that within the 16 to 74 age band, 18% of Muslim women are “looking after home and family”, compared with 6% in the overall population. [130 comments]
[TOP RATED COMMENT 59 votes] “Recent analysis of the labour force survey found that Muslim women were 71% more likely than white Christian women to be unemployed, even when they had the same educational level and language skills, with discrimination being a key factor according to Dr Nabil Khattab, lecturer of sociology at the University of Bristol.”
How does he reach that conclusion that the key factor is discrimination? There is no evidence presented. In Fact…
If you read his research then you find that “Survey data showed that the unemployment rate among Muslim women was 18 per cent, compared with 9 per cent for Hindu women” So why do Muslim women have twice the unemployment level as a comparable visible minority? Could it be something to do with the culture of the group?
Without evidence looks like someone playing out the victim card…but once again.
[2ND 51] ANOTHER COMMENT SAID "This is hardly surprising and is what I have been predicting for many years now: As time goes on Muslims in this country will become more liberal in line with the rest of Western society.
Conservatives who have warned of Islamification of the West are simply wrong because subsequent generations of immigrants are likely to discard the traditions of their forbears.
Even the Muslim extremists can be seen as part of this trend as they are simply rebelling against their own kind's westernisation." [9 votes]
I think this is very optimistic. Many young Muslim women and girls are adopting the Saudi face veil, for example, when their mothers (mainly of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin in this country) never wore it. The spread of Wahhabism is creating a generation who are far more radical than their parents and grandparents.
[3RD 31] "Is that photo really the best one to reflect the content of the article?"
--Why not, if it shows a high-heeled Muslim woman walking in front of her husband who is carrying her handbag?
Seriously though, it is this para that gets me:
"Dr Sundas Ali, lecturer in politics and political sociology at the University of Oxford, said that while the new findings helped understand some of the “soft” factors – such as as attitude – behind the low economic participation of British Muslim women, they do not take into account factors such as provision for childcare services and perceived discrimination in the workplace."
--Of course, it had to be discrimination in the workplace!! Wouldn't be a worthy Guardian article without it.
[4TH 30] Finding a job is the merest scratch in the surface towards integration with society. Living in mixed communities and intermarrying with the local population is what our society needs for full integration.
[5TH 22] It is clear from this and other studies that the rate of integration of Muslims is much slower than any other group. It is notable that Hindus which are essentially the same race integrate quickly so it is about culture.
We should limit immigration to the most adaptable to British culture and ban all Muslim immigration and encourage conversion away from Islam. Facing up to the clear falsehoods in Islam and incompatibility with British culture is urgently required.
[6TH 21] Good...it needs British Muslim women to challenge:-
restrictive clothing,
non participation in competitive sports,
Opting out if competitive swimming
Sharia family courts run by men for men,
Sharia compliant Wills...
If you're British, you're free and have equality of opportunity...grab it with both hands, reject the medieval hegemony. [The Guardian] Read more
