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Women and Islam
Week#2
By Dr. Monia Mazigh
Summer, 2016 ©
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Muslim Women in Media
 What
are the myths?
 What
are the stereotypes?
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What is there behind the veil?
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The Western mass media tend to construct an
image of Muslim women using a discourse
dominated by the notions of :

passiveness,
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victimization,
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and the veil.
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Since the first mass media institutions appeared in
the late 19th century, women of other cultures
have been represented as exotic, sensual and
sexually passive women.
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The collective imagination

In the colonial period, 19th century and early
20th century, the condition of colonized
women was that Muslim women were
submissive and weak and that Muslim men
were authoritarian and aggressive.
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Authors said…
 Leila Ahmed,
a scholar at Harvard
Divinity School wrote“Veiling, to
western eyes, has become the symbol
of both the oppression of women and
the backwardness of Islam.”
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More authors…

Edward W. Said examined how and why the
mass media constantly reduce Islam and
Muslims to a series of stereotypes and
generalizations that merely portray this
religion as monolithic, as a threat and
danger to the West, as a violent and
irrational religion.
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Powerful images…
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The persistence of negative language used to
describe Muslim women, the homogenization of all
Muslim women.
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Fashion and Hijab
The main focus remains what some Muslim
women wear and don’t. Huge number of
articles popped up calling attention to the
fashionable styling of head scarves.
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Stories about Muslim Women
 Stories
mentioning Muslim women tend to
refer to violence against women focusing
mainly on issues such as stoning, genital
mutilation and polygamy.
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With some exceptions
 The
same media, in a minority of cases, also portray
a seemingly positive image of “liberated Muslim
women”, closely linked to their “Western-style
clothes” and/or their economic success.
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What can be done?
 High
visibility does not directly translate into
having your voice heard.
 Alternative
 Muslim
media should be explored.
voices should be heard.