Negotiating Gendered Religious Space

Australian Muslim Women and the Mosque

Bibliographic Data

ID3376924
AuthorsNafiseh Ghafournia (0000-0002-7688-5138, University of Newcastle Australia, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume11
Issue12
Pages686
Publication date2020-12-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel11120686
OpenAlexW3117035613
LanguageEN
Citations received21
References cited27

Women's presence and role in contemporary mosques in Western countries is contested within and outside Muslim communities, but research on this topic is limited and only a few studies consider women's roles inside mosques in Australia. There is a complex intersection of gender and religion in public sacred spaces in all religious communities, including Muslim communities. Women's role in these spaces has often been restricted. They are largely invisible in both public sacred spaces and in public rituals such as congregational prayers. Applying a feminist lens to religion and gender, this article explores how a mosque as a socially constructed space can both enable and restrict Australian Muslim women's religious identity, participation, belonging and activism. Based on written online qualitative interviews with twenty Muslim women members of three Australian Muslim online Facebook groups, this article analyses the women's experiences with their local mosques as well as their views on gender segregation

Aesthetics · Art · Geography · Intersectionality · Islam · Media studies · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Public space · Public sphere · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of religion · Education and Islamic Studies · Gender Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Religious Tourism and Spaces

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access