Muslim Women In Mainstream Media
British Muslim women are changing the way they are perceived in mainstream media by being a part of it, helping to battle stereotypes to show what it means to be a true British Muslim.
Muslims in the media
It has been around 300 years that Muslims have been living in the UK, but they have yet to truly settle amongst western society, which is a message that is widespread and pushed mainly by mainstream media.
​
A recent report from the Office of National Statistics shows that Muslims attribute to 5% of the population in the UK, despite the number being low there is an underlying fear of Muslims taking over Britain. For example, even government leaders have expressed uncertainty of the place of Muslims in Britain, where a YouGov poll by a campaign group called Hope Not Hate, found that that 60% of Tory members believe “Islam is generally a threat to western civilisation” and more than half believe “Islam is generally a threat to the British way of life”.
​
A documentary by Channel 4 called “It shouldn’t happen to a Muslim” found that there was a strong increase in news stories between 2000 and 2008 on Muslims. The research demonstrated a continuous notion that the misrepresentation of Muslims in the media has contributed to a lack of understanding between communities. Muslim women tend to recieve the brunt of Islamophobic abuse in the UK as they tend to be more visible due to their choice of religious clothing, such as the headdress known as the 'hijab'.
Flickr image by Chris Beckett
Negative representations of Islam is understood to be a key topic of conversation after the release of a research study by the Muslim Council of Britain. The charity created the Centre for Media Monitoring (CfMM), which looked at over 10,000 articles and clips from the last few months of 2018 that referred to Muslims and Islam. In early April of this year the findings were presented in parliament and it established the following issues:
-
59% of all articles associated Muslims with negative behaviour.
-
37% of articles in right-leaning and religious publications were categorised with the most negative rating of “very biased”.
-
Over a third of all articles misrepresented or generalised about Muslims.
-
Terrorism was the most common theme.
The recent award-winning show the Bodyguard was also up for fire in the report for the portrayal of the character Nadia played by Anjli Mohindra that they said to be “pandering to stereotypes about Muslim women.”
​
Co-author Faisal Hanif of the CfMM, said:
“As the first in a series of quarterly reports, CfMM hopes that by highlighting examples of coverage on Muslims and Islam, this can serve as a valuable resource for journalists and editors alike.”
The turn of a digital era
Despite the constant news around Muslim women, some major statistics can go missed. Latest figures from the government show that 18% of Muslim women aged 16 to 74 recorded are “looking after home and family”, compared with 6% in the overall population. Muslim women in the UK are more likely than all other women to be economically inactive.
​
An article from the Guardian explored the way British Muslim women are viewed which ranged from oppressed, submissive and at times perceived as weak. Muslims have been under public scrutiny after the 9/11 terror attack and the 2005 London attack which resulted with the mainstream media driving a particularly negative view of Islam and the Muslim community.
​
However, as digital media has developed there is a new wave of western-liberal Muslims who have been very vocal within the media through creative platforms, where they speak about being Muslim and about topics that they feel they can provide a stronger perspective in. These women have been paving the path showing the next generation of both Muslims and non-Muslims what it means to be a Muslim woman in western society, working while following their faith.
​
Despite not gaining platforms from the mainstream media they have turned to Instagram, YouTube and blogging to speak their piece. They are not just being loud in attempt to gain attention but are investing in themselves and creating a platform making it easier to be heard.
​
Saskia Warren research paper “Placing faith in creative labour: Muslim women and digital media work in Britain” explored the impact and crucial changes the new digital era has had on the supra-national identity within the global Muslima, or Muslim female community. She argues that it has altered feminist politics in the 21st century and opened up ‘multiple, overlapping scales of identification and belonging from local communities to the international sisterhood as a salve for intra-Muslim and Muslim/non-Muslim conflict.’
The introduction of Muslima’s in media platforms has opened a wider discussion of identity because of the involvement of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups who tackle debates and myths that have been created by mainstream media. New York Post produced a video as a part of their series Face your hater about anti-Islam, where a transgender activist, Blaire, and a proud Muslim, Marwa, discussed how the digital era has allowed Muslim women to openly discuss topics which was not possible before. They found Muslim women are the least likely to feel a sense of belonging, which has been intensified by scrutiny in public debate but by using platforms such as the New York post, there has been a shift with Muslimas taking control of the narrative.
The turn of a digital era
Below are a few Muslim women working within different creative sectors in the media industry, who have been very vocal about who they are and what they represent. They have helped provide insight into what it means to be a British Muslim woman working in the creative/media industry and how this affects the overall view of Muslim women in the UK.
Kia Abdullah is an author and travel writer in London who has contributed to the New York Times, The Guardian, BBC, and Lonely Planet. She has since become a founding editor to her own outdoor travel blog called Atlas and Boots which is read by 250,000 people per month and she has published a new courtroom drama novel called Take It Back.
Husna Wahid is a broadcast journalist and researcher for BBC and ITV. Originally starting off in science but after spending time working for Unity Fm, a local Islamic radio station, she fell in love with the media industry and decided to pursue it as a career feeling she had more to offer and to report peoples stories. This then led her to do a production traineeship scheme with the BBC and she has been working in the media industry since.
Aamiliah Begum is a radio presenter at Unity FM who started very late when entering the Media industry with no degree or experience, but the drive to start dialogues and discuss topics that were important for women, both Muslim and non-Muslim because she felt there was not enough of that happening. This led her to reach out to Unity FM and start a show called Women’s Hour where she discusses a variety of topics, from health to sexual abuse.
Haseebah Ali is an artist and a workshop facilitator. She took the traditional route of studying art in college and following it on to an illustration degree, enabling her to secure a job in running workshop classes. She has successfully had her work showcased at galleries in the West Midlands.