Europe

Dossier 23-24: ‘Race’ and ‘Culture’ in the Gendering of Labour Markets: Young South Asian Muslim women and the British labour market

Feminist critiques of gender-neutral approaches to the study of labour markets have demonstrated that gender relations do not simply articulate with, but are part of, the very fabric of labour markets as they have developed. That is, gender is a constitutive element in the formation of labour markets.

Dossier 22: Exploring the Context of Women’s Sexuality in Eastern Turkey

Customary and religious laws and practices are often used as tools to control women's sexuality and to maintain the imbalance of power in sexual relations. This paper describes customary and religious laws and beliefs, and their impact on the situation of both rural and urban women in Eastern Turkey, based on a study among 599 women from the region, most of whom are or have been married.

Dossier 22: Huge rise in forced marriages (UK)

There has been a huge rise in the number of British Muslim women forced into arranged marriages following a decision by the government to liberalise the immigration laws last year.

Civil rights campaigners say hundreds of young women are being tricked abroad, mainly to Pakistan, where they are married and forced to live in remote villages.

Dossier 20: Turkey Country Report

General Outlook

Turkey has a secular system of government and operates nominally as a democracy. It is currently seeking membership in the European Community (EC) and has already become part of EC customs unity agreements. Many new laws have recently been introduced in Turkey, including a new national health service and laws that will increase penalties for rape and domestic violence.

Despite these promising changes, many marginalized groups including ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities, continue to be denied their rights.

Dossier 19: Muslim “Culture” and the European Tribe

Un Parisien est tout surpris quand on lui dit que les Hottentots font couper à leurs enfants mâles un testicule. Les Hottentots sont peut-être surpris que les Parisiens en gardent les deux. Voltaire

Dossier 19: Muslim Women and ‘Islamic Divorce’ in England

Three important changes in English law in the past quarter of a century have opened the doors of the English matrimonial Courts to Muslim spouses resident in England. Prior to 1973, the English Courts exercised divorce jurisdiction on the basis of domicile; spouses resident but not domiciled in England could not invoke the jurisdiction of the English Court to terminate their marriage.

Dossier 20: Muslim Women and the Politics of Ethnicity and Culture in Northern England

Women are the hidden factor in the politics of ethnicity in the Muslim communities of Northern England. The broader context to the apparent silence of women lies in a matrix of patriarchy and imperial experience, as well as the impact of Orientalism on contemporary European culture. In other words, there is a culturally embedded assumption that women should know their place, colonial peoples should know their place, and oriental women are too ethereal to have a place at all.

Dossier 20: Arranged Marriages: Law, Custom, and the Muslim Girl in the U.K.

The custom of arranged marriages is generally endorsed by South Asian communities of all religious affiliations. The system may have some advantages if due regard is given to the wishes and preferences of the intended spouses, and if dowry considerations do not turn the exercise into a commercial transaction — both very big “ifs.” It is the ugly side of arranged marriages that has made headlines in the British and American press several times in recent years.

Dossier 20: Deadly Affair: Pakistanis in England who wed for love

Bradford, England — She has had to move 19 times in the last five years. She steps outside her suburban home only after checking the street for strange cars and rehearsing the nearby footpath escapes.

Once back inside, she shoves heavy furniture under the front door handle and places a knife within quick reach.

The British-born daughter of Pakistani immigrants, she is under a death threat from her own father and brother.

Dossier 14-15: Birth, Nationalism and War

In late eighties, with the consolidation of nationalism as the state ideology in Serbia, the propaganda directed against women grew stronger. It is well known that in periods of acute crisis, economic repression or marked repression, women are called to turn back to "home and family"; they are referred to as "the angels of the home earth", as ideal mothers, as faithful wives… Such propaganda, among other things, aims at postponing or preventing social tensions, outburst of social discontent caused by mass lay-offs of working men and women.