3. Muslims and Women in Britain and France

This chapter delineates the societal and institutional context surrounding the participation of women from Muslim communities. Two aspects influence their action in the public domain: that of Islam and Muslims and their relation with majority society women’s movements and politics. First, the evolution of policies and conceptualisation of Muslim populations in their interaction with majority societies are examined, broadly in the context of British multiculturalism and of French laïcité. Islam and ‘Muslim’ emerged as a primary identification in the 1990s, in Britain with the War on Terror; in France through controversies about women’s Islamic dress. Second, this chapter considers the relationship between Muslim women and mainstream British and French women’s movements, exploring to what extent the issues they raise are integrated within women’s movement politics and feminist demands made of the state to improve women’s lives and how this relationship influences their political and civic action.