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Perceptions of Discrimination of Muslim Women in Belgium: A Study of Discriminatory Incidents Across Public and Private Organizations Reported to the National Equality Body
Abstract
In Belgium, Muslims have been affected by an increasingly hostile climate in which Islamophobia prospers. The need for further research into the gendered dynamics of Islamophobia in a Belgian context has been flagged, as the majority of complaints are made by women. In this contribution, the focus lies on to the narratives of the women who encounter this in their daily lives. Twenty-two Muslim women who decided to report their discriminatory experience to the national equality body were interviewed. Based on their lived experiences, this qualitative study aims to provide an in-depth description of the way in which Muslim women encounter discrimination in order to establish which “treatment, circumstances and behavior are perceived as discriminatory.”
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ENDNOTES
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In two cases, interviewees heard about the study and wanted to come in and explain a situation they considered to be discriminatory. So, in those two cases interviewees were not recruited with the help of Unia.
More information on the process at Unia can be found here: Van de Graaf, Cathérine. 2020. “Procedural justice perceptions in the mediation of discrimination reports by a national equality body.” International Journal of Discrimination and the Law, 20, no. 1: 45–61.
People can report discrimination or hate speech to Unia which they have “seen, heard or personally experienced.” https://report.unia.be/en/report-it.
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as during religious courses it was always allowed to wear a headscarf.
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See research by Bursell mentioned above (n. 47).
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“Black” refers to covered by dirt from the road labor.
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This incident was not reported to Unia but to another organization. The student in question contacted the researcher because she had heard about this study taking place.
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