Giving the silent majority a stronger voice? Initiatives to empower Muslim women as part of the UK's ‘War on Terror’

Abstract

This article provides a gendered analysis of the ‘War on Terror’ in the UK context. Specifically it looks at initiatives to empower Muslim women, which were part of New Labour's Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) agenda, the impetus for which stemmed from the idea that, as ‘the silent majority’, women need to be given a ‘stronger voice’. Based on analysis of qualitative interviews, this article situates these initiatives within a broader policy landscape of debates on multiculturalism, community cohesion and Britishness. It explores interviewees' understandings of Muslim women's silence in relation to those suggested by policy discourse, considering the ways in which the state's attempt to ‘give voice’ worked in practice. I argue that the operation of such initiatives continued to constrain Muslim women's voices, restricting ‘voice’ to a narrow range of speakers speaking about a narrow range of issues.

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