Muslim women and gender based violence in India and the UK

an article by Khatidja Chantler (University of Central Lancashire, UK), Geetanjali Gangoli (University of Bristol, UK) and Ravi K. Thiara (University of Warwick, UK) published in Critical Social Policy Volume 39 Issue 2 (May 2019)

Abstract

This article examines how the marginality of Muslim communities in India and the UK intersects with gender based violence (GBV) in Muslim communities.

We briefly outline the socio-economic positioning of Muslims and then move on to

1. discuss communalism in India and radicalisation in the UK and
2. consider personal laws in India and the call to Sharia law in the UK to elucidate the ways in which these wider policies, legislation and discourses impact on Muslim women experiencing GBV in both contexts.

We conclude that there is a continuum between state responses and community responses, and personal and criminal law in entrenching GBV at a structural and interpersonal level in both India and the UK and that the current socio-political context further limits public spaces available to Muslim women to access support for GBV.

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