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Access Type
WSU Access
Date of Award
January 2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Sociology
First Advisor
Krista Brumley
Second Advisor
Krista Brumley
Abstract
The current U.S. political climate places Muslims as antithetical to U.S. ideologies and a threat to national security. Muslim women who wear a veil are easily identifiable and targeted. The project explores how racialized religious visibility (the hijab, beards) affects Muslim women and men in the workplace. This project uses qualitative interviews (total n=84) to compare three sets of employees in professional jobs: Muslim women who veil, Muslim women who do not veil, and Muslim men. This research has four goals: (1) to show how race, gender, and religion intersect to perpetuate subgroup differences among Muslim professionals, (2) to explore the strategies Muslims use to accommodate/challenge workplace discrimination and heightened visibility, (3) to determine how Muslims navigate career advancement given their religious identity, and (4) to examine the impact of workplace location on gender, racial, and religious disparities at work. By focusing on the social construction of Muslim subgroups, strategies, career advancement, and workplace location, this research investigates the gendered processes that undergird the racial demarking of Muslims, and how women who wear a veil may be further racialized by the hijab. This study engages with theories of orientalism and racial formation to analyze how Muslim experiences at work set them apart from non-Muslims and each other. This study also extends our theorizing of how partial tokenization affects Muslims. Experience of looking 'ethnic' highlights the hijab in ways that may (re)produce a particular kind of femininity that creates differences among Muslim women. In an era of political wrangling and social discontent, it is critical to understand the complexities of Muslim work experiences, a primary setting where social mobility and assimilation occur among immigrant groups. As there are no official statistics on Muslims in the workforce, this study provides insight into how religion, race, and gender distinctly affect their experiences at work. The research may help educators and the wider public understand the experiences of Muslims living and working in the U.S. It may also inform public policymakers and employers about workplace inequalities.
Recommended Citation
Aboulhassan, Salam, "Answering For Their Visibility: Gendered And Racialized Muslim Experiences At Work" (2024). Wayne State University Dissertations. 3985.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/3985
