Home Bodies: Purdah and the Integration of Muslim Women in England

Fazakarley, Jed

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-53792-4_3

Jed Fazakarley⁵

Part of the book series: Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series ((CAL))

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Abstract

The previous chapter sought to highlight the distinctive, and long-lived, place of Muslims within British education. This is one sort of analysis that can overturn the oft-rehearsed argument that the religious identities of British Muslims were not mobilized politically, or regarded as having socio-political significance, before the late 1980s. This chapter will deploy another strategy, analysing elite responses to a Muslim practice, purdah, that is rarely considered in histories of British Islam or British multiculturalism. It will focus on ideas about purdah held by British elites, and the Muslim demands that arose from it. In keeping with this book’s interest in the inter-relationship between different facets of identity and representation, it will be allowed that presentations of Muslim women subject to purdah shaded into those of Asian women in general. However, it will be stressed that Muslim women and families were given a specific position within these presentations.

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Notes

1.
Verity Saifullah Khan, “Purdah in the British Situation” in Diana Leonard Barker and Sheila Allen eds., Dependence and Exploitation in Work and Marriage (London: Longman, 1976), 225–6.
2.
Zaynab Dahya, “Pakistani Wives in Britain”, Race and Class 6: 4 (1965), 311–21; Saifullah Khan, ibid. , 228; Verity Saifullah Khan, “Pakistani Women in Britain”, New Community 5 (1976), 106; Amrit Wilson, Finding a Voice: Asian Women in Britain (London: Virago, 1978), 11, 33.
3.
Roger Ballard, “Migration and Kinship: the Differential Effect of Marriage Rules on Processes of Punjabi Migration to Britain” in Clarke, Peach, and Vertovec eds., South Asians Overseas, 232.
4.
Saifullah Khan, “Purdah in the British Situation”, 233, and Wilson, Finding a Voice, 28.
5.
Rana Kabbani, Letters to Christendom (London: Virago, 1993 [1989]), 22–9.
6.
Sariya Contractor, Muslim Women in Britain: De-mystifying the Muslimah (Oxford: Routledge, 2012), 83.
7.
Saifullah Khan, “Purdah in the British Situation”, 232.
8.
Saifullah Khan, “Pakistani Wives in Britain”, 103.
9.
Wilson, Finding a Voice, 24–6.
10.
Pratibha Parmar, “Gender, Race and Class: Asian Women in Resistance” in Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies ed., Empire Strikes Back, 252.
11.
Kim Knott and Sadja Khokher, “Religious and Ethnic Identity among Young Muslim Women in Bradford”, New Community 19: 4 (July, 1993), 593–611; Claire Dwyer, “Contradictions of Community: Questions of Identity for Young British Muslim Women”, Environment and Planning 31 (1999), 53–68.
12.
Middlesex County Times and Gazette, 11/11/61.
13.
Edson and Burgin, Spring Grove, 13–4.
14.
WYASB, BIEC papers, 42D92/56, City of Bradford Education Department to Barkerend, 17/11/67.
15.
Yasmin Ali, “Muslim Women and the Politics of Ethnicity and Culture in Northern England” in Sahgal and Yuval-Davis eds., Refusing Holy Orders, 106.
16.
Ibid. , YCCR papers, 49D79/2/2/18, MCCR, “Annual Report, 1968–9”.
17.
SCRRI, Education, vol. 2, 667.
18.
Wilson, Finding a Voice, 98.
19.
Ansari, Infidel Within, 316; Anwar, Myth of Return, 162.
20.
Swann Report, 341.
21.
Guardian, 18/10/85.
22.
Nielsen, “Muslims in English Schools”, 238.
23.
Guardian, 23/1/90.
24.
Hannana Siddiqui, “Review Essay: Winning Freedoms”, Feminist Review 37 (Spring, 1991), 78.
25.
Swann Report, 342–3.
26.
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27.
Ibid. , MSS.292B/805.94/6, Hayes & Southall Trades Council, “Commonwealth Immigrants Advisory Council”, 31/7/63.
28.
Edson and Burgin, Spring Grove, 20.
29.
WYASB, BIEC papers, 42D92/56, City of Bradford Education Department to BIEC, 17/11/67.
30.
NCCI, Liaison 10 (1968).
31.
SCRRI, Education, vol. 2., 544.
32.
Swann Report, 342.
33.
Ibid. , 513.
34.
Guardian, 18/10/85; Nielsen, “Muslims in English Schools”, 238.
35.
Ibid. , vol. 2, 50; Ansari, Infidel Within, 319; Hiro, Black British, 188.
36.
Jean Ellis, Meeting Community Needs (Coventry: Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, 1991), 138.
37.
Ibid. , Town Clerk’s papers, BBD 1/7/T15401, “Select Committee…”, 1970; GMCRO, Manchester and Salford Council of Social Services (MSCSS) papers, GB127.M184, 1970–1, “Minutes…on November 16th 1970”.
38.
Guardian, 11/7/75.
39.
Guardian, 3/1/74.
40.
WYASB, YCCR papers, 49D79/1/3/2, YCCR, “…Education of Muslim Girls…”, 9/75.
41.
Guardian, 11/7/75.
42.
Swann Report, 508; LMA, ILEA PCC presented papers, ILEA/CL/PRE/24/18, P231, “Report…”, 8/3/85, 2.
43.
Guardian, 11/7/75.
44.
Guardian, 21/1/75.
45.
Guardian, 21/9/83.
46.
Guardian, 16/1/74, 12/2/74.
47.
Guardian, 22/4/80.
48.
Swann Report, 508–11.
49.
Guardian, 3/1/74.
50.
Muhammad Anwar, “Religious Identity in Plural Societies: the Case of Britain”, Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs Journal 2: 2 (1980), 118; Hiro, Black British, 118.
51.
LMA, ILEA papers, Ethnic Minorities Section (EMS) minutes, ILEA/CL/MIN/12/1, 76.
52.
Shaw, Kinship and Continuity, 269.
53.
GMCRO, MCC papers, EC minutes, 1983–4, 689–93, 867–8.
54.
Ibid. , 668–9.
55.
MCRO, MCC papers, EC minutes, 1983–4, 693.
56.
Guardian, 3/1/74.
57.
Guardian, 12/2/74.
58.
Guardian, 21/1/74.
59.
Guardian, 16/1/74.
60.
Independent, 1/3/89. Emphasis added.
61.
Guardian, 13/11/81, 14/11/81.
62.
Swann Report, 508.
63.
Guardian, 8/1/74.
64.
Guardian, 21/11/79.
65.
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66.
Romain Garbaye, “Birmingham: Conventional Politics as the Main Channel for Political Incorporation” in Alisdair Rogers and Jean Tillie eds., Multicultural Policies and Modes of Citizenship in European Cities (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001), 113.
67.
Halstead, Education, Justice and Cultural Diversity, 35.
68.
WYASB, YCCR papers, YCCR, 49D79/1/3/2, “…Education of Muslim Girls…”, 9/1975.
69.
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70.
Guardian, 2/6/82.
71.
Guardian, 30/11/85.
72.
Guardian, 3/1/74.
73.
LMA, ILEAPCC presented papers, ILEA/CL/PRE/24/18, P231, “Report…”, 8/3/85; Observer, 3/9/89.
74.
Guardian, 16/1/74.
75.
Ellis, Breaking New Ground, 98–103.
76.
Anandi Ramamurthy, Black Star: Britain’s Asian Youth Movements (London: Pluto Press, 2013), 92; Guardian, 9/7/84.
77.
WYASB, YCCR papers, YCCR, 49D79/1/3/2, “…Education of Muslim Girls…”, 9/1975; CRE Education Journal 6: 3 (January, 1985), 6–7.
78.
Guardian, 16/1/74, 11/3/85.
79.
Guardian, 13/6/75.
80.
Ellis, Breaking New Ground, 103.
81.
Guardian, 21/11/79.
82.
Guardian, 18/10/85.
83.
Guardian, 3/9/89.
84.
MRC, TUC papers, MSS.292B/805.94/2, L.G. Smith, “Immigration in Birmingham”, [1963].
85.
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86.
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87.
Keighley Local Studies Library (KLSL), Keighley, UK, KCRC papers, BK61, KCRC, “Annual Report, June 1969”, 14.
88.
WYASB, TC’s papers, BBD 1/7/T15401, “Select Committee…”, 4/70.
89.
HCHAC, Bangladeshis in Britain, vol. 1, 107.
90.
WYASB, YCCR papers, 49D79/2/1/3, YCCR Women’s Committee, “Newsletter Two…”, 11/70; ibid. , 49D79/2/2/6, Halifax and District International Council (HDIC), “Minutes…11th August, 1966…”; Guardian, 15/10/67; MRC, TUC papers, M55.292B/805.91/3, Manpower Standing Committee, “Commonwealth Immigrants”, 1968.
91.
MRC, TUC papers, MSS.292B/805.94/6, HVA, “Commonwealth Immigrants Advisory Council”, [1963].
92.
Yorkshire Post, 5/4/65.
93.
GMCRO, MCCR papers, GB127.M784/7/9, RRB, “Immigrants on Tyneside”, 15/3/66; GB127.M784/7/9, RRB, “Yorkshire Visit, 28–29th July, 1966”.
94.
NCCI, Liaison 10 (January, 1968).
95.
WYASB, YCCR papers, 49D79/1/3/1, Yorkshire Council of Social Service (YCSS), “Report of a Working Party…”, 1973.
96.
Guardian, 21/5/77.
97.
TUC papers, MSS.292B/805.94/1, AMC, “CIAC…”, 11/2/63.
98.
WYASB, YCCR papers, 49D79/2/3/5, Eric Butterworth, “Area Reports…Bradford”, 1/66.
99.
Ibid. , 49D79/2/218, SCCR, “Report of the Course…23rd April 1969”.
100.
Ansari, Infidel Within, 269–70.
101.
Glynn, Class, Ethnicity, and Religion, 100.
102.
Anwar, Myth of Return, 30–5.
103.
Hansard, HC Deb, 2/5/69, 284–5 W.
104.
Ibid. , HC Deb 21/12/76 cc418-9; 26/6/77 c534W.
105.
THLSL, PC minutes, L/THL/A//32/1/2/3, TUC, “Statement on Homeworking”, 6/78; PHM, LPRD memoranda, RD570, 10/80.
106.
UOR, Eade papers, Tower Hamlets Alternative Strategy Project (THASP) / GLC, “Silk, Satin, Muslin, Rags…”, [1980s], 33.
107.
The Local, 8/80.
108.
LMA, GLC Ethnic Minorities Committee (GLCEMC) presented papers, GLC/DG/PRE/49/8, GLC, “S11 of the Local Government Act…”, 16/5/83.
109.
UOR, Eade papers,, THASP / GLC, “Silk, Satin…”.
110.
GLC Ethnic Minorities Unit, Good Job There’s the GLC (London: GLC, 1984), 13.
111.
LMA, ILEAEOU, ILEA/EOU/1/21, ILEA, London Wide Homeworking Group, “Homeworkers Fact Pack” [1980s].
112.
Guardian, 19/10/79.
113.
Frank Reeves, Race and Borough Politics (Aldershot: Avebury, 1989), 205.
114.
HCHAH, Bangladeshis in Britain, vol. 2, 55.
115.
Alan Felstead, “Homeworking in Britain: the National Picture in the mid-1990s”, Industrial Relations Journal 27: 3, 236.
116.
MRC, TUC papers, MSS.292B/805.94/1, Family Service Units, “Memorandum…to the CIAC”, January 1963.
117.
Ibid. , MSS.292B/805.94/2, Middlesex County Council, “Health Service”, [1963].
118.
KLSL, KCRC papers, “Annual Report, June 1969”, 20.
119.
Ibid. , “Annual Report, June 1970”, 20.
120.
WYASB, YCCR papers, 49D79/2/1/2, YCCR, “Notes…on Monday, 2nd February, 1970…”.
121.
WYASB, TC’s papers, BBD 1/7/T13687, “Children of Commonwealth Immigrant Parents…”, 2/67.
122.
Ibid. , BBD 1/7/T15401, “Select Committee…”, 4/70.
123.
Edson and Burgin, Spring Grove, 25.
124.
Health Visitor 43: 4 (April, 1970).
125.
TNA, AST papers, AST/7/1212, Inter-departmental Committee on Colonial People in the United Kingdom, “Draft Minutes…” 19/7/50; Colonial Office (CO) papers, “Statement Showing Dispersal…”, 30/9/51.
126.
Steven Fielding, “Brotherhood and the Brothers: Responses to ‘Coloured’ Immigration in the British Labour Party c. 1951–1965”, Journal of Political Ideologies 31: 1 (1998), 91.
127.
WYASB, Town Clerk’s papers, BBD 1/7/T15401, Director of Education to Clerk, 28/1/71.
128.
Edson and Burgin, Spring Grove, 16.
129.
David John Smith and Anne Whalley, Racial Minorities & Public Housing (London: PEP, 1975), 87.
130.
WYASB, YCCR papers, 49D79/2/2/19, CRC, “Religious Education in a Multi-Religious Society”, 7/69; KLSL, KCRC papers, BK61, KCRC, “Annual Report, June 1969”, 7; WYASB, YCCR papers, 49D79/2/3/7, YCCR, “Women’s Working Party…”, [1969].
131.
KLSL, KCRC papers, BK61, KCRC, “Annual Report”, 6/70.
132.
Guardian, 22/4/71.
133.
WYASB, YCCR papers, 49D79/2/1/3, Springboard, “Secretary’s Report since 1971”, 10/1/74.
134.
KLSL, KCRC papers, BK61, KCRC, “Annual Report, June 1970”; KCRC, “Annual Report, April 1972”.
135.
WYASB, YCCR papers, 49D79/2/2/6, Leeds CRC, “Voluntary Home Tutors”, 1970.
136.
Ibid. , 49D79/1/3/1, YCSS, “Report of a Working Party…”, 1973.
137.
This paragraph draws on the detailed study in Gavin Schaffer, The Vision of a Nation: Making Multiculturalism on British Television (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 21–50.
138.
Ibid. , Town Clerk’s papers, BBD 1/7/T15401, “Select Committee…”, 4/70.
139.
WYASB, YCCR papers, 49D79/2/3/7, YCCR, “Newsletter Two…”, 11/70. Emphasis in original.
140.
Guardian, 4/3/75.
141.
Ibid. , 21/3/77.
142.
MRC, TUC papers, MSS.292D/805.9/8, Home Office Advisory Committee on Race Relations, “Educational Disadvantage…”, 27/10/77, 6.
143.
Ibid. , MSS.292D/805.9/13, Home Office, “Proposals for Replacing Section 11…”, 11/78, 9.
144.
WYASB, TC’s papers, BBD 1/7/T16150, City of Bradford Director of Education to Clerk, 2/3/71.
145.
Ibid. , YCCR papers, SCCR, “Race Relations in Sheffield”, 7/12/67, 7.
146.
SCCR, Harmony 1 (November, 1968), 15.
147.
Rose ed., Colour and Citizenship, 341.
148.
WYASB, YCCR papers, NCCI/London Boroughs Training Committee, “…Social Services and a Multi-Racial Society”, 3/7/68.
149.
Ibid. , TC’s papers, Treasurer to Clerk, 31/3/71.
150.
GMCRO, MSCSS papers, GB127.M184, MCCR Education Sub-Committee, “Minutes…on November 16^th 1970”.
151.
WYASB, TC’s papers, BBD 1/7/T16150, “Home and School…”, 9/72.
152.
GMCRO, MCC papers, EC minutes, 1975–6 (vol. 1), 402.
153.
Rose ed., Colour and Citizenship, 56; The Times, 26/1/68.
154.
TNA, HO papers, HO 376/139, “Note of a Meeting…on Friday, March 26th”, [1965].
155.
Moira Dustin and Anne Phillips, “Whose Agenda Is It? Abuses of Women and Abuses of ‘Culture’ in Britain”, Ethnicities 8 (2008), 412, 419–20.

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Hertford College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
Jed Fazakarley

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Fazakarley, J. (2017). Home Bodies: Purdah and the Integration of Muslim Women in England. In: Muslim Communities in England 1962-90. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53792-4_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53792-4_3
Published: 18 April 2017
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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