Abstract
This chapter explores the way in which peer relationships are influential to the educational trajectories of a group of British-Pakistani Muslim women from working-class backgrounds. Based on semi-structured interviews with 17 young women at university, I explore the positive and negative impacts of inter and intra-ethnic friendship networks on the women’s educational experiences. In recent years, work on ethnicity as social capital has burgeoned; bridging capital has been regarded as providing an opportunity for class mobility and most of this focus has been upon the positive influences of ethnic capital on the lives of minority ethnic communities. However, by exploring a relatively under-developed theme of Muslim women’s peer group relationships, this chapter argues that both bonding and bridging capitals are significant to the group of women to whom I spoke.
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Notes
- 1.
This research was funded by the ESRC (award no. PTA-030-2003-00074). I would like to thank the participants in this research who were willing to discuss their experiences and aspirations with me. I would also like to thank Toby Lloyd-Jones and Agata Mleczko who provided very helpful comments.
- 2.
Within the migration studies literature, the concept of Muslim women’s peer relationships has also received very little attention (Wilson 1978). Partly, this lack of exploration relates to the premise that due to the domestic tasks and caring responsibilities of Muslim girls, combined with the frequent surveillance and policing of women’s actions by families and the wider community, there is very little time or opportunity for these girls to socialise with friends or engage in activities outside the home (though see Wray 2001; Walseth 2006).
- 3.
For a discussion of positionality and situatedness relating to the interviewer and participant dynamics during the fieldwork see Mellor (2010).
- 4.
Most of the women I interviewed attended school until they were 16, then enrolled into a further education college for 2 years to study ‘A’ Levels, before embarking on a 3-year university degree.
- 5.
Basheera explained that izzat is the ‘family honour, and that’s what really shouldn’t come to harm […] And once your family’s been given a bad name, the whole of the sort of the extended family will know about it and will talk about you’.
- 6.
A freshers’ fair is typically a social event primarily for new students and is designed to help them meet other students and fit into university.
- 7.
Whilst having flatmates could ensure ‘ready-made’ friends, most women expressed feelings of unhappiness about their situation. Ahmad (2001) argues that many Muslim women she interviewed ‘described occasions such as “Ramadan” and “Eid” as being times where religion could be shared in a supportive environment within university accommodation’ (Ahmad 2001, p. 149). However, as very few of the women I interviewed lived with other Muslims they tended to pray alone.
- 8.
Cambridge University ranks as one of the top universities in the world, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world, and is highly elitist in its student admissions.
- 9.
Because of extreme competition, gaining a place onto a medical degree in the UK is very difficult.
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Mellor, J. (2012). Muslim Women, Peer Relationships and Educational Trajectories: Reflections on Muslim Stereotypes in a British Setting. In: Lovat, T. (eds) Women in Islam. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4219-2_14
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