majority population willing to perpetuate negative
representations and hostility toward them. Even if
racism does not result in a change in religious prac-
tice, either internal or external, the racism itself is a
curtailment of religious freedom of expression.
Many of the young women involved in a variety of
research projects have stated that it is racism and
hostility to their Muslim identity that makes them
feel oppressed. This stands in direct contradiction
to ideas of Muslim women as always being op-
pressed by their menfolk. As one woman put it in
HREOC’s consultations, “Muslim women are por-
trayed as being oppressed by their husbands but in
fact we are being oppressed by the society where we
can’t feel comfortable wearing our ™ijàband prac-
ticing our religion” (HREOC 2004, 77).
However, when dealing with racism, Muslim
women in Australia refuse to become victims and
enact strategies of resistance. For example, in a
number of Australian cities Muslim women have
come to agreements with fitness centers and swim-
ming pools to ensure that men are excluded from
certain sessions each week in order that Muslim
women (and other women) have a comfortable
environment in which to work out or swim. While
these arrangements have often come under pressure
from some sectors of the community, the women
have not allowed racism to deter them from ex-
pressing their religious identities as well as partici-
pating in the broader society (New South Wales
Anti Discrimination Board 2003). Other examples
of resistance to racism are more subtle, however.
In research with female Muslim school students
they repeatedly spoke of the importance of net-
working with other young Muslim women so that
if an incident of racism occurred each woman had
an immediate support network who understood
her situation and who could assist in the healing
and reparation process. These networks were not
substitutes for friendships but provided key sup-
port to the young women and enabled them to con-
tinue to publicly identify as Muslims in instances
where, without these support networks, the racism
may otherwise have led them to hide their religios-
ity in fear of their safety.
For many Muslim women who wear ™ijàbin
Australia, religious racism is something they must
confront on a daily basis. Partly as a result of being
members of a minority Muslim community within
a majority non-Muslim country and partly because
of their visibility, a visibility that evokes popular
ideas of Muslim women being oppressed and there-
fore victims, Muslim women bear the brunt of hos-
tility and negativity (Deen 2003, Kampmark 2003,
Mubarak 1996, Sukkarieh and Zahra 2002). How-
iran 177ever, they do not passively accept such racism.
Rather, they actively resist and subvert both the
racism they experience directly and the negative
stereotyping and representation in the media and
popular culture. Although it may be difficult for
these women to freely express their commitment to
Islam in a variety of ways, most commonly and
most visibly through wearing the ™ijàb, they con-
tinue to find ways to do so while simultaneously
being mindful of their safety.Bibliography
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in OpenDemocracy, 2004, <http://www.opendemocracy.
net/email/ed3500/willms_1753.jsp>.Alia ImtoualIranThe Constitutional Revolution of 1905–11 was a
turning point in the lives of Iranian women. Women
participated in huge numbers and gained important
sites for expressing their views, including journals,
schools, and associations that flourished in the fol-
lowing period (1911–24) (Afary 1996).
The defeat of the Constitutionalists (1921–5) and
the consolidation of power by the highly dictatorial
Reza Shah (1925–41) had two contradictory im-
pacts. Independent women’s journals and groups
were destroyed, while the state implemented social
reforms such as mass education and paid employ-
ment for women. Reza Shah also banned wearing