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‘Good Muslim women’ at work: An Islamic and postcolonial perspective on ethnic privilege

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 April 2018

Faiza Ali  and
Jawad Syed
Faiza Ali*
Affiliation:
Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
Jawad Syed
Affiliation:
Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
*
Corresponding author: Faiza.Ali@lums.edu.pk
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Abstract

Within sparse studies available on ethnic privilege at work, the emphasis is dominantly on ethnic privileges available to white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, heterosexual men and to a lesser extent white women. This paper presents and develops an Islamic and postcolonial perspective on ethnic privilege, which is unique not only due to contextual and cultural differences but also due to its postcolonial nature and composition. By postcolonial, the paper refers to cultural legacies of Arab colonialism and ideology in South Asia and elsewhere. Drawing on a qualitative study of Muslim female employees in Pakistan, the paper shows that religio-ethnic privilege represents postcolonial influences of a foreign (Arab-Salafi, ultra-orthodox Islamist) culture on a (non-Arab Muslim) society, and as such does not represent ethnic norms of a local mainstream society. The paper investigates the case of religio-ethnic privilege and female employment in Pakistan and examines how a foreign-influenced stereotype of female modesty is used to benchmark and preferentially treat ‘good Muslim women.’ The analysis shows that an Islamic and postcolonial lens may be needed to understand the nature and implications of religio-ethnic privilege at work in Muslim majority countries and societies.

Keywords

female employmentgendermodestyreligio-ethnic privilegeMuslim women
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 24 , Special Issue 5: Contextualizing Diversity Within Islam , September 2018 , pp. 679 - 697
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2018 

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