Prevent initiatives framed Muslim women only as wives and mothers who restrain men

Evidence

The original Prevent strategy and the specific initiatives which were introduced to engage with Muslim women between 2008 and 2010 were framed in terms of ‘empowerment’. The narrative of empowerment resonates with the idea that all Muslim women are oppressed. These initiatives were not premised on the idea that girls and women were at risk of being drawn into terrorism: that threat was seen to emanate principally from young men. It was only as mothers, sisters and wives that women and girls were engaged with, as people who might ‘prevent’ male family members from becoming involved in terrorism. — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 569

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Extends the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ pattern — Muslim women’s dress and role are read as political signals — by showing how a state counter-terrorism program instrumentalized ‘empowerment’ rhetoric to position women solely relationally.
• XREF: connects to: Prevent is discriminatory in operation and alienates the Muslims it aims to engage — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia: Still a Challenge for Us…, 385; Muslim women are simultaneously attacked as threats and pitied as victims; Motherhood drives Muslim women into unpaid ambassadorial labor against racialization (+1 more)

Related

• Prevent policy is discriminatory, disproportionate, and counterproductive (similarity 0.82)
• Prevent is discriminatory in operation and alienates the Muslims it aims to engage (similarity 0.81)
• Prevent alienates the Muslim communities it claims to engage. (similarity 0.80)
• Prevent’s stated all-threats remit masks a clear targeting of Muslims (similarity 0.80)
• Prevent’s first phase explicitly placed its burden on Muslim communities (similarity 0.80)
• Prevent counter-terrorism policy harms and alienates British Muslim communities. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Prevent is discriminatory in operation and alienates the Muslims it aims to engage #qualifies (0.80) — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 385
• Muslim women are simultaneously attacked as threats and pitied as victims #qualifies (0.78)
• Motherhood drives Muslim women into unpaid ambassadorial labor against racialization #complicates (0.72)