The Gendered Dimension of Islamophobia in Belgium

This chapter asserts the underlying mechanisms of the gendered dimensions of Islamophobia in Belgium an states that historically rooted narratives contribute to modern-day 'othering' and paradoxically simultaneous alleged saving of Muslim women in the country. These points are contextualised and developed via the consideration of recent evidence from Belgian grass-roots associations, national monitoring bodies, and also policies and practices at institutional, local, regional, national and supranational levels to illustrate both the direct and indirect forms of Islamophobia experienced by Belgian Muslim women. These include features particular to Belgium, such as the national face veil ban, or the French-style headscarf ban in schools in the francophone region of Verviers, and the recent controversies surrounding wearing the headscarf in the workplace. The chapter concludes with an examination go the models of countering gendered Islamophobia in the country as led by self-identified Belgian Muslim women themselves.