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Vol. 10 No. 1 (2025)

Articles

Islamic Leadership Programs for Women: How Suspension of the Double Bind Allows Us to Unpack the ‘Muslimwoman’

https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v10i1.743

Published 05.03.2025

  • Balawyn Jones
    • ,
  • Feda Abdo
Balawyn Jones
La Trobe University, Australia

Feda Abdo
Communications and Community Relations Manager, Muslim Women Australia

Abstract

The ‘Together We are Better Leaders’ program was run by Muslim Women Australia for the first time in 2020-2021. Together We are Better Leaders was a program designed for, and run by, Muslim women. This article explores participant experiences of the program, analysing the themes that emerged with respect to Muslim women’s leadership in the Australian context. The data analysis illustrates the importance of tailored leadership programs, designed specifically from Muslim women by Muslim women, to foster cultural and religious safety at the intersection of sexism and racism/Islamophobia. Through the creation of a culturally and religiously safe women’s leadership program, stereotypes about Muslim women were able to be displaced – replaced by personal narratives of complex agency grounded in empowerment through faith.

Keywords

Muslimwoman, Muslim women, Women's Leadership, Double Blind, Religious and Cultural Safety

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