Antiracist Practice with Muslim Women: Examining the Relationship between Veiling and Discrimination

Background and Purpose: In the US, the Islamic practice of hijab or veiling is controversial. Some commentators suggest the controversy may foster discrimination toward Muslim women who veil (Aidenberger & Doehne, 2021). Yet, as Dana et al. (2019) observe, studies on the relationship between hijab-wearing and discrimination among American Muslim women are rare. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between veiling and discrimination among a national sample of community dwelling American Muslim women.

Methods: To conduct this cross-sectional study, we used a purposive snowball sampling strategy (Babbie, 2020). Islamic organizations known to the research team were contacted and subsequently asked if they knew of other organizations that might be interested participating in the study. A link to the online survey was sent to members of participating organizations. This strategy resulted in twenty-two organizations participating in the study and a sample of 194 self-identified American Muslim women. The mean age of the sample was 38.87 years (SD=11.11), and a majority self-identified as Sunni (85.8%), spoke primarily English at home (66.3%), had a graduate degree (58.4%), and were of non-Middle Eastern ethnicity (63.7%), born in the US (53.7%), married (52.6%), and exhibited moderate levels of Friday Mosque attendance (M=1.99, 0=never to 4=always scale).

The independent variable was measured with an item that assessed how frequently women veiled on a five-point scale [never (0) to always (4)]. The dependent variable—perceptions of religious discrimination—was assessed with the Pew Research Center’s (2017) composite item designed to tap various forms of societal and institutional discrimination American Muslim women may experience in the US [(0=no discrimination experienced, 1=yes, discrimination experienced).].

Power analysis indicated a sample size of 194 enabled the study to detect a small to medium effect size (i.e., f²=0.08) using widely accepted values (i.e., α=0.05; 1 - β=0.80) (Cohen & Cohen, 1983) with eight control variables. Logistic regression was conducted to examine the relationship between hijab frequency and the likelihood of experiencing religious discrimination. Multicollinearity and residual statistics were examined to ensure the trustworthiness of the multivariate results.

Results: The overall model was significant (c²(9 =25.41, p=0.003). The results revealed women who wore the hijab more frequently were more likely to experience religious discrimination after controlling for other possible confounds. With each one unit increase in hijab-wearing, women were 53 percent (OR=1.530, 95% CI [1.151–2.033]) more likely to report experiencing religious discrimination.

Conclusions: A key component of antiracist practice is assisting social workers to identify and oppose discrimination that targets vulnerable groups. Toward this end, educators might highlight standards in the NASW Code of Ethics (2021) that prohibit religious discrimination and human rights protocols that protect the right of Muslim women to veil in public. Practitioners should be aware that Muslim women who elect to veil may encounter discrimination in society, communicate empathy regarding women’s choices, and explore options for countering the discrimination, both with their clients and in society. Researchers might explore the effectiveness of interventions designed to create more acceptance of women who wear the hijab.