The security of Muslim women in Western societies between the hammer of preserving the patriarchal values and the oaks of Islamophobia : the case of Syrian Muslim women in Norway

Abstract

Security of refugees is not achieved once states provide asylum to refugees, as these refugees need a secure environment to feel safe. In the case of Syrian refugees in Norway, Syrian refugees have met other types of threats that are embedded in the social structure of the communities that they are living in. Caroline Thomas (2004) notes the significance of social causes, citing the apparent lack of awareness of underlying social causes behind insecurity as a weakness of the current human security debates. Hence, it is noted that the security of refugee women has been approached by either feminist’s approach, which investigates how women are oppressed under a patriarchal system that allows men to suppress women's rights, or humanitarian activists, who investigate how refugees' security is threatened by Islamophobic trends. Yet little work has focused on investigating these security threats in relation to each other. The task of preserving the Syrian social norms that are embedded in patriarchalism is dumped on Syrian women in Norway. Breaking norms and asking for equality has become a stigma of abandoning the community’s traditions and norms to emulate Western women. On the other hand, Islamophobic discrimination pressure Syrian Muslim women to adjust their conduct to suit the Norwegian social norms. Thus, the thesis tries to explore the relation between these two types of threats and how it affects the security of Muslim Syrian women in Norway.