Blogger: Race, Ethnicity, Culture or Religion

 Blogger #1: Muslim Women in Professional Spaces

Before coming to Morocco, I expected most industries to be completely male dominated. I did not even know what percentage of women held a job, or if that was commonplace. Because of this incorrect preconceived idea, I was surprised when we toured Driscoll’s and heard from so many Muslim women regarding their operations while also visibly expressing their religious identity through clothing like hijabs. Due to this stereotype about Muslim women that I believed, I wanted to explore the Muslim identity as it relates to women.  

One organizational or societal issue impacting Muslim women is the way stereotypes can affect how others perceive their independence, education, or professional capabilities. According to Pew Research Center’s article “Muslims and Islam: Key findings in the U.S. and around the world”  (Lipka & Hackett, 2017), Muslims are often viewed through simplified stereotypes that fail to reflect the diversity of their experiences and roles within society. I am ashamed to be guilty of falling into this stereotype myself. Furthermore, the article also mentions that American Muslims think their fellow Americans do not see Islam as part of mainstream U.S. society (Figure 2). This isolation likely also helps to perpetuate harmful stereotypes regarding the treatment of women in Islam. Media portrayals can also create assumptions about oppression or limited opportunity without acknowledging the many different ways Muslim women participate in education, leadership, and professional life around the world.

Arriving at Driscolls, we saw women in high roles on the research level, in berry fields, and at the packaging center. Seeing women represented so visibly and frequently at Driscoll’s challenged some of my assumptions going into the trip. It reminded me that cultural stereotypes can oversimplify people and workplaces. The women’s empowerment mural (Figure 2) on the packaging site especially stood out to me because it showed an intentional effort to encourage female empowerment rather than simply treating diversity as an afterthought. It truly challenged me to think about how important visibility and representation are in professional environments, especially for younger women entering industries that are traditionally seen as male-dominated.

Appendix

Figure 1

Figure 2

References

Lipka, M., & Hackett, C. (2017, August 9). Muslims and Islam: Key findings in the U.S. and around the world. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2017/08/09/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/