Source: The Guardian
Thinktank report shows majority of 16 to 24-year-old UK Muslims disagree that ‘a husband’s job is to earn money, a wife’s is to look after the home and family’
More than half of the UK’s young muslims do not believe that a woman’s role should be confined to the domestic sphere, compared to 17% of those 55 and over. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian
Most young British-born Muslims reject the view that married women should stay at home while their husbands go to work, marking a shift of attitudes from older generations of Muslims in the UK, according to a report by a thinktank.
The difference of views between younger and older British Muslims regarding the role of men and women in society is stark, according to new findings shared with the Guardian from the thinktank Demos, with more than half of 16- to 24-year-olds disagreeing with the statement: “A husband’s job is to earn money, a wife’s job is to look after the home and family.” Fewer than 24% agreed. In contrast, 50% of those respondents aged 55 or older agreed with the statement, while less than 17% disagreed.
The findings, taken from a sample size of 38,952 respondents from randomly selected households, builds on recent census analysis that shows there is a young and increasingly well-educated Muslim population in Britain. In the last census, there were nearly 330,000 Muslim full-time students in the UK, of which 43% were women. But analysis of the 2011 census shows that within the 16 to 74 age band, 18% of Muslim women are “looking after home and family”, compared with 6% in the overall population.
The question asked to respondents was “a robust and legitimate question” phrased in “everyday language” said Dr Richard Norrie, lead analyst of the Demos Integration Hub.
Duncan O’Leary, research director at Demos, said: “These are encouraging findings,” and added that ensuring the workforce is more representative of the country “would be a step forward for us as a society.
“It would be good for future generations in providing role models for young people to emulate. And it would be a boost for our economy too, if talented people find their way into the right jobs,”
He added that the government had a role to play in driving up educational achievement and eradicating labour market discrimination. “But as this study shows, generational changes in attitudes and outlook could be be the biggest factor of all,” he said.
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