From the right to choose what to wear, to the right to education and work, Indian Muslim women are at risk of losing it all.
Ongoing global debates around the right to education in Afghanistan for women and their choice of clothing is discussed daily, whilst the future of Indian Muslim women is ignored daily.
The leader of India’s right-wing government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, insists that he has “freed” Muslim women. But Muslim women – fearless and with their fists raised – would disagree.
Indian Muslims continue to have relatively low access to education, particularly with regards to higher education, where enrolment numbers for Muslim students have been on the decline.
Muslim students also tend to rely more on government institutions than non-Muslims. With little-to-no government support, students from Muslim communities will find it increasingly difficult to access education.
Interestingly, the enrolment of Muslim women in higher education has been growing in proportion to that of Muslim men.
But this discouraging package of legislation is set to undo these strides, compounding the disadvantageous position that Muslim women in India occupy within the matrix of their religious, gender and class identities.
