PTI

London, Jan 29: Muslim women in Europe are proud to live in and belong to Europe, despite facing a daily struggle against prejudice from both within and outside their own communities, a new research suggests.

The study, carried out at the University of Cambridge, indicates that Muslim women believe life in Europe has given them freedom, opportunities and security.

It also reveals that an emerging generation of Muslim women are becoming increasingly independent and are determined to assert their right to a full education, a career and to follow their own dreams.

The study, however, adds that many do so in the face of archaic patriarchal cultural traditions on the one hand, and discrimination and suspicion from the non-Muslim majority population on the other.

These challenges, combined with the relatively poor family backgrounds of many European Muslim women, threaten to limit their social mobility, whatever their aspirations.

The study, titled Europe's Muslim women: potential aspirations and challenges, was commissioned by the King Baudouin Foundation and carried out by Dr Sara Silvestri, a Research Associate at Cambridge University's Von Huegel Institute.

It is the first academic study to investigate the topic of Muslim women in Europe in a comparative way, examining it beyond the questions of the wearing of the hijab (face cover) and the migration experience.