Islamophobia in the United Kingdom refers to a set of discourses, behaviours and structures which express feelings of anxiety, fear, hostility and rejection towards Islam or Muslims in the United Kingdom. Islamophobia can manifest itself in a wide range of ways; including, discrimination in the workforce, negative coverage in the media, and violence against Muslims.
Defining Islamophobia in the United Kingdom
Agreement on a legal, meaningful, and actionable definition of the term “Islamophobia” has, to date, proved impossible in the UK. A definition put forward by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in May 2019 was rejected by both the police and Government, on the grounds that it was too broad to enforce and had potential consequences for freedom of speech. In an interview with the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims, Professor Peter Hopkins of the Centre for Hate Studies at Leicester University stated that by not adopting a concrete definition for Islamophobia it may "encourage some people to continue to deny that Islamophobia is an issue in society."
In employment
Many studies and surveys have concluded that Muslims face discrimination in the work force. Research in 2014 by Dr Nabil Khattab and Professor Ron Johnston using data from the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey found that "Muslim men were up to 76% less likely to have a job of any kind compared to white, male British Christians of the same age and with the same qualifications." An April 2016 report by Nabil Khattab and Shereen Hussein found that first-generation Muslim women from Bangladesh were over six times more likely to be unemployed than White non-Muslim women when adjusting for factors such as "level of education, family situation and age." First generation Muslim Pakistani and Muslim Black women faced less discrimination but were still four times more likely to be unemployed than White non-Muslim women when adjusting for those same factors.
A September 2017 Social Mobility Commission report concluded that Muslims were being held back in the workplace by widespread Islamophobia, racism and discrimination. Despite outperforming their non-Muslim counterparts in education, Muslims were roughly half as likely to hold higher managerial, administrative, and professional occupations. Almost 50% of Muslim households are considered to be in poverty, compared with less than 20% in the overall population. The report listed barriers to success including negative stereotypes about Muslims, a lack of Muslim staff or role models in the classroom, bullying, and harassment. The report revealed that women wearing hijab face particular discrimination once entering the workplace. Professor Jacqueline Stevenson of Sheffield Hallam University which led the research, stated that "Muslims are being excluded, discriminated against or failed at all stages of their transition from education to employment."
In education
Islamophobia in schools is a growing concern for the United Kingdom, since projections show there may be an estimated 300,000 Muslim teenagers in the education system by 2021. Various incidents have occurred where students were attacked while near school or on campus. Studies show such actions are increasingly common after trigger incidences such as the Manchester bombing. Women and girls who wear hijab are especially targeted. Made prevalent by the Tell Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks (MAMA) organization, it has been reported that around 6% or 53 accounts of reported incidents of Islamophobia have occurred in British educational institutions in 2017. Many of the incidents are associated with bullying and verbal abuse such as calling a fellow peer a "terrorist" or taunting religious garments like that of a hijab. The Muslim Student Survey was sent out from the National Union of Students in 2017 to try to gather data on the subject of Islamophobia in educational environments. In this survey, nearly 33% of Muslim students reported either abuse or crime in their place of study. Most of these reports are believed to be directly related to Islamophobia. It also shows a disconnect when relating to such students since only about four in ten reported Muslim students feel their student governments understand their needs.