What is Holding Back Full Feminist Solidarity with Muslim Women? The Epistemic Failures of White Liberal Feminism

Abstract

Despite the recent shift towards embracing anti-racism and intersectionality within the feminist movement in Quebec, Canada, support for Muslim women affected by secularism laws remains elusive. Our article seeks to understand what is still holding back a full feminist solidarity with Muslim women in Quebec by examining the limits of intersectional solidarity discourses from feminist groups officially positioning themselves in defence of Muslim women’s rights to wear religious symbols. We focus on the advocacy discourse against the Act Respecting the Laicity of the State (Law 21) led by the Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ), Quebec’s largest feminist coalition. We employ a theoretical framework combining feminist critical Muslim scholarship and critical epistemologies, which leads us to ask: How does the FFQ’s advocacy work against Law 21 mobilise an intersectional approach to defend Muslim women’s rights against nationalist and secular colonial narratives? What are the limits and blind spots of this advocacy work? Our analysis shows that despite FFQ’s declared political support for Muslim women’s rights and attempts to incorporate religion within an intersectional framework of domination, the organisation still failed to dismantle the deep-rooted idea of an inherent incompatibility between feminism and Islam and to consider Muslim women within its ranks as full feminist epistemic subjects.