Intersectional Social Resistance Towards Women in Malaysia

A Case Study of Social Resistance Against “Dehijabing”

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.211020.326How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Intersectionality, Dehijabing, Malaysia

Abstract

Dehijabing, which demonstrates women’s pursuit of dressing freedom, has been harshly criticized by the public. An objective of this paper is to refute public assertions that religion leads to social resistance and elaborate the real sources of social resistance towards dehijabing. By using theory of intersectionality, the resistance, involving legal ones and individual ones is analysed in a comprehensive perspective. The analysis results show that the religious factor was only an excuse for the dominant social norms. Actually, gender and race are the two main factors that exist in Malaysian society, leading to social resistance against dehijabing. Based on gender rights disparity, the patriarchal society gives males the right to interpret religion and set social norms. While race factors have led to a greater focus on social identity issues at the expense of foundational rights equality issues. These two factors influence each other and intermingle to form a synergy that constrains women’s rights and space for development in society. Moreover, apart from dressing freedom, intersectional social factors directly contribute to a solidified view of women that affects their social status. This calls for the Malaysian government and related organizations to address the intersectional social issues and expand the space for women’s social development.

Copyright

© 2021, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Shiyu Fan
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/10/21
TI  - Intersectional Social Resistance Towards Women in Malaysia
BT  - Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Public Relations and Social Sciences (ICPRSS 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1181
EP  - 1188
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.211020.326
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.211020.326
ID  - Fan2021
ER  -