The American bias against those of the Islamic faith can seep into just about every facet of society. Marginalized groups in the United States are known to experience more adverse health outcomes, due to both a lack of access to appropriate healthcare and the quality of the care that they are able to receive. Muslim-Americans in general have been known experience reactions from healthcare practitioners that both vilify and dismiss their culture and beliefs (Laird et al). The stressful experience of being deemed an “other”–or even an enemy in several instances–in society can also manifest in both physical and mental health problems. Although this phenomenon can affect all Muslim-Americans, women again face a unique set of challenges due to the intersectionality of their religion and gender. As Bowleg (2012) points out, using the term “women and minorities” can be fallacious because the two are obviously not mutually exclusive. But Hassouneh (2017) reports that there is a substantial lack of empirical evidence on the health of this population because researchers rarely take their intersectionality into consideration. However, there are a few identifiable trends in health outcomes that these women often experience due to faith-based discrimination.
Arguably the most common negative health consequence of Islamophobia for Muslim-American women is clinical depression. Budhwani & Hearld (2017) explain how this population frequently experiences both external instances of discrimination and a significant level of internalized stigma. As a result of negative experiences based on their religious identity, these women often learn to censor their speech and behavior in public settings and can even come to anticipate ridicule or hostility in their everyday lives. Foreign-born Muslim women also appear to lack a protective factor against depression that is frequently associated with immigrants in America.
The theory of the “healthy migrant effect” states that the first generation of immigrants to the U.S. tend to have more positive health outcomes than those of the same background who are native-born citizens. However, this hypothesis was shown to not hold true for female followers of Islam. The reasons for this noticeable inconsistency with the theory are still unclear, but are believed to likely be due to the high amount of hostility toward Muslims currently in American society. The internalized stigma associated with Muslim-American women can also hinder them from seeking mental health treatment from a system they do not trust, which gives rise to a vicious cycle that cannot be broken easily.
These findings might lead to the assumption that Muslim-American women would be better off if they concealed their religious identity in public and made more of an effort to “blend in” in U.S. society, and Gulamhussein & Eaton (2015) found that the donning of traditional Islamic garb did indeed leave these women more vulnerable to discrimination and verbal harassment. But in a paradoxical manner, they also found that wearing the hijab–or Muslim head-covering–acted as a protective factor against the mental health problems that are typically linked to internalized stigma such as social anxiety and depressive symptoms. Women who reported higher levels of dedication to their faith were also found to be more resistant to external criticism or expressions of prejudice. These mixed results suggest that Muslim-American identity is complex and that further research needs to be conducted in regards to risk factors and protective factors for the mental well-being of this population.
Another negative impact that anti-Islamic stigma can have on the overall health of Muslim-American women is a reluctance to report instances of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Due to the common beliefs held in the United States that Islam promotes both violence and gender-based oppression, Muslim women frequently feel that seeking services for domestic abuse would only serve to reinforce said ideas in the eyes of the general public. It is also not uncommon for workers who provide this type of assistance to already hold unfavorable views on Islam which can influence the manner in which they treat clients.
Oyewuwo-Gassikia (2016) reports that in one instance, staff members at a shelter told a Muslim-American woman that she should discard her hijab because it symbolized the very type of oppression that had led to her situation. Such remarks are not only insensitive, but can augment the shame that this population already carries regarding the presumed link between their religion and violence against women and again impede them from seeking help. Close to two-thirds of Arab immigrant women were found to experience feelings of shame when seeking medical attention for domestic violence, and almost half of them reported being embarrassed when speaking to a social worker. In addition to these emotional complications, financial struggles and language barriers can also hinder women from addressing domestic abuse on a professional level.
