Stereotyping Muslim Women in Australia: Perceptions of The Veil

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between stereotyping and Islamophobia in contemporary Australia, specifically exploring attitudes towards Muslim women who choose to wear the veil. Previous research has found evidence that the veil is a strong predictor for adverse attitudes towards Muslim women, with negative attitudes increasing as facial coverage increases. Previous research has primarily taken place in European countries with little focus on how the veil is perceived in Australia where there have been fewer terrorist attacks and no policies banning head-covering as in France and Belgium. Australia considers itself a multicultural, egalitarian society, thus, it is fundamental to examine if the negative stereotyping of Muslim women is prevalent here. The present study randomly assigned participants into one of three conditions to an online impression-formation task; participants viewed a photographic stimulus of the same woman wearing either no veil, a head-veil or a full-face veil. Participants then rated the woman on two scales comprising the Stereotype Content Model (SCM). Based on the SCM it was predicted that as the amount of head-coving increased, warmth stereotypes would be higher and competency stereotypes lower. Although the means in the different conditions were in the predicted direction they were not statistically significant. Nor were they significant when Islamophobia, Social Dominance Orientation and Religiosity were controlled for. These findings are discussed in relation to the various limitations of the study and how this study could impact future research on perceptions of Muslim women in Australia. Keywords: Islamophobia, Veil, SCM, Muslim Women, Australia