Global economic crises coupled with popular culture notions of the ‘girlboss’ have conditioned young women to be entrepreneurial, independent and to see their human rights as fundamentally tied into consumerism and capitalism. Dr Sherene Idriss’ research examines how these discourses and structures come to bear on young women from racially minoritised backgrounds. This presentation will explore how one challenge of ‘doing it all’ for minoritised young women is that they must also reckon with parallel problems of structural racism and myths of the ‘model minority’. Both ongoing, everyday racism and model minority myths create conditions where young people from migrant backgrounds feel pressured to excel in their fields and uphold ‘Australian values’ in ways that continually demonstrate gratitude and refrain from critiquing the nation-state. Dr Idriss’ research takes a sociological lens to understand how these demands are felt by young women from Arab and Muslim backgrounds and how it shapes various aspects of their lives. In a post 9/11 age, Muslim women in the West have been represented in simplistic binaries – as suspects or victims (Hussein, 2016). This presentation will draw on first-hand accounts from Arab and Muslim young women from ongoing research across Southwest Sydney and Melbourne’s Western and Northern suburbs to challenge these binaries and ask new questions about the state of gender and ethnic identity-making under disruptive economic conditions and global racial capitalist hierarchies.  

You can also join the Majlis via Zoom through Launch Meeting - Zoom.