Gendered Islamophobia

Headline findings

• 80% of Muslim women do not report Islamophobic incidents; reporting rates vary dramatically by police force, revealing inconsistent trust in authorities across regions
• Police systematically misclassify faith-motivated hate crimes as race crimes, obscuring the true scale: thousands of race incidents recorded versus only hundreds of faith-motivated ones annually
• Since summer 2024 riots, 74% of Muslim women (both hijab-wearing and non-hijab-wearing) report acute worry about safety, up from 17% baseline—a 4-fold spike in fear regardless of visibility
• Media stereotyping of Muslim women as 'oppressed' or symbols of extremism normalises discrimination and prevents full participation in employment, healthcare and public life
• Government welcomed the January 2026 report and acknowledged 4,478 police-recorded hate crimes against Muslims in year ending March 2025 (45% of all religious hate crimes), but full acceptance of committee's legislative reforms remains unclear

Why it matters

Muslim women are the fastest-growing target of hate crime in the UK, yet their experiences are invisible in official statistics and policy—this inquiry names a problem most institutions have failed to recognise distinctly, directly affecting millions of women's freedom and safety.

Tone arc

Committee started from lived experience (Liverpool private panel) and escalated to structural indictment: initial framing of 'harassment incidents' evolved into systemic failure across police classification, media regulation, and legislative gaps after witness testimony revealed misclassification patterns and intersectional vulnerabilities.

Key witnesses

Baroness Shaista Gohir (Muslim Women's Network, CEO), Dr Irene Zempi (criminology academic, hate crime researcher), Raheel Mohammed (Maslaha, director), Allia Fredericks (Muslim Girls Fence, coordinator)