How do religious beliefs impact economic inactivity among British-Pakistani Muslim women?

This article explores the relationship between economic inactivity and religiosity. The aim of the analysis of qualitative data presented here is to examine whether, and how, religious beliefs impact on decisions British-Pakistani Muslim women make about economic activity. Analysis of interview data reveals that none of the interviewees held the belief that economic activity was impermissible (haram) for women in Islam. However, some interviewees held religiously-informed beliefs that paid employment was undesirable, with marked differences in attitudes to economic activity by both age and migrant generation. Alongside this, interviewees described structural constraints to economic activity, for example, limited opportunities for well-paid, local, part-time work. Overall, religious beliefs emerge as significant in the lives of Muslim women because they allow them to make sense of, and find value in, their marginalised positions in relation to the labour market rather than as drivers of economic inactivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]