Can I bring my whole self to my workplace? : A qualitative study of immigrant Muslim women’s workplace experiences in Sweden

Abstract: In general, immigrants face various problems as they adjust to their new surroundings and begin a new life. The educated, employed Arabic immigrant Muslim women, (EEAIMW), live between two worlds: a Swedish world at work and an Arabic world at home. In this East-West dichotomy, they keep trying to find who they are and where they belong. This thesis helps to understand the influence of the intersection of religion, ethnicity, and gender serving as the primary disadvantage due to cultural expectations, socio-political considerations, and unfavourable stereotypes and stigmatization. This disadvantage affects not only their employment and career advancement, but also the agency and performed identities of EEAIMW in their Swedish workplace, (SWP). The purpose is to give voice to 17 EEAIMW narrating their journey in re-evaluating and developing their religious, ethnic, and gender identities to adapt to the environment of their SWP. Furthermore, to challenge the stereotyping and the stigmatization that position them as the “Other,” impeding their sense of belonging. Comprehensive data concerning the phenomena was gathered through a qualitative research approach and from in-depth semi-structured interviews with the study participants, joined with a literature review on immigrants, Islam, and employed Muslim women, covering topics about identity theories and organizational behaviour. According to the study’s findings, EEAIMW create a place for themselves in their SWP through their diverse agency and identity performing adaptation strategies, and that relationships rather than the place, create a sense of belonging. It is also found that the different sociocultural contexts do not destroy EEAIMW’s religious beliefs but add value to their existence outside their religious aspect. And when representing Swedish society, they remain linked to their homelands.