Second-Generation Muslim Women in Italian Mosques: Feminisation Without Feminism

This paper examines transformations of Islam in Europe through the lens of the feminisation of religion, drawing on evidence from an Italian context. It asks whether this category—traditionally applied to Christian contexts—can also illuminate gender dynamics within Muslim institutions. Focusing on those Italian mosques where generational change is underway, sustained by the active involvement of second-generation Muslims, it shows that generational change has been accompanied by both a quantitative and a qualitative feminisation: women now outnumber men in several of the associations studied and increasingly occupy public and leadership roles, while also contesting double standards and reinterpreting their participation through religious knowledge and piety. These developments express greater female autonomy and authority, challenging stereotypes of Muslim women’s subordination and echoing aims traditionally associated with secular feminist discourse. Yet, as in the historical Christian case, such transformations unfold within a religious framework, advancing women’s roles through faith-based reinterpretations rather than secular claims to emancipation. These developments point to a form of “feminisation without feminism,” a formulation that signals a theoretical stance: these transformations cannot be fully grasped through secular paradigms of emancipation alone but require attention to the ongoing interplay between religious and secular logics in shaping female agency. The article thus contributes to understanding the plurality of modernities and the post-secular reconfigurations of gender and religion in contemporary Europe.