Intersectional marginalisation of female Muslim tourists

Abstract

Marginalisation in tourism is a prevailing social issue but gets compounded by multiple social identities. Guided by intersectionality theory, this constructivist grounded study provides an interpretive understanding of the intricate roles and influences of combined gendered and religious identities in compounding female Muslims’ marginalisation in tourism. Based on purposive and theoretical sampling, 27 interviews were conducted. This study extends the literature by finding that one situation involves single interaction between gender and religious identities, producing either gender-focused intersectional marginalisation that was amplified by Islamic cultural practices or religion-focused intersectional marginalisation that was amplified by the female gender identity, while another situation generates gender-focused and religion-focused intersectional marginalisation simultaneously. The Fijian context, a Muslim-minority and non-western setting in the Oceania-Pacific region, entailed both similarities and differences of intersectional marginalisations in comparison with global counterparts.