Unpacking the nexus of Islamic religiosity and attitudes towards individual liberties and gender equality: a person-centered analysis among Dutch Muslims

Abstract

Public discourses frequently portray religiosity as a problem for the emancipation of women and sexual minorities, and in Europe, Muslims are particularly singled out as threatening liberal values. Empirical studies indeed often document negative associations between Muslims’ religiosity and attitudes such as support for gender equality and acceptance of homosexuality. However, research so far mainly applied variable-centered analyses which neglect that there might be different ways in which Muslim minority members combine their religiosity and attitudes towards individual (sexual) liberties and gender equality. To provide a more differentiated understanding of these complex associations, we conduct a person-centered analysis and identify different subgroups in the Turkish- and Moroccan-origin oversample of the Netherlands Longitudinal Lifecourse Study (NELLS 2011, N = 1829). Two subgroups confirm findings from variable-centered approaches: we find a profile that combines high levels of religiosity with low acceptance of sexual liberalism, and one with the opposite pattern of low religiosity but high levels of acceptance of sexual liberalism and gender equality. A sizable additional subgroup combines high levels of religiosity with acceptance of homosexuality, and to a lesser extent divorce and chosen childlessness. Our findings suggest that the acceptance of homosexuality is particularly relevant in differentiating between subgroups of Muslims, whereas attitudes towards gender equality do not differ remarkably between profiles. In conclusion, liberal attitudes are complexly related to religiosity, warning against over-simplified interpretations of religion as generally threatening progressive values or the emancipation of minoritized groups on the basis of gender or sexuality.