Projects per year
Abstract
This article explores how UK women encounter religious dress and behavior codes in religious work contexts. It compares two very different case studies: women working at faith-based organizations in the UK and women working for secular organizations who travel for work to Saudi Arabia. Using 65 semi-structured interviews, participant wardrobe photographs, and observation in regional modest fashion retail, the article analyzes women workers’ experience in religious contexts as a form of aesthetic labor. It investigates the gendered and religious components which structure women’s different responses to workplace modesty codes. Detailing the additional aesthetic and emotional labor demanded of women in crafting modest professional appearances in religious contexts, the research reveals continuities in how workplace modesty requirements impact on women’s occupational performance and sense of self. The conclusion argues that religion-related workplace modesty codes constitute a religiously-inflected form of organisational aesthetics that may operate simultaneously with, but be experienced differently from, secular-driven organisational aesthetics. We find that religious dress codes are arbitrated by the avoidance of shame, an affect accompanying the government of modesty for all involved. We find that organisations benefit from, but do not recognise or recompense, the additional aesthetic labor that modesty demands of women.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 709-735 |
Number of pages | 27 |
Journal | Fashion Theory |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 5 |
Early online date | 2 Feb 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 2 Feb 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licen-ses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Funder
Arts & Humanities Research CouncilKeywords
- Aesthetic labor
- Women and Religion
- Saudi Arabia
- Women and employment
- Fashion and religion
Themes
- Faith and Peaceful Relations
- Equality and Inclusion
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Aesthetic labor in religious contexts: Women encountering modest dress in the workplace in the UK and Saudi Arabia'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 2 Finished
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Modest Workwear: The Organisational Impact Of Dress & Appearance
Aune, K. (Principal Investigator) & Lewis, R. (Principal Investigator)
1/12/21 → 30/11/22
Project: Research
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Modest Fashion in UK Women’s Working Life
Aune, K. (Principal Investigator)
1/12/18 → 31/05/20
Project: Research
Research output
- 5 Citations
- 1 Article
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Modest Dress at Work as Lived Religion: Women’s Dress in Religious Work Contexts in Saudi Arabia and the UK
Aune, K., Lewis, R. & Molokotos-Liederman, L., 28 Apr 2023, In: Sociology of Religion. 84, 1, p. 42-71 30 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile4 Citations (Scopus)88 Downloads (Pure)