Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Conclusion 1
10th Report – Discrimination, harassment and abuse against Muslim women
Published 30 Jan 2026
Addressed to Government Equalities Office
Women and Equalities Committee Gendered Islamophobia All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Muslims in the UK face increasing levels of online, verbal, and physical abuse and discrimination. Muslim women are disproportionately likely to face such abuse and experience it in ways that are specifically gendered and often linked to their race and/or ethnic identity, as well as their perceived inability to retaliate. Such abuse and harassment occurs in everyday situations, including in shops and on public transport. It can also come from within their communities, where patriarchal networks can challenge women who seek greater autonomy, and perpetrators of abuse rely on customs and traditions to justify their behaviour. This freedom-restricting harassment, both from direct experience and the fear of experiencing it, leads to self- censorship and a withdrawal from participation in public life. It has a deeply damaging impact on individual lives and a corrosive effect on community cohesion. (Conclusion, Paragraph 35)
From: Women and Equalities Committee, 10th Report – Discrimination, harassment and abuse against Muslim women (HC 571), 30 January 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 12 May 2026 (deadline 30 March 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's inquiry and sets out existing and planned action across media, policing, employment, health, online safety, schools and community programmes, agreeing with some recommendations, noting others, and declining to commit to further online transparency powers at this stage.
- On Law Commission hate crime recommendations, the government is "considering the 34 recommendations" and says it has "already taken steps on implementation where appropriate", citing an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill.
- On mayors, it "agree[s] with the Committee" that they are well placed to promote the reporting service, and "will write to all UK Mayors" encouraging them to promote it.
- On online abuse, it points to an existing statutory review of the Online Safety Act and says it needs to be "confident of where regulation is working" before introducing new measures.
- On schools, it will convene a "Tackling Anti-Muslim Hostility Roundtable" as a first step, and will procure and publish further anti-Muslim hostility resources on Educate Against Hate "in the next financial year".