A labour of love: Muslim women carving out belonging in blue spaces

Jennifer E. Cheng; Michelle O’Shea; Nicole Peel; Kazi Rashid; Hazel Maxwell

doi:10.1177/10126902251342595

A labour of love: Muslim women carving out belonging in blue spaces

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

This paper marks space to share the lived experiences of a group of Sydney-based Muslim women, the Swim Sisters, who are challenging exclusion in Australian ‘blue spaces’ (beaches and public swimming pools). While these spaces are constructed as public assets for all Australians, democratic and egalitarian principles are not always reflected in the experiences of Australians who do not ‘fit’ White settler sporting and exercise norms. Through understanding the nature and effect of their labour and commitment to carving out spaces for marginalised groups, we ask, ‘Are Muslim women organising in ways that contribute to the construction of safe blue spaces?’ Identified themes were: ‘Muslim women can’t swim’; safety and fear; and advocacy and education. We consider how the Swim Sisters’ ‘labour of love’ might be supported and positive ripple effects harnessed in ways that disrupt exclusionary practices and their effects.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	301-320
Number of pages	20
Journal	International Review for the Sociology of Sport
Volume	61
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902251342595
Publication status	Published - Mar 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 5 Gender Equality

Keywords

belonging
blue spaces
gender
labour
Muslim women
racism
safety
sport
swimming

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10.1177/10126902251342595Licence: CC BY

Full textFinal published version, 697 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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A labour of love: Muslim women carving out belonging in blue spaces

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

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