David Cameron: More Muslim women should 'learn English' to help tackle extremism

The Prime Minister is expected to call on more Muslim mothers to learn English and help to prevent their sons from turning to extremism

Muslim women talking on Whitechapel Road
Sikh and Hindu leaders complained the BBC made a disproportionate number of programmes about Islam at the expense of other faiths Credit: Photo: John Taylor

More Muslim women should “learn English " in the hope that they will turn into more powerful moderating forces, David Cameron will say on Monday.

The Prime Minister is expected to call on more Muslim mothers to learn this country's language to enable them to play a bigger role in society and help to prevent their sons from turning to extremism.

Mr Cameron has privately suggested that one of the main reasons young men are vulnerable to radicalisation is the "traditional submissiveness of Muslim women", which prevents them from speaking out against the influence of the radical Imams.

David Cameron
David Cameron

It comes after Mr Cameron asked Louise Casey, the Director General of the Government's Troubled Families unit, to lead "a comprehensive review into boosting opportunity and integration to bring Britain together as one nation".

The review is intended to ensure more people from ethnic and minority backgrounds feel they have a stake in British society and to investigate the role families can play in tackling radicalisation.

Ms Casey is expected to set out the framework for a new ‘Cohesive Communities Programme’, which will "improve integration and extend opportunity" among Muslims.

 Louise Casey at the department of Department of Communities

A Government source said: "David knows that the traditional submissiveness of Muslim women is a sensitive issue, but the problems of young people being attracted by extremism will not be tackled without an element of cultural change within the community.

"At the moment, too many Muslim women are treated like second-class citizens who may speak only basic English at best, and have no jobs or independent financial standing. It means they are in no position to speak out against the influence of the radical Imams, however strongly they feel about it".

Mr Cameron has previously said he is determined to tackle extremism and is thought to have been shocked by the 700 people who are already thought to have fled Britain to join Isil.

Isil fighters

Last year parents were given new powers to get their child’s passport cancelled if they thought there was a chance of them travelling to the Middle East to join a terrorist organisation.

"We have to confront a tragic truth that there are people born and raised in this country who don’t really identify with Britain"
David Cameron

He said: "For all our successes as multi-racial, multi-faith democracy, we have to confront a tragic truth that there are people born and raised in this country who don’t really identify with Britain – and feel little or no attachment to other people here."

In 2013, Theresa May banned two prominent US bloggers from entering the UK, because their presence was "not conducive to the public good".

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, who co-founded anti-Muslim group Stop Islamization of America, were due to speak at an English Defence League march in Woolwich, where Drummer Lee Rigby was killed.