The Space Between Work and Prayer

Where do working Muslim women pray outside the domestic space? And how does their prayer practice manifest in Lamu spatially?

Times are changing in Lamu. One of these changes is that women increasingly work outside of their homes. Islam teaches  that it is most rewarding for a woman to pray at home, and traditionally, Lamu women stayed  inside the home. But this  does not apply to everyone. Nowadays, an increasing number of Muslim women play  an active part of the economic life of the city. So, when the adhan is heard from all directions in Lamu town and their male colleagues go to the mosques to pray, where do these women go?

Our investigation also revealed how the different levels of assertiveness and claim-making on the part of the Muslim working women result in a variety of spaces being made available for prayer – from the storage cupboard to the female mosque. By exploring these spaces, we uncovered underlying connections between gender, culture, faith, labor conditions and the spatial expansion of Lamu Town.





Taking ablution in the Women’s Mosque

As  an all-women research team, we were able to explore how these Muslim women assert their presence in the city through their newly emerging places of prayer and how the female embodied practice of Islam enables  working Muslim women to shape and in turn be shaped by the spaces they inhabit.




Entrance to Raudha Women’s Mosque

The Space Between Work and Prayer #2502

Culture, Religion, and the Question of Space

When investigating the topic of working Muslim women in Lamu, the questions surrounding the lack of female mosques was answered time and time again with one word: “culture”. What is culture? And how is it different from religion? These are the questions on which I have built my theoretical framework that underpins my exploration of the female religious practices outside of the domestic space in Lamu Town.

“We’re fighting with culture and religion.”

“Most women in Lamu are not used to going to themosques because of the culture” 

Due to an unstable and declining economy on the one hand, and a higher level of education on the other, more and more Muslim women are joining the workforce. In anticipation of the mega infrastructural project LAPSSET, the town is expanding, both in size and population. In this context, for many working Muslim women, prayer at home often becomes a no longer viable option.

The theoretical framework I am using lies at the intersection of three concepts: heshima, embodied piety and respectability politics. In the Lamu context, heshima is of vital importance; literally “respectability” in Swahili, it represents the unspoken moral code that runs through the Swahili community. Theorized by the anthropologist Sarah Hillewaert as a “relational and performative network” (a system of behavior codes that apply to one’s role in the community and the mutual relationships between members), heshima relies heavily on Islamic values and morals, without, however, being one of the teachings of Islam. 


The way heshima functions in the Lamu context is very reminiscent of “respectability politics”. This concept, theorized by Evelyn B. Higginbotham in the U.S. context of African American women and adapted to an African feminist perspective by Sylvia Tamale, refers to the strategies used by women to attain legitimacy in a patriarchal environment, by exercising social control over each other’s bodies and behavior.

In order to avoid the pitfalls of binary oppression-liberation narratives, I also introduce Saba Mahmoud’s concept of embodied piety. The anthropologist reframes agency not as resistance to norms, but as the ethical cultivation of the self through religious practices. Through this lens, the actions and choices undertaken by the women of Lamu in regards to their preferred spaces of prayer become proofs of agency and self-determination under the prevalent moral system, defined by the respectability politics of heshima.

I apply this theoretical framework to the findings of the fieldwork we did in Lamu in orderto reveal the socio-cultural reasons behindsome of the more prevalent choices of prayerspace for the Muslim working women of Lamu. As such, the choice to pray at home during the lunch breaks has two underlying reasons: the Islamic prescription that teaches that women receive more spiritual rewards by praying at home and the more practical reason of domestic duties, like preparing lunch for the children.

This is where the spatial expansion of the town comes into play, as the urban development becomes a hurdle in the most heshima-elevating prayer practices the working Muslim women can engage in. With longer distancesand unreliable means of transportation women can no longer easily go home on their lunch break to pray for dhuhr, the midday prayer. As such they employ various strategies. Some visit the homes of relatives or friends that live closerto their place of employment, whereas others pray directly at their workplace, with a growing minority preferring to pray in the one accessible and adequate female mosque, Raudhwamosque.

There are some women praying in mosques too. Generally, women pray in a mosque more often during Ramadan, as there are much less domestic duties during the day, due to thefasting, which allows women to congregate en-masse to female mosques. Outside of Ramadan however, only one female mosque fulfills all thecriteria to be properly used.

Raudhwa mosque recently (February 2025) opened its female section, which despite its small size is bright, clean and equipped with all the women might need to fulfill their religious duties. It is also, as opposed to other mosques that have or have had a female section, perfectly placed, on the Seafront, within walking distance from most workplaces that employ Muslim women. Raudhwa mosque, however, is not perfect either; most of the time it is locked up, and only a select few have got a key, and thus access to the building and despite their popularization campaign it is still largely unknown by the women working in a radius bigger than 100 meters.

The lack of female mosques and the lack of visitors of those mosques reveals a vicious circle that proliferates at the intersection of religion and culture. Islam professes that it ismore rewarding for a woman to pray at home and historically most women did not leave the domestic space for prolonged periods of time. As such, it has become a part of the culture that women do not pray in mosques, which has been used as the reasoning behind the meager offering of female sections. The lack of appropriate space, in turn, makes women prefer the comfort and familiarity of their domestic space, further entrenching the idea that Lamu Muslim women simply do not pray in mosques.

“Swahili people (women) do not use the mosque for prayer”

When praying outside of a domestic space, we can see the women’s religious practices as a form of embodied piety, a way to express their agency in an environment that does not cater to them. Workplace prayer spaces are rarely institutionalized, and thus often improvised. Offices, storage rooms and the back rooms of shops take on a religious function through the act of prayer. However, these spaces, not being designed for such a function, are often lacking: too small, not clean enough and occasionally without the proper ablution facilities. But regardless of their shortcomings, these improvised prayer spaces represent a way for the women to appropriate and transform them in accordance to their religious needs, thus becoming an act of religious self-cultivation.

The Space Between Work and Prayer #2503

Micropolitics of Prayer

“How does Muslim working women’s prayer practice challenge the gendered cityscape of Lamu, fostering new female spaces of worship and increasing the feminine presence in public areas?”

This research started from an interest in the women’s spaces of prayer. While the Muslim men usually pray five times a day at one of the 42 mosques in Lamu Town, Lamu’s Muslim women habitually pray in their homes.

The recent increase in Muslim women engaging in non-domestic work is changing this. I was curious to first understand where the idea that women should pray at home comes from. From there, I was then trying to learn about these women's motivations for participation in the structural workforce and the changing needs that come with it. Lastly I was looking at the way, the practice of religion plays into this dynamic and the spatial manifestations of it.

In Swahili society someone’s position in the social hierarchy used to be defined by their wealth, descent and heshima (respectability). Having heshima is roughly defined by factors such as behaving respectfully and being a good Muslim. What that means in practice though is constantly renegotiated amongst the members of Swahili society.  An increased emphasis on heshima in the beginning of the last century, led to the seclusion of women becoming a status symbol for the family. The effects of this practice had a big impact on the position of women in the public sphere which is perceived until today. Many places in town, especially the bigger streets, squares, the Seafront and many workplaces, continue to be male-dominated, which leads to women either avoid them or navigate them with precaution. For a long time women were also discouraged from pursuing higher education, leading to generations of women who had no, or no higher education.

Now the changes in Lamu’s economy and the rising level of education in women, have led to their increased participation in the non-domestic workforce. Working, for many of them, is much more than just a way to make money. It became clear to me, that it is also a means to gain some independence and to open paths beyond marriage and domestic duties. Through the insight of Belgian anthropologist Sarah Hillewaert’s study of Lamu’s youth we also understand that these women see working, especially in NGOs and aid organisations as contributing to the development and therefore to the wellbeing of the town and its residents, contributing to their heshima.

At the same time, by joining the workforce, and their increased presence in the streets and workplaces, they challenge the ever-present unwritten rules of heshima. However, religion remains central in many of their lives, contradicting a western view of secularisation as a liberating element. For most of the women we spoke to, there was no doubt, they would continue their salat, the practice of their five daily prayers also when working. Scholars like John R. Bowen describe the Muslim daily prayers as one of the most visible aspects through which Muslims distinguish themselves from other religions, but also from one another and their varying degrees of religious observance. It therefore comes to no surprise that the women also employ their own religiosity to show that a practicing Muslim, a person with heshima, can also come in the form of a working woman.




A prayer room inside an office


The increased participation of Muslim women in Lamu's formal workforce is not merely an economic shift but a transformation of the city's social and spatial dynamics. As these women navigate the complexities of work and religious observance, they challenge traditional norms of heshima and redefine the gendered nature of public spaces. Their commitment to maintaining their daily prayers while engaging in non-domestic work emphasisesthe intricate relationship between gender, religion, and urban space. Through their everyday practices, these women are not only asserting their place in the city but also reshaping its urban fabric. The creation of new prayer spaces, from ad-hoc solutions to dedicated women's mosques, materializes their evolving needs and aspirations. My research highlights the importance of acknowledging and adapting to these transformations to cultivate more inclusive and equitable urban environments. The 'micropolitics of prayer' utilized by these women stand as a compelling illustration of their agency and determination, embodying the continuous evolution of societal norms within Swahili society.

“The opening of the women’s Mosque made me feel seen.”

Outside Raudha Women’s Mosque

Lamu’s Mkunguni Square


While some women go back to their homes at prayer time, through Lamu’s growing spatial expansion and the further distances, this is not always possible anymore, which leads to a new need for prayer places for women close to their workplaces.

I read the women’s everyday practices of working and especially praying in the city as acts of ‘micropolitics’, a term first coined by French philosopher Michel de Certeau in 1984, and taken up by Yasminah Beebeejaun, Professor for Urban Planning from the University College London. She appeals to planners to pay attention to women’s everyday actions and read them as acts of ‘micropolitics’, to inform their planning and create more just cities for all genders. In the context of Lamu, and other cities of the Global South, where the role of planning is distinctly different from a Western context, I argue that the ‘micropolitics of prayer’ of the women negotiate symbolic but also physical space with the community and religious leaders. Starting from small ad-hoc prayer spaces like a storage cupboard to more institutionalised space like the mosque dedicated to women, the material impact of this negotiation is manifold. The most prominent form of it is certainly the new creation of a mosque just for women which enjoys great popularity, especially amongst the working Muslim women, but also serves travelling women as a temporary refuge in a city, where there are not many other public spaces dedicated to women.




Inside Raudha Women’s Mosque