This project explores how gender policies towards Muslim women were utilised as a means to penetrate and control Muslim communities. It examines the communist governments’ methods for implementing policies that interfered with people’s cultural norms, as well as the long-term consequences. The project not only analyses the Yugoslav, Bulgarian and Soviet cases individually but also offers a comparison of these case studies. Yugoslavia and Bulgaria were heavily influenced by Soviet models, and the project looks at how these ideas were adapted in each country. For example, it examines similarities and differences in the communists’ views on Muslim women’s agency, dress and body, and explores how such views informed the policymaking in different periods and political surroundings. Besides the analysis of the policies and their implementation, this project also explores the strategies that Muslim women used to resist these measures and the consequences for them and their families.