Consultations Homepage || Meeting Notes: 28 May 2003
Consultation with Muslim Girls and Women's Group hosted by the Victorian Department of Human Services, Melbourne, 28 May 2003
The meeting was organised by Ms Karen Goltz, Regional Health Promotion Public Health and Strategic Development Western Metropolitan Region, Department of Human Services and, and facilitated by Omeima Sukkarieh (notes) and Susanna Iuliano from HREOC. It was attended by seven invited participants. Omeima interpreted the Arabic.
The Islamic Girls and Women's Group has been established by Afshan Mantoo, a pioneer of Islamic Women's Welfare. With her experience, she realised the need for an organisation to address Muslim women's social, economical, educational, employment, health, justice, settlement and recreational issues.
The group is an incorporated non-profit organisation and the members are from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The group aims to facilitate the development of Muslim women into progressive, adaptable, accommodating, forward-thinking members of the community. They aim to contribute to the security and prosperity of Australia by creating a better understanding of Islam and Muslims through interaction with the community.
1. What are your experiences of discrimination and vilification?
The majority of participants had experienced discrimination in various places including public space, public transport, on the street or while driving, and in the provision of services and felt by far the biggest impact was fear and isolation. Some women shared their views and experiences.
"Women and girls have had their hijab taken off and been spat at and physically abused by other non-Muslim students at university. This to them is the equivalent of feeling raped."
"It is common that people who used to be nice to you before September 11 change the way they react to you after. Before September 11 and after September 11, we are the same Muslims, we haven't changed!"
"The other and older more established ethnic groups are worse than the Anglos at times, treating you as though you are indigenous and tell you things like 'You've got a good accent'. And they assume that you are dumb and uneducated. It is hard when people are seeing bad things about Muslims and Arabs in their own environment, mostly getting these negative images from the media."
One participant (who doesn't wear the headscarf) hasn't experienced any discrimination but knows of others who have.
"I haven't really had any experiences so I think it does depend on your experiences and attitude. For example I'm not really worried about it because I'm not really seen as prey. But I know I'm the lucky one."
In government offices
"People who work in government offices ask people in a derogatory way if they want an interpreter even if they speak fluent English. Why?"
On the street
There were two serious incidents of road rage mentioned, both leaving the women frightened, angry and disillusioned at the fact that no-one came to their aid and some people stood by and watched the incident take place. One of the participants recalled her mother's violent experience outside a bus stop which had left her with poor eyesight.
"About eight months ago my mother was crossing the road at the bus stop in Footscray and a girl about 25 years old kept staring at her, maybe because my mother wears the full hijab. The girl came from behind her and tried to steal her bag and my mother struggled with her. There was a long scuffle and everyone in the street and bus stop were watching. During the struggle, the girl sprayed pepper spray in my mother's eyes and she fainted. No-one picked her up and the girl ran off after seeing a man walk up to her. The bus driver kept going. [My mother] went to the doctor and she still can't see properly. She never filed a complaint. She was more upset that people didn't do anything to help even after she fell down. They just watched, rather than help what happened. She is now too scared to catch a bus. She can't believe it."
Another participant recalled an incident that occurred only one month previously.
"I was walking with my grandson and a lady who was driving got onto the footpath and tried to run us over. She was yelling abuses and I was so scared that I didn't take the license plate down. I went into the shop on the corner and the lady from the shop didn't do anything. We rely only on God to protect us. At first after September 11, I was scared to go out. Slowly you regain trust but then this happened only last month..."
Another woman recalled an incident which took place in late March 2003. Initially she was unable to talk about it because she was very distressed and emotional and the group's spokesperson began the story. She then had the courage and shared the following personal account of what happened, the impact this has had on her life and her experience with the police.
"I was picking up my children from the local Islamic school at Broadmeadows and on the way home a lady tried to run me off the road. She followed me home and then when I was in my driveway, I was getting the kids out of the car and the lady threw a can of coke at my daughter who is twelve years old. She then came up the driveway and physically assaulted my daughter and grabbed her very hard and continued to shout at her. She kept yelling abuses and swear words at us. My daughter was badly hurt. The woman yelled things like 'We'll fix you, you nappy heads', and 'Get the f ... out of our country you f ...ing terrorists'. "The whole time the neighbour was watching. She called my daughter a 'slut' many times also.
"Now I don't leave the house. About five days later a friend took me to the police to report what happened but they told me to ignore her. They asked me if I wanted her to come and apologise and I said 'No, I want to take her to court', but the police advised me not to and said that she was a druggie and that it wasn't necessary and that cops are called pigs all the time, but I told him that it wasn't the same. I am very afraid to get out of the house. I am afraid that she will come back because she threatened us and knows where we live. I haven't left the house only when absolutely necessary for four months. I can't leave the house alone and I don't take my children to school anymore. I feel like I am a prisoner in my own home. I turn off the television [so as not] to hear voices and I don't let my kids out of the house anymore."
The participant was clearly distressed and showed great emotion and fear. The spokesperson, who was assisting her in getting counselling for herself and her daughter, continued the discussion and talked of how this impacted on the family.
"The woman [i.e. perpetrator] assaulted her daughter and grabbed her and swore at her and she feels very humiliated by that. Her daughter is traumatised and says she feels different because she is wearing her scarf. It happens in the shopping centres and other places but it's worst when it happens at home. The lady is afraid to go out of her house, go shopping; she is imprisoned in her own home, she turns off the television so she isn't able to hear any strange noises and things like that. Her girls are not to go out and it goes on. She doesn't feel she'll ever be safe."
After being asked what assistance they sought for the woman and her family, it was clear the level of frustration that was felt by the response.
"We complained to the police about this incident and she even called the Helpline they had but there was no follow-up. I took her to Foundation House but they don't go to the women, they expected her to go to them but she was too scared. There should be more support, especially support from Muslim women to other Muslim women."
The police response:
"Even when speaking to the police she was scared because they didn't do anything and they didn't understand what she was going through. Her husband is really scared because he knows that it happens nearly everyday and police know about it but nothing."
The woman's response when asked if they took the matter to a higher ranked police officer.
"People are not going to go to the supervisor to take an issue further if their first police contact was bad."
Other experiences
Another participant spoke of how students in her course only started to like her after they got to know her.
"I was doing a short course at Centrelink for job searching and I was the only woman in the class to wear the hijab. At first no-one would talk to me and then they would ask me questions about my religion and what I thought about what was happening and things like that. Then they started to like me, but you think 'Why should we have to explain ourselves all the time?' But what choice do we have?"
Reporting discrimination
"Since September 11 a lot of cases of discrimination and complaints have come to the group and not to police or other authorities as a result of fear."
"Women complain to other women's organisations more than they complain to the Islamic Council of Victoria, but they were the ones that had the helpline. It won't work like that."
2. What is being done to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?
The girls in the community are being trained by 'YAP' (an online student community) to reach out and be seen as active participants in the community. This was seen as a very important strategy. (YAP is a news and entertainment site for students across Australia, offering features such as chat rooms, message boards, employment and finance advice, as well as a host of lifestyle information and services. For more information visit the website at www.yap.com.au)
Police response after September 11
"There were more police patrols around the Islamic schools during the beginning and end and the community feel better protected."
3. What more could be done to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?
Public education and education for service providers
"Australians need a better understanding of its people and their religions."
"The only difference people see in these women is their [hijab] and unless they look beyond that this will continue."
"People need to be focusing on the strengths of the Muslim religion and then [Muslims] can be treated as human beings regardless of their religion, and that's not asking much!"
Education in the Muslim community
"It's everyone's role to promote Islam positively. For example, our group sometimes visits church groups to educate them about Islam. I get contacted because my face is often in the paper and I make referrals. It's important for people in my position to send others to talk and I tell others in the community to go out there and educate the community about Islam in a positive light. It's important not to just give up but to just keep going forward."
Police
"There should be more police interacting with the Islamic community on the ground."
"It is useful for people who have had experiences to talk at police forums and share their experiences and we need to encourage women to join the police force and have them being recruited more."
"I am really upset about the lack of action taken by the Police. They should be more educated about Muslim women especially in the training that they get. It's important for them to know such things as Muslim women avoid interacting with men and are more reserved, things like that. And Police need to start attending the forums and meetings and participate more in our activities."
Capacity building
"I think building relationships with your neighbours is important and also making sure that women know there are support networks for them, not just Helplines."
"More funding needs to be given to Muslim women to do counselling courses and to get them into doing volunteer work and things like that. This will help to empower them and help them empower each other."
On a final note one participant gave this message to women who are too scared to leave the house.
"It's important to persuade yourself that you need to accept that you have to go out into the world and to different places. It's important not to be discouraged about going out into the community because you are part of that community."
