UNVEILING THE MYTHS:
A Muslim Women’s Project
This was a 3 year project, now concluded, funded by the Illawarra Area Assistance Scheme (IAAS) for a detailed needs analysis of Muslim women in the Illawarra. The Project Worker was employed to work with 3 generations of Muslim women in 4 demographic groups and 2 language groups.
The AIMS of the 3 year project were:
- To promote positive images of the Muslim community, through the eyes of Muslim women, to the broader community
- To gather information about issues of importance to Muslim women across the Illawarra, and connect communities across language groups and diverse backgrounds in the process
- To engage the communities in conversations about the key issues exploring their views of what contributes to individual and community well-being, and what reduces or prohibits well-being for Muslim women, and
- To identify 3 key or priority issues for further exploration in the second year of the project. Use of various art and media as exploration tools to further enhance positive images of the Muslim community, and thereby promote a harmonious and safer community.
In total, seventy Muslim women participated in consultations over a period of one year. Key issues ‘unveiled’ in the consultations were:
- Language
- Health services
- Employment
- Social and community experience and communication, and
- Education
Two outcomes of the project are:
- A Photo Poster Exhibition: of images through the eyes of Muslim women. This is being launched for IWD, and then doing the rounds of libraries in the Illawarra, and perhaps even further afield.
- A Muslim Teenage Girls Documentary, which is still continuing.
There is a printed report of the findings available through this centre.