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HREOC Website: Isma - Listen: National consultations on eliminating prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australias

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|| 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."