The community engagement ‘Making Ground: The Participation of Muslim Girls in Sport’, co-organised with Al Siraat College, the City of Whittlesea and the Social and Global Studies Centre (RMIT University), was held at Al Siraat College in Epping on Thursday 1 September 2022.
The event is an outcome of the project ‘In the Game: Overcoming barriers and parental attitudes towards physical activity outcomes of Muslim girls on the fringes of Melbourne’, funded by the Victorian Government’s ‘Change Our Game’ Grant, the Office for Women and Sport and Recreation (OWSR) and led by RMIT academics Dr Tuba Boz and Professor Hariz Halilovich.
Research partners, participating communities, policymakers, educators, sporting associations, parents and students came together to celebrate the successful completion of the project and share its main findings and highlights. The event commenced with a welcome message from Peggy O’Neal AO, Chancellor of RMIT University, who emphasized the importance of community-based research.
Dr Tuba Boz provided an overview of the findings from the study and introduced the panel discussion led by Professor Hariz Halilovich.
Panellists included:
- Professor Hariz Halilovich (RMIT, Moderator)
- Sarah Styles (Director, Office for Women and Sport and Recreation)
- Rahat Arain (Director of Student Learning, Al Siraat College)
- Sarah Loh (Executive Manager, FHG, VicHealth)
- Tanja Kubitza (Content and Relations Lead, Al Siraat College)
- Megan Harper (Sports Inclusion Officer, City of Whittlesea)
- Rachael Hussein (Community Engagement Officer, Al Siraat College)
- Safiye Asanova (PE Teacher and Girls Coordinator, Al Siraat College)
- Nawal Jaleel (Student, Softball player)
- David Halley (Head of Secondary PE, Al Siraat College)
The panel discussed the opportunities and challenges of Muslim girls’ participation in sports from a variety of perspectives.
Ms Jaleel explained why she joined the softball team and gave advice to parents, students and local clubs about facilitating Muslim girls’ participation in sport. Ms Asanova discussed the challenges she experienced with clubs around culturally appropriate uniforms, while Ms Arain spoke of her experiences in leading the Bicycle Users Group.
Ms Styles and Ms Loh spoke of their own experiences in participating in sports and highlighted the efforts of VicHealth and the OSWR in overcoming barriers and creating fairer access to all.
Mr Halley shared his views as a ‘professional insider’ and ‘cultural outsider’ and Ms Kubitza who was featured in the ‘Whittlesea Girls Can’ video highlighted the importance of role modelling and the idea that ‘seeing is believing’.
Ms Hussein and Ms Harper highlighted the outcomes of their collaboration in facilitating the participation of Muslim women and girls in sports. Their ‘Golf come and try’ program yielded positive results and pathed the way for Muslim women and girls’ participation in this sport.
Here is a brief video about the program: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ji7dn6db6pvghoc/GIG%20women%20%40%20Growling%20Frog%20GC%20%20Long%20Video%20V2.mp4?dl=0
The closing remarks were made by The Hon Lily D’Ambrosio MP, Minister for Energy; Environment and Climate Action; Solar Homes on behalf of The Hon Ros Spence MP, Minister for Multicultural Affairs; Community Sport; Youth; Prevention of Family Violence.
This event, like other project activities, facilitated networking opportunities and conversations between communities, schools, sports clubs, and state sporting associations and had a profound impact on breaking stereotypes and building relationships.
Dr Boz and Professor Halilovich plan on developing this project further and to continue working together with Muslim communities across Victoria.
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