strive report leicester - empowering muslim women

STR!VE in association with St Philip’s Centre, 2A Stoughton Drive North, Leicester, LE5 5UB

Course rePorT

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We would like to say a big thanks to our family and friends for all their help and support throughout this project. Also a big thanks to all the organisations and people we have engaged with and who have lent their support, without whom this project would not have been successful. We would also like to say thank you to the St Philips Centre and Leicester City Council who guided us through this project. Last but not least we would like to thank all the amazing women who participated on the course. For their support, encouragement and engagement, it was a pleasure to have met and worked with you all and to have listened to your experiences and stories.

Thanks/ acknowledgemenTs

conTenTsIntroduction 3

Contract Aims 4

“My Voice Right or Wrong” by Gulshana 8

The Course 10

The Topics

1: Portrayal of Muslim Women Delivered by STR!VE 14

2: Mental health Delivered by Akwaaba Ayeh 16

3: Child Abuse Delivered by a representative from the Leicester City Council 18

4: Domestic violence delivered by Domestic Violence Integrated Response Project (DVIRP) 22

5: Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) Delivered by the Community Engagement Team Leicestershire Constabulary and STR!VE 24

6: Forced Marriages and honour based violence Delivered by HOPE training and STR!VE 26

Conclusion 30

Testimonials 31

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InTroducTIonThe STR!VE project started in 2009 with the aim of developing and delivering a course for Muslim women on issues that were prevalent within the community but were not necessarily looked at. Before going more into detail on the project and the journey that we have travelled, it is worth looking at how the idea came about. In 2008 as young Muslim women ourselves, we noticed that sometimes there was a lack of women role models that we could look up to. We asked ourselves if an issue arose, for example a terrorist incident, who could we turn to for advice? We also found ourselves in situations where we were helpless when friends and family were going through difficult circumstances such as domestic violence. Who could we refer them to or where could we get advice from? We found that the media commented on Muslim women; on their appearance and personalities often in a stereotypical and pre conceived way. However you hardly ever see the other side of Muslim women why they dress and behave in a certain way. It was from this need that we identified that we had to do something that would hopefully encourage women from within the community to speak up. As a result the STR!VE project was born.

We started the project in early 2009. In order to get a broader picture we went to as many events as we could before starting work on the project itself. We began by working on researching the areas that women found to be pressing issues. We went to various conferences and events and had stalls so we could talk to people and we spoke to a wide variety of women from many different walks

of life. This gave us an insight in an informal and friendly manner to find out what women wanted to address. In addition to these topics, we researched areas professionals had identified as issues within this professional sector and also the subjects that we ourselves as Muslim women thought were not raised in the community. We came up with more topics than we could possibly look at and thus had to make a decision on the topics that we would cover.

We have completed the course which surpassed our expectations and was a fantastic way of educating not only the women but ourselves. We learnt so much not only from the practitioners but also from the women who have been through wide and varied experiences. The course highlighted various issues that are at the heart of the community. Furthermore, we realised that the course was too short and that there are more topics which need to be looked at.

This report will look at some of the themes. Topics include the preventing violent extremism agenda, domestic violence, child abuse, mental illness, the portrayal of Muslim women, forced marriages and honour based violence. In addition we have highlighted some recommendations.

It is important to note that many of the topics that we looked at are not Muslim based issues. They are not topics that solely affect Muslim women or Muslim communities. These are issues that are prevalent in the whole of wider society and can

affect anybody regardless of religion, age, race etc. We felt that we needed to look at some of these issues so that we can be educated in how to deal with them.

We hope that you enjoy reading this report and that it will allow you to take back a wider understanding of some of the issues.

Thank you.

Sumaiya Mulla and Rumena Choudhury.

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conTracT aImsWe have achieved the aims and outcomes set for the STR!VE project by the Leicester City Council.

The aims of the service were:

“To develop and support the delivery of a specific programme of work aimed at empowering, developing and/or supporting capacity building and leadership work with Muslim women and Muslim women’s organisation through:”

We did this through a community based course that looked at different topic areas such as terrorism, domestic violence, child abuse, personal safety, Muslim women’s identity, forced marriages and honour based violence, mental health, and victim support.

“• encouraging and increasing the direct engagement between mainstream service providers and Muslim women/organisations working with Muslim women.”

We decided to approach the course in a multi-agency way by finding out who was involved with the various subjects and how we could link up and work together to create a service for hard to reach Muslim women to access. These organisations came in and delivered some sessions. This was invaluable for us as it helped us to develop a good working relationship and to establish referral arrangements as there was no need to re-invent the wheel.

“• supporting and empowering Muslim women to address their stereotypes and challenge the barriers that hold them back.”

We decided on an issue based approach to encourage and empower the Muslim women within our communities to enable them to engage with the issues and the services that are available to them city wide, in order that they can challenge the barriers and stereotypes they face.

“• initiatives that promote, encourage and develop proactive leadership roles for Muslim women in the community to enable their full and equal participation in their own communities and in wider society.”

The course was tailor-made to fit this purpose so that issues could be raised in a forum the women felt comfortable with. The women have taken on board the provisions that the services offer and have actively taken on voluntary positions and research in areas that have inspired them. Hopefully these steps will allow them to become more knowledgeable in the areas and to then take on leadership roles in their communities.

The service activities to be deliveredWe met the targets for the project that were set out by Leicester City Council. These include:

• Contributing to Mainstream Moderation forum work around Muslim women.

• Working in partnership with local bodies that work with Muslim women. We did this through our multi-agency approach, this included partners that worked in the local context specifically for BME communities. Such as Akwaaba Ayeh, Domestic Violence Integrated Response Project (DVIRP), HOPE Training and Consultancy.

• We have built strong relationships with key stakeholders across the city such as the Police, especially the community engagement team, Leicester City Council, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the leads in the domestic violence field such as DVIRP.

• We have worked with a range of organisations across Leicester in order to meet our aims and objectives.

• We have become a link to the Mainstreaming Moderation Forum, Stronger Communities Partnerships, Leicester Partnership board and other organisations.

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conTracT aIms, conTInued

Further targets to be met which were achieved are listed below. These outcomes are evidenced by feedback forms after each session. Furthermore they were reflected by conversations that carried on after sessions had finished, emails, phone calls, text messages and through personal observations. The benefits of the course are not immediate measures but ones that may increase over time as participants in their communities are able to utilise the skills and demonstrate increase in confidence when such issues arise and need to be tackled. Therefore it is difficult to measure all these skills in all the participants.

Number of Muslim women engaged: 25 We have engaged with 25 women, another 35 expressed an interest but could not attend due to other commitments such as child care. Furthermore the women on the course represented diverse backgrounds and ages from the heart of the community but who have never had the opportunity to air their views in such a forum.

Numbers of organisations engaged: 20We have engaged with more than 20 organisations. This include various branches of the police force, the force lead on domestic violence Detective Inspector Pete Williams, Community Engagement team, HOPE Training, DVIRP, Akwaaba Ayeh, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, American Embassy, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), Domestic Violence forum, Creativity Culture and Education, Victim Support amongst many more. We have built up a trust with the

organisations and our women over the weeks and have become a vehicle for signposting women from these agencies-and also to refer women to them should a need arise. Therefore we have become the link between the participants and agencies.

“We find in society that there are so many

problems and issues, but these are not

addressed at a local level. STRIVE have been

achieving this by running groups out in the

heart of the local communities to engage

them in discussion and increase their

knowledge around issues which directly

affect them... we hope to work in partnership

in the future together to inform, protect and

nurture local communities.”

Domestic Violence Integrated Response Project (DVIRP)

“I know of one lady who has had the

confidence to access a service directly

as a result of attending the STRIVE group;

in my opinion that shows in a relatively

short space of time what STRIVE, given the

opportunity, could achieve long term.”

Service Provider

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Number of women reporting increased confidence: 9We captured this through feedback from evaluation forms and observations. We have seen women transform from being shy and timid into vocal and confident women. We have seen women who are passionate to voice their opinions about issues that are prevalent in our communities whether it is on child abuse or terrorism. These voices have been trapped within our communities however STR!VE has enabled them to break free and air their views in a safe space.

“The session was interesting and I learnt a

lot from other people’s experiences. Group

talking is hard for me but hopefully I will

start to build my confidence with that”

“Since I have been going to STR!VE women I

have learnt a lot about the communities and

different cultures. There is so much available

out there, attending STR!VE has made me

a stronger and a better person it is very

informational I very much enjoyed going.”

Course Participants

Number of women reporting increased skills: 10We ourselves have noticed an increase in confidence and skills from the participants. For example in the personal safety class they learnt skills of how to defend themselves in dangerous situations but also picked up practical tips that they could implement.

“All of it was very useful and educational”

Course Participant

Number of Muslim women feeling empowered as a result of the project: 18They are more aware of information and their rights and are able to take away knowledge to deal with a situation should it arise. They are reassured that there are provisions available to help them deal with such issues. Sometimes it was lack of information on a topic matter that held them back.

“The issue on honour based violence as I

have very limited knowledge”

“To know there is so much help out there”

Course Participants


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Increased knowledge and understanding of Muslim women their experiences and issues/ barriers that hold them back: 15Many women have expressed their gratitude towards The STR!VE project for bringing all the issues to an open forum for them to discuss as this has allowed them to enhance their knowledge and understanding on subject matters that they were not aware of. Also the Muslim women found solidarity within each other’s company as many faced the same obstacles of racism, domestic violence etc and now have become stronger as a result of having each other.

Increase in Muslim women taking up leadership roles within their own communities and wider society: 6 Six are following up voluntary positions. We also have a participant who has decided to do her Master’s degree dissertation on the topic of forced marriages and honour based violence after being inspired by the topic having attended the session. In addition to this another participant entered the ‘My Voice write or wrong’ competition; this was a writing and reading bursary scheme for young people. The participant wrote about her Muslim identity and was short listed to second place. Furthermore we have noticed that some women from the STR!VE project are coming out of their shell to share their experiences and ideas to the whole group. The women are not hindered by the fact that they have known each other for only a matter of weeks, sharing their intimate personal experience has given these women comfort to be able to express their views openly without any hesitation.

Development of a citywide forum for Muslim women to raise and discuss issues that affect them.We have a base of 25 women and multi-agency partnerships with various organisations. As a result the mechanisms are there to form a network and this is ongoing work.

Establish mechanisms to communicate effectively with service providers across the city.We have been doing this through phone calls, texts, emails, twitter and facebook to keep in touch with what our partner organisations are doing. By attending events and meetings (for example domestic violence forums) we have access to a range of partners under one roof. This has enabled us to become a signposting agency for the women should they have an issue and we notify women of events that they can attend.


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“Who am I???

I am a British Muslim girl but what does this mean? Do people

see me beyond this? Before incidents such as 9/11 and 7/7, my

religion was not in the spotlight but now has been put under

intense scrutiny by the international community. These horrific

events have sent shockwaves reverberating throughout the world

and have had an impact on young British Muslims in society

today. These vile acts committed by a minority of individuals

who claim to be ‘Muslims’ have distorted the fundamental

principles of Islam and in actual fact could not be farther from

them. However, the identity of British Muslims has subsequently

come into question.

I always feel as if I am in the hot seat, defending the flag of

Islam even though I never signed up for this. I come across

people who question my faith and tend to forget me as a person.

I ponder to myself that do they not see me as an individual who

like themselves dreams, hopes and aspires to fulfil ambitions

and so make a difference.

It really hit me this year when I went to America and as my

family and I went through security checking at Newark airport,

it turned into an interrogation. I was fully aware that this was

done as a precautionary measure but it did not eradicate the

feeling of being powerless.

In addition to this, visiting ground zero where the twin towers

once proudly stood was hard hitting and harrowing knowing

that not only thousands of lives were lost but also the death of

humanity! It had a profound effect on me, knowing that the two

towers had been reduced to nothing but rubble and arguably the

source of many conflicts in the West today. The repercussions

of this heinous act remain to echo within our community today

especially amongst the women as many are victimised on the

issue of their dress. However, it is dealt in many different ways;

some confrontational, some assertive and so many Muslim women

see this as a test of their faith thus defying the expectations of

the perpetrators. These women prove to themselves and others

that a piece of cloth and attire does not take away their inner

content and their ‘Britishness’.

So the question is incessantly asked. Am I any different from

you? Politicians such as Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP claim

that I am not ‘ethnically British’ but I am a normal teenager, a

student, a sister and daughter and I have many faces which all

constitute my identity! Yet nowadays it seems my faith is what

defines me and determines my place in British society. “

PIece by gulshana whIch came second In “my VoIce rIghT or wrong” comPeTITIon.

9PromoTIon ≥ “We promoted the course at various events and institutions around the city”

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The courseThe idea was to run a course to look at different issues each week and where possible have local organisations come in to deliver around their subject matters. It was a chance for the women to ask questions about the topics, to have informal discussions, to know what organisations and provision are out there that they could utilise. The aim was to empower them and give them confidence to tackle subject matters in the community. The course started in October 2009 and ran through to the end of December 2009. We held ten two hour sessions every Thursday evening. The format of the session was interactive informal workshops to generate discussions and questions.

We publicised the course during the summer months at various events and conferences and the response overwhelmed us. We had a pool of 25 women who attended the course and a further 35 who had expressed an interest. We initially anticipated a group of 15 but reviewed our policy due to some of the women having prior commitments and sent out weekly emails where the women had to confirm attendance. This worked better for us and the women as it sent out a reminder of the course and the topic that we were going to be looking at and who would be coming into deliver the content and we were constantly engaged with them throughout.

There was a wide range of topic areas we wanted to look at but we had to select a few. We also made provisions where we left a slot empty should a topic arise that the women found pressing which

we could fill that gap with. The subject matter and topics that we settled on were: women’s identity, mental health, child abuse, domestic violence, preventing violent extremism, victim support, forced marriages and honour based violence. The empty slot was useful as the women indicated that they sometimes felt unsafe when walking down the streets dressed in their hijabs and scarves. Some had been victims of race hate crimes or had incidents when they felt vulnerable. So we bought in a personal safety instructor from the police who did a session on practical tips and advice and which allowed the women to practice self defence moves. The benefits from this session were twofold, not only did the women learn tips and moves, the session also served to show the police as normal people with the same fears and humanised them to the women.

These topics have attracted a wide range of debates and discussions which was one of the main aims of the course. We also discovered that many of the women on the course did not realise there were mainstream services out in Leicester that they could access. This was due to them not having enough knowledge and information about these provisions. It was also felt that the grassroots communities’ needs were neglected as they are not told about these mainstream services, more needs to be done to remedy this gap.

Meeting with our women every week made us realise that many were survivors who had gone through experiences which were sometimes

shared within the group. From these experiences that were shared other women were inspired by others courage and offered them encouragement and support. Despite the fact that they had only known them for a matter of weeks they bonded over their understanding and experiences and often stayed behind after sessions had ended to carry on the discussions.

Moreover within the STR!VE project we had non Muslim women as participants. Initially we thought they would feel uncomfortable with a group of women who are Muslims. However, surprisingly there was no problem instead the non Muslim women felt privileged to be part of the group and to participate in the free course with their fellow Muslim women and they were able to show that these issues affect all women and were not all Muslim specific issues.

In addition, the women on the course have also expressed their interest in carrying this group forward after the end of the course as they felt we need to touch other important issues within the community and therefore the sessions could not cover everything.

Having completed the project we realise that the STR!VE Project is unique and different from other projects and this is being recognised. Previously no one has tried to do a course based on issues we knew we were on very new territory and had to tailor make it to the needs of the women. We have enormous support from professionals to do

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more partnership work in conjunction with other organisations so that our skills, expertise and abilities can come together and maximise the benefits for our community. For example being part of ‘Break Free’ a Forced Marriage Group run by Meena Kumari the director of H.O.P.E Training & Consultancy.

The journey itself has thrown up some unexpected surprises. We have met and consulted with the cultural attaché of the American Embassy. We have had conversations with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office including Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Home Secretary Alan Johnson about the work we do. We have also shaped policy and procedure for Leicestershire Constabulary by working in conjunction with the Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding Adults Coordinator Detective Inspector Pete Williams. We have presented to the Association of Chief Police Officers Prevent delivery team at their women only event as a case study. We were also their project of the month for March 2010. We have also used the opportunity to become trained up on various issues.

Our Women

The women who participated on the course came from a range of backgrounds and ages. There were twenty three Muslims and two non Muslims. They were from a variety of backgrounds and ethnicities including Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Portuguese and others. We appealed to women from the ages 18-65. Many of the women felt

that they needed the course as they did not think there was a service like STR!VE which provided information on a wide range of subjects and where they could be signposted should they need to be to the relevant agencies. In some sessions mothers brought their daughters along as they thought it would be beneficial to them both. The next section will look at the topics in detail.

12neTworkIng ≥ “While working on and promoting the project and course

we have met an exciting range of people”

Alan Johnson MP

Sejal Modha, Domestic Violence Training and Publicity Coordinator DVIRP

Pete Williams-Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding Adults Coordinator Leicestershire Constabulary

Jasvinder Sanghera, Karma Nirvana

David Miliband MP

Sheena Raval, Regional Prevent Manager, Government Office East Midlands (GOEM)

Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

TITle

13PromoTIon ≥ “The course has been featured on various websites and in local publications”

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The ToPIcsIssue 1: Portrayal of Muslim Women Delivered by STR!VE.

This discussion looked at portrayal of Muslim women. It was discussed that women are oppressed wherever they are even in the most developed countries. There are lots of forms of discrimination and sometimes a lot is to do with culture rather than religion. Some of the women felt that equal rights whether it is gender, disability, ethnicity etc is sometimes tokenistic; they felt it was a tick box exercise to fulfil a criteria and people don’t look beyond that.

One of the major things they listed as a problem is being judged by your community and your culture, mainly over what a traditional role for a woman should be, as we are socialised and normalised into this way of thinking over gender roles. There are certain behaviours that are allowed and certain behaviours that are frowned upon and this impacts on all aspects of life as restrictions could be placed upon your education, work life, social life etc. Yet women do have lots of rights socially and religiously. Islam has given many rights to women before women’s rights were advocated in the western hemisphere; they have rights to pursue education, inheritance, and property rights amongst many more. Muslim women from the Prophet Muhammed’s (PBUH) time were active members of society, they were business women, scholars and they fought battles.

Sometimes discrimination is religious not cultural. For example a person might be discriminated for being a Muslim and not because of their cultural affiliations an example of a workplace scenario was given by a woman who had gone through it. Time to pray was not given during the day despite taking into account that they would take a shorter lunch break or stay for longer during the day to make up the time. It was felt it was particularly unfair that others were allowed to take cigarette breaks but they could not take prayer breaks some had felt forced to leave jobs as a result.

They felt that the media had an important role to play in the perceptions of Muslim women often representing them in a negative way and things being misinterpreted and misconstrued to fit an agenda. Typical stereotypes often conveyed are that they wear black, are covered head to toe, are prisoners at home, are oppressed, don’t have voices-the list is endless. The women felt helpless sometimes to counter this negativity and it affected them in their day to day lives for example being called names: “terrorist” “ninja” and having to deal with statements such as “is that a bomb under your burqa” “stop looking at me through your post box.”

Many of the women felt that as more Muslim women wear hijab they felt people should be getting used to it, however despite this visibility they were surprised that people were not and that there is still a lot of negativity out there. For some of the women the wearing of the hijab was a way

of emphasising their religious identity and their closeness to Allah, not that they are oppressed or forced into it. This was a constant theme throughout the course that people need to see beyond the veil, that there are people behind it who have thoughts, opinions and are human beings. Also instead of the name calling for people to ask them questions as to why they wear the veil, headscarf etc and for them to develop an understanding rather than resorting to name calling. Many said they would prefer people to ask questions regarding Islam rather than using newspaper headlines and stories to form an opinion.

Within their own culture they felt discriminated often due to a patriarchal outlook. The participants pointed out that they often felt that women’s appearance is pointed out but it is stated in the Quran for the men to lower their gazes first and then for the women. However this often gets misconstrued and it is the onus on the women to cover herself and the portion on men gets ignored. Also the section about women covering themselves is open to interpretation and what moderate is has different interpretations for different people. The women felt that society judges too much even within the religion but they felt that only Allah has the right to judge people and human beings cannot reward you for being a good Muslim only God. And similarly you cannot judge who is a Muslim and who is not.

Contrary to the thought that Islam is a backward religion that oppresses women many of the women

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felt that it was a liberating and practical religion, as it respects women, grants them lots of rights and treats them equally to men and it is often the masculine approach to interpretation of religion that diminishes the role of women. Islam is actually a progressive religion around women’s rights and fought for them before it became a worldwide issue. They also felt that as Islam is everlasting and for the entire world it cannot be rigid and is fluid to fit the times. The religion is made difficult by the people rather than the religion itself.

We also came to a realisation that most of the issues women felt or had to deal with were the same for all women and did not discriminate against ethnicity, religion or culture for example domestic violence, mental health. It was felt that it is all about integrating and assimilating where women participating is a key factor. This will help to dispose of negative stereotypes as the onus is on us to educate others around about our religion and our rights. It was felt women have sacrificed historically and in present day for rights and we should look after others and stand up for other people’s rights and should not take a backseat.

“The issues found important was about

how daily life of Muslims in the UK getting

discriminated in work, outside, on daily

basis, etc! It’s due to the ignorance I think

and how the media portrays us! I think there

should be more discussions with the wider

community about Muslims and Islam to get a

better understanding of each other!”

“The session was interesting and I learnt a

lot from other people’s experiences.”

Course participant’s feedback

Recommendations from Discussions

More responsible media and awareness.

It was discussed that people should go through the complaint procedure if they are not happy with their portrayal in the media.

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The ToPIcsIssue 2: Mental health Delivered by Akwaaba Ayeh

It was discussed mental illness comes in many formats, is wide ranging and varies in severity, one person might have a mild form others face huge difficulties in their day to day lives. There are many forms of mental health problems for example, when a person suffers from depression, suffers anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality and eating disorders. The most common problem is depression.

Health is described as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”1 Thus in order to be healthy, your mental well being is a key component that goes hand in hand with your physical well being but is often a matter that is overlooked. Mental illness affects many aspects of a person’s life such as how they feel, think, behave, and socialise with other individuals. It is not only the individual that suffers but also the people that are around them such as their loved ones.

It was felt we give so much attention to our physical health as the symptoms are often visible but mental health is something that is often neglected. As both play an important role in leading a healthy lifestyle both aspects need to be looked at as a whole. The practitioner mentioned that 450 million people worldwide suffer from mental health problems yet in our communities many of the women found that it was a difficult subject to tackle because it

is not understood. People don’t get mental health problems diagnosed due to stigmatisation, yet we talk freely about our other health issues such as diabetes, arthritis etc but not about mental health.

It is often a fear of this topic which is why the subject is not looked at and not diagnosed. There are many myths, misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding mental health in the community. Some of the women in the room knew of people who had experienced this within their families and communities. The ladies mentioned that a person is labelled ‘paagal’ (mad) carrying negative connotations often referring that they have lost all sense and are incapable of leading a normal life. They are often isolated and examples were used of people being locked away in rooms from visitors, not being able to attend social occasions and not participating in everyday life. This is done to protect the family from embarrassment. Thus, those who have mental illness are stigmatised and comments are made such as “people with mental illness are dangerous”, or “mental illnesses is incurable.” It was felt that we need to be sympathetic to people suffering from mental health problems and not be part of the labelling process.

The topic of bereavement was raised. Bereavement is not usually associated with mental health but can lead to mental health problems if the person has not fully gone through the grieving process and has bottled up emotions. One person mentioned how she had bottled up her emotions due to a

family death and then a year later was barely coping as she had no-one to talk to and felt she could not be understood. Luckily, she had access to counselling facilities at the university and was able to get help.

It raised another important issue as well; do Asians have access to counselling services which are free and local? Not many felt that there were counselling provisions available due to lack of funding and if there are, they question whether the professionals are culturally literate to deal with the many cultural issues and Asian mentalities. People felt that they could not grieve properly and access bereavement facilities to cope with grief. They also found that often facilities could not be accessed due to language barriers.

Participants felt places of worship need to have a role to play in helping people to grieve and speak openly about issues. Sometimes religious places don’t have the support mechanisms in place to deal with issues. Another point made was regarding being ‘possessed’ and exorcism. These ideas are not recognised scientifically therefore are not acknowledged medically, but some of the women felt that it should be as it is part of their beliefs.

Some of the other issues raised were sometimes they felt GPs do not know how to deal with mental health and sometimes medication may not be the answer and a more holistic approach needs to be considered such as alternative therapies.

1World health organisation’s http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs220/en/

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They found that people often mistook learning disabilities as a mental health problem when both topics are different. Sometimes there are mental health provisions available but people do not want to access them due to stigmatisation, denial or believe it’s a private matter or avoidance because they don’t want to acknowledge it.

“More information on mental health. More

day workshops”

“I feel there is no need for any improvements

as the speaker spoke precisely and

informational on the subject which was

presented”

“Mental health issue has been highlighted. I

had little knowledge before”

“Examples of people suffering mental health

problems- what support and how it made a

difference.”



Mental illness needs to be viewed like any other health condition.

Mental illness needs to be discussed openly with everyone you meet and should not be seen as a taboo issue.

Also to educate our communities in order to defeat stereotypes that exists around the issues of mental health.

In order to aid recovery a sympathetic attitude is needed from families, friends, employers etc.

There needs to be access to counselling services that are free, local and culturally appropriate.

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Issue 3: Child Abuse Delivered by a representative from the Leicester City Council

Child abuse is defined as “when an adult harms a child or a young person under the age of 18... this can take four forms, all of which can cause long term damage to a child: physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect and child sexual abuse. Bullying and domestic violence are also forms of child abuse.” 2

The issue of child abuse was also discussed as a topic in the sessions and was one of the most challenging subject matters as not many in the community had tackled this issue. However it ended up being a very successful session as the women’s feedback reflected.

The participants discussed how the matter of child abuse is significantly serious as it is more than cuts, bruises and broken bones. Although physical abuse may for the most part leave visible signs the other types of abuse can equally be damaging, for instance emotional abuse or child neglect, can result in scarring a child’s life deeply. Recent cases such as Baby P, Victoria Climbe, and Khyra Ishaq have highlighted this and shown the horrors of child abuse.

We also discussed sexual abuse and its devastating consequences which leaves a mark on the child’s life. Apart from the physical injury that sexual abuse can trigger, the emotional element is what can take

over their lives where they are mentally scarred. It was also mentioned that children who have been sexually molested can feel more distress by shame and guilt for instance; they blame themselves that they might have instigated it and therefore deserve it. This can lead to low self-confidence and sexual problems affecting their adult life where they are unable to have intimate relations or form relationships.

It was discussed that child abuse is seen to be a taboo subject- if we do not talk about it, it does not happen. However just because it is not talked about does not mean that it does not happen-it may be that problems go underground, are not reported, are dealt with in the family etc. The practitioner mentioned that 95% of cases happen from people that the person already knows. Thus it is imperative to teach children from a young age what a ‘good’ touch is and what a ‘bad’ touch is and we should not be embarrassed to do that as a child’s safety is more paramount then feeling embarrassed or uncomfortable in discussing it. We notify and teach children of ‘stranger danger’ the same needs to be done about ‘good touch’ and ‘bad touch’ and explained in the most simplest of terms . It is also important to tell children they can come and tell you if it has happened to them and that you won’t be angry and also to encourage children not to keep secrets as this is often a weapon an abuser might use to hide what they have been doing.

It was also pointed out that there is a great deal of shame attached to sexual abuse making it extremely

hard for a child to come forward to ask for help. This may be due to the child being concerned that certain individuals will not believe them, or that they will get into trouble, or that it’s a secret that cannot be shared. It was felt that we need to trust children more when they relate abuse to us as it is often the case that the adult is believed and not the child. Sometimes the child is also blamed for the abuse-this needs to be re-assessed. An abused child might even grow up to become a perpetrator repeating the cycle of abuse.

The practitioner mentioned that anonymity can be maintained when reporting child abuse and you can also remain anonymous and find out what happens as a result. Also the child concerned when speaking to the police will speak to plain clothed officers so the child does not feel uncomfortable. The police can go to a child if a claim is made without the parents knowing as it is a child protection issue. Whichever parent is involved is taken to the police station overnight and then bailed to another address. Children who are not removed are put with other family members; they are not put in foster care as to do that would put them into an alien environment.

It was also discussed that there is not enough Muslim foster carers often relating to the issue of not knowing which child they will get and whether they fit with their ethnicity or culture. It was also mentioned that they also assess single parents as well. This sparked off a debate and allowed the women to ask how to go about the process of fostering.

The ToPIcs

2 NSPCC http://www.nspcc.org.uk/HelpAndAdvice/WhatChildAbuse/whatischildabuse_wda36500.html

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Culture clash between the east and the west was mentioned and the problems this could potentially lead to. This is where the behaviour in the outside world maybe different to the way that they behave in the house and they may be living alternative lifestyles. This brings about complexities of its own as if abuse has happened to them they may find it very difficult to disclose it as they may feel that this would bring to light their ‘secret’ life and that they may be blamed for the incident. Some may also find it difficult to approach religious places because there reputation is well known.

What the women found quite daunting was that sexual abuse can happen at the hands of someone the child knows and trusts for instance your parents, teachers and religious leaders. It was emphasised that these discussions need to be had and addressed, all religions condemn it and it has no place in our society.

“All the information was useful gave a

realistic picture of what child abuse is like in

the community”

“I believe that the most important issue was

child abuse. I found your sessions very helpful

in helping me gain more understanding and

knowledge in these areas.

“All of it, as it gave lots of information”

“The part where she inform us about things

which are going on in our community”



Being aware of the signs and symptoms of child abuse earlier so child abuse is detected and there is more chance of us making a difference in the child’s life.

Not to turn a blind eye on the issue of child abuse and to discuss it freely.

To discuss with your children from a young age the difference between “good touch” and “bad touch”.

20course ≥ “Speakers on the course lead discussions on a range of issues relevant to the women”

21course ≥ “The women on the course engaged with all the topics covered and were keen to learn more.”

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The ToPIcsIssue 4: Domestic violence delivered by Domestic Violence Integrated Response Project (DVIRP)

Domestic violence was another of the issues that we looked at. Domestic violence is a crime that can include physical abuse, emotional abuse, economic abuse, and sexual abuse. The perpetrators employ threats, intimidation, isolation, and other behaviours to maintain power over their victims. It can happen to anybody regardless of an individual’s ethnicity, race, age, national origin, sexual orientation, religious, and socio economic factors-the violence does not discriminate.

Domestic violence has become an epidemic problem rooted within our society that has devastating physical and emotional consequences for individuals. Many individuals can be targets of physical, emotional and sexual abuse by partners, family members and acquaintances. For many years domestic violence had been seen and recognised exclusively as a private matter and labelled as a women’s issue. Even Law Enforcement officers were reluctant to interfere however in recent years there has been a shift in attitudes. Rape within marriage was not even seen as an offence until 1990.

However domestic violence should not be perceived as a predicament only affecting women. The problem has many effects on every sector of our society, immensely concerning our health services such as the hospitals, our law

enforcements and the courts. It is also spreading into our communities as we hear terrifying stories of peoples experiences, and in some cases it has led to death as on average two women die each week at the hands of a partner or an ex partner. The practitioner mentioned domestic violence “has the highest repeat victimisation rates compared to any other crime in the UK. Police receive a call for assistance due to domestic violence every 60 seconds in this country.” DVIRP’s local helpline and the Independent Domestic Violence Advisory service deal with 1200 victims on average each year. There are over 16000 reports of domestic violence which are received by Leicestershire Constabulary.

The women discussed in great lengths that the roots of violence could be a host of factors which varied from wanting power and control over the victim, the perpetrator growing up in a cycle of violence and abuse themselves or having a distorted concept of manhood for instance the men are head of the house and women are there to be controlled. Yet everybody felt that there was no justification to be violent towards your partner.

It was also discussed that Domestic violence is not only physical and sexual abuse but also psychological. Psychological violence was also considered as a weapon used by the perpetrators’ that can include severe and repetitive degradation, generating isolation for instance cutting your ties with friends and family and controlling the actions or behaviours of their victims through

intimidation or manipulation to the detriment of the individual.

We also discussed how some perpetrators would justify domestic violence by using religious scriptures which they twist and misinterpret in order to validate their actions. Many thought that this was a mis-interpretation and that religion does not advocate domestic violence.

23

“To know there is so much help out there.”

“Very Informative- realistic picture- Speaker

passionate about the subject.”

“I found that covering all kinds of abuse was

useful.”

“What I realized with the meetings I

attended is that some of these women

blame themselves for the abuse or think is

a question of religion and faith. They live in a

wider community and still isolated from the

rest and cannot see that violence happens to

others despite their age or race.”

“The information on Honour Based Violence

as I have a very limited knowledge”



To embark upon the important issues of engaging communities to help end domestic violence.

Bringing men into the conversation to be part of the solution.

To break the cycle more community engagement and training is needed.

All must play an active role to achieve a solution if we are to tackle the lethal problem this epidemic is taking hold of.

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The ToPIcsIssue 5: Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) Delivered by the Community Engagement Team Leicestershire Constabulary and STR!VE.

Prevent is part of a broader strategy that has come from the government’s counter-terrorism strategy CONTEST. Prevent is one of the strands the others are Pursue, Prepare and Protect. But the focus has been on Prevent as it has received the most media and community attention and there has been a lot of debate around it especially the concept of Preventing Violent Extremism. The aim of the strategy is “to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting violent extremism.”3 The biggest threat it lists is Al Qaeda inspired terrorism.

Prevent was one of the topics we looked at and it was delivered by the community engagement team based at Spinney Hill police station. It sparked a lot of interesting debate and the participants were very passionate about the subject. The impact of September 11th 2001 despite happening on American soil had an impact on the local community on many levels and July 7th 2005 served to intensify matters. The terrorist atrocities put the spotlight on Islam as a religion.

Many of the women felt that terrorism was a label designed exclusively for Muslims yet terrorism is not a new phenomenon. Prior to that it had happened in Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka and many other places, yet many felt that people overlook or forget that and when they see terrorism they link it to Muslims. Many felt it is often forgotten that

victims of 9/11 and 7/7 included Muslims in the death toll and that Muslims too have suffered from the hands of terrorists.

The discussions also led to who terrorists target, it is felt that terrorists target the vulnerable who they can brain wash and who manipulate religion to justify their actions by taking the Quran out of context and saying they are doing it for Islam. There was a strong feeling that Islam is way of life not a political agenda or manifesto-you should reside in harmony with the cultures you live with and to cause death is wrong. It is emphasised that the taking of one life is as though you have taken the whole of humanity. Yet what these terrorists say contradicts these thoughts.

One of the points that was emphasised on the local context was the issue of stop and search. Many feel that Muslim males are particularly and frequently targeted to be stopped and searched especially at religious prayer times. This made the women feel they were being victimised because of their religion and felt that they are being unfairly treated. This adds a dimension to their relationship with the police as it antagonises and strains relations. Stop and search is not confined to the local arena, many feel that they are unfairly targeted at airports and are sometimes as a result of being the only visibly Muslim family the only ones stopped, searched and questioned. It is often a question stop and search- “why is it us” and they find going through the stop and search ritual degrading.

The other topic that was highlighted was the media and many felt that what was written on Muslims is scandalous, sensationalised and propaganda. They felt helpless in trying to combat what was written or said as the bad news always got the attention and at the end of the day sold the papers. More education and awareness is needed in the media so that it shows news and issues in a responsible manner as they are sometimes part of compounding the problems for Muslims who then have to face the abuse in their day to day lives.

Some participants felt that views, perceptions and stereotypes can be ingrained from a very young age (sometimes from the age of five) from the home environment where a child is able to pick up certain attitudes and behaviours from the adults in their lives. This is because the first teachings of values and principles is picked up from home and shapes your first thinking. Many feel that family values have eroded and parents have a lot more responsibilities and what we need is a return to family values.

They also felt that not enough was being done to make communities cohesive and integrated and people are made to fear people that they do not know enough about or haven’t come across. This has stoked further problems of race and hate crime and made Leicester a breeding ground for the British National Party (BNP) with a councillor in Coalville being elected. Instead of using the race card they are using Islam as the scapegoat this is raising and creating tensions of its own.

3 http://www.communities.gov.uk/communities/prevent/overview/whatisprevent/

25

Many feel that when a terrorist incident happens the eyes of suspicion turn to the Muslim communities and they have to bear the brunt of this spotlight. They feel they have become the target for their colleague’s jokes and remarks, this makes them uneasy. They feel they have to constantly justify their religion or sometimes are helpless and unable to express how they feel. Some have simply become accustomed to it but nonetheless they find it an upsetting experience. The session ended with a passionate statement women do not let your religion colour, race stop you fight for it!

“Having other people’s views and opinions...

really interesting talk-I wish the session could

have been longer with more opportunity to

ask questions”

“I loved hearing everyone’s different views”

“I think the police force should get involved

in the community more”



More needs to be done to have a community forum and Q & A session where the members of public can voice their opinions on PVE as many do not have enough knowledge on it and what the local authorities are doing about this area. They feel they are not included enough.

When being stopped and searched police to always notify why.

Media responsibility needs to be an issue; plans to do this should not only be discussed but also implemented.

26

The ToPIcsIssue 6: Forced Marriages and Honour Based Violence Delivered by HOPE training and STR!VE.

Forced marriages was a topic we thought would be interesting, before delving into the discussion it is important to point out what a forced marriage is as there is sometimes confusion between forced and arranged marriages. The Forced Marriage Unit (a joint initiative set up between the Home office and the Foreign and Commonwealth office started in 2005) describes it as “a marriage conducted without the valid consent of both people, where pressure or abuse is used.”4

There is often a blurring of the distinction between a forced marriage and arranged marriage, where both parties enter fully with their consent. The Forced Marriage Unit description is:

“An arranged marriage is not the same as a forced marriage. In an arranged marriage, the families take a leading role in choosing the marriage partner. The marriage is entered into freely by both people.”5

Arranged marriage is a cultural tradition that is still followed and there is nothing wrong with this practice as long as both the male and female give their consent and are happy with the arrangement. The problems arise when one or both parties do not consent and are forced or pressurised into a

marriage which they are not happy with, this is when it turns into a forced marriage. The implications of a situation of forced marriage is wide ranging and can also result in violence-what has now become known as honour based violence-violence carried out in order to protect the honour of the family or community. Honour based violence is also carried out on those who might have been seen to somehow dishonour the family. These situations can be wide ranging it might be because of a rumour or it might be because someone has a boyfriend or girlfriend. The ‘punishment’ again varies and in the most extreme cases has led to murder. However there is no honour in forcing someone to marry or using violence to up hold honour. Both of these issues were discussed in depth.

In 2009 the Forced Marriage unit which operates internationally as well as nationally “gave advice or support to 1682 cases. 86 percent of these cases involved females and 14 percent involved males.”6 Detective inspector Pete Williams the Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding Adults Coordinator for Leicestershire Constabulary and the lead on domestic violence has said that in Leicester the total reports of forced marriages and honour based violence is 116, since November 2008 this has quadrupled and since March 2009 trebled. Prior to this there were 38 reports in 5 years, and there has been a big increase since early 2009. 5 civil protection orders (“These court injunctions will forbid families from actions such as taking

people abroad for marriage, seizing passports or intimidating victims. Penalties for breaching an order include up to two years’ imprisonment”7) have been granted since March 2009. These are mainly women who think they will be forced into marriage in the future-so crimes yet to happen.

However it is important to note that forced marriage is an under-reported crime and many do not get reported. Thus it is a huge issue that concerns females and a topic that needs to be looked at in depth within the Asian community as it is often in the Asian community where forced marriage is prevalent.

When looking at this topic it sparked some very interesting debates especially around the topic of “izzat” honour and reputation of the family and community, which is a well known and important concept. The equation that is constantly emphasised is izzat (honour) =reputation, family pressure, reputation of community. As discussed arranged marriage is a cultural practice where consent is gained from both parties yet the distinction gets blurred with this practice and a forced marriage is where one or both of the parties are forced into marrying. This is often part of maintaining the honour code of the community where people are married to preserve the honour of the families in question and their wider standing in society. This tradition dates back from many generations and the pressure is felt to maintain that tradition. It is

4 Forced Marriage Unit http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/2855621/what-is-forced-marriage 5 Forced Marriage Unit http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/2855621/what-is-forced-marriage6 Foreign and Commonwealth Office http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/when-things-go-wrong/forced-marriage 7 BBC New Laws Against Forced Marriages http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7747267.stm

27

seen as a duty and to digress from it brings out complexities and if not carried out it brings about the “sharaam” shame of its own. To avoid that shame, pressure is applied to the person to go ahead with the marriage or to face the consequences such as banishment from the community or violence.

A forced marriage is forced on an individual through the pressure that they are the ones who carry the honour and that burden is placed upon them through the family. Forced marriage can be enforced in many ways “You might be put under both physical pressure (when someone threatens to or actually does hurt you), or emotional pressure (for example, when someone makes you feel like you’re bringing shame on your family) to get married.”8

It was felt that the girls carried the “izzat”. Many of the participants felt that women have been discriminated against for years, often feeling that they always owe an obligation, to their families as dutiful daughters and to their husbands as dutiful wives as part of maintaining the honour of the family. This has often been due to the fact that their mothers and grandmothers have carried out these roles and they have to carry on the cycle as it is a socialised and cultural way of thinking and when someone digresses from this they are made an example of.

Some of the girls expressed how they get treated differently to their brothers by their parents, reflecting the differences between males and

females and perceptions of double standards. It was felt that boys got away with a lot more than girls. Often relating to the fact that they can stay out late and it is often turned a blind eye if they go out with a girl. However as the girl carries the honour she always carries the stigma if she has done the same activity as the boy, her name is tarnished alongside the name of the family-this was seen as being unfair. It was an interesting discussion to be had as some mothers had brought their daughters along and it was interesting hearing both viewpoints as mothers often said that they did it for the protection of their daughters.

The young ladies often feel that they sacrifice immensely and miss out on a lot of opportunities as a result of their freedom being restricted or feel that they have to curtail their activities as a result of curfews and maintaining certain standards of behaviour. Something innocent gets misconstrued often being seen out can be taken out of context and there is the constant fear that rumours can be mistaken for facts and the resulting consequences of this. Pleasing your family and community is drummed into you similarly the shame is felt by both. The pressure can get to you as one participant commented “how are you going to be happy if you are carrying the burden of your parents?”

Women today are challenging the views of the earlier generations as a cultural clash exists where the parents grew up in a different environment and often in different countries to their offspring who have been bought up in Britain with British

values. Sometimes it is the clash of these values that can create the misunderstandings. Being bought up in a different environment with different values makes it difficult for some young people to integrate both as they are often leading parallel lives where when out and about in schools, work etc they lead western lives but at home they live a traditional life. Balancing this makes it hard as sometimes reaching a compromise is difficult and the challenges arise here.

We also looked at honour based violence which was particularly significant that day as the case of Tulay Goren came to a conclusion. Her father was convicted and sentenced for 22 years for murdering his daughter after she had fallen in love with a fellow Muslim from a different sect. He did this to uphold honour as she had run away to live with him. We also touched on other cases and were left disgusted at the lengths people had gone to restore honour including rape and murder. It was felt that there was no honour in this and that no-one deserved to be punished for perceived breakages of somebody else’s honour.

It is important to point out these are not Muslim issues that many think it is. Islam allows you to have a choice in marrying “Islam gives the undeniable right NOT to get married if either party is not comfortable doing so, for whatever reason... marriages where either the bride or the bridegroom has not agreed to marry will not be permitted or accepted in Islam.”9 An example cited by Abdullah Ibn Abbas “A virgin came to the prophet

8Forced Marriage Unit http://www.fco.gov.uk/resources/en/pdf/2855621/what-is-forced-marriage 9 Save Your Rights “Respect arranged marriage, stop forced marriage.” 10/08/09 www.saveyourrights.org

28

(SAW) and mentioned that her father married her against her will, so the prophet (SAW) allowed her to exercise her choice.” [Sunan Abu Dawud, Marriage, Kitab Al Nikkah, Book 11, No 2091]”10 The example illustrates “how such a marriage is not accepted in Islam and these women may leave the marriage if they so wish.”11 Also the usage of physical and emotional abuse is not allowed in order to force a marriage.

“The presentation gave an insight on the

scale of honour based killing and how it

affects people. Also how to get help if one is

in that position”

“the presentation gave an insight in all areas

the statistics were useful and where to get

help...carry out sessions more often so

people become more aware”

“The issues I found important regarding

Honour Based Violence was how it can

affect those males and females who lead

westernised lives, i.e. have grown up in

western communities and would never think

that their families would be capable of such

abuse. This has inspired me to conduct a

master’s dissertation into how the law has

been adapted to prevent and protect those

victims of these horrific crimes.”



More needs to be done to publicise and educate elders and the community on the effects and impacts of forced marriages and honour based violence.

Schools and colleges need to take up the provisions offered by local services to educate their students rather than shy away from it as a culturally sensitive issue as it is a breach of human rights.

It was discussed that forced marriage was a form of domestic violence as abuse can take place such as rape within marriage so more awareness needs to be raised.

10,11 ibid,

29acPo ≥ “We gave a presentation to the Association of Chief Police Officers police conference explaining

our course. We were also project of the month March 2010 for ACPO Women’s forum.”

30

We have noticed that many people are shocked with our STR!VE project and at the same time admire us for tackling the issue of empowering Muslim women. They are even more stunned when they find out that we are young Muslim women ourselves. We realised that some people see Muslim women as “oppressed” and when they meet us they see that we do not fit that category. Therefore, we are more determined to challenge this image through our STR!VE project.

In many events there were constant remarks of how young we were to be in this line of work. Nevertheless, people were willing to engage with us after realising that we knew about issues surrounding women and respected and valued our opinions and wanted to hear what we had to say. We also noticed that many professionals were surprised by what we are trying to achieve with our project at a young age; however, this has not stopped us as we are absolutely determined to make the project a success.

Having a multi agency approach has allowed us to build a good rapport with various organisations in order to help and support each other. The practitioners who came in to deliver workshops have played a relevant part in our project. They have tackled issues which they are specialised in and the women from our project have benefited from their knowledge and expertise.

Also we realised through the STR!VE project that it did not matter what background, ethnicity or religion you came from the problems and issues that women faced were the same regardless of these factors.

Having informal discussions with the women in the session has helped us because the environment is different as we can be more relaxed which helps to form a good relationship with them and has allowed opinion to be taken into account in a non-judgemental way.

barrIers learnIng exPerIences

31

As seen the project has clearly achieved and exceeded the aims that were laid out in the contract plan. The engagement with 25 women from different walks of lives has given a flavour of some of the issues that are widespread in the society around us and the problems that they have encountered and faced. The engagement with the many services available out there and the response from the women on hearing about these services clearly shows that there is not only a need for these services but also for these provisions to be widely available and visible. Engagement and work with the various organisations that we have contacted will prove to be invaluable in achieving this but also for STRIVE to be the body for these services to be opened up to the grassroots community and for the topics to be tackled in a productive manner. This was an aim that we have fulfilled.

The participants have seen an increase in their skills and confidence. This has been through the sessions that the project has run which has encouraged them to speak up on the issues and to have opinion on issues thus hopefully implicitly allowing them to go back into the community and be in a position to raise their voices on topics. The course has allowed them to increase their skills arsenal, which will allow them to be in a situation to help undertake these issues in the community with the backup of knowing what provisions are out there and available for them to use. This will help to combat these problems in the community. Their involvement on the course will hopefully empower them to be confident in order to voice and tackle

problems as the course will have given them the tools. They can be the voice for others and stand up for each other so they will not be silent spectators. These have been the main aims of the project and the reason why the project was set up and we have been successful in achieving these aims.

Participation on the course has made the women more knowledgeable about the issues that affect women and the barriers that they face. But it has also taught them how to overcome those barriers by teaching skills, building up confidence, knowing that they are not alone and that many face the same hurdles. It has also allowed them to know what organisations are out there in the community and how they can access them. We have visibly seen the women being empowered some are following up on voluntary positions, others have been inspired to write on the identity issues to enter in a competition and others are using what they have learnt for further studies for example on their dissertations. We are in constant contact with the organisations that we have worked with and therefore are establishing good working partnerships with them with the possibility of working together in the future.

As can be seen and demonstrated in this report the aims of the project have been fulfilled and surpassed expectations. STR!VE would like to carry on the work that it has started as they feel that there are many more women that would benefit and more work needs to be done at the grassroots level. This is a gap that has been identified by STR!VE and

we have found an effective and innovative way of filling it.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading this report and leave you with the further work that we are hoping to do and some of the feedback that the course has received. Thank you.

Further work: pending further funding we are hoping to carry on with the course and roll it out to all women city wide. In addition we are hoping to set up a women’s network to campaign and work on women’s issues.

‘Break Free’ We have teamed up with HOPE Training and Consultancy and other individuals in the field to form ‘Break Free’ a Leicester group campaigning against forced marriage and honour based violence to bring the topic of forced marriage to the forefront for the people in Leicester. The leaflet from this group is now available.

We have also helped to shape police procedures in this area with the lead of Leicestershire Constabulary on Domestic violence and are engaging constantly with force lead Detective Inspector Pete Williams.

We continue to engage with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the American Embassy.

conclusIon

32

“You girls have done a brilliant job in bringing

together all these women and diverse

views”

Course Participant

“I was impressed and excited by your passion

and vision, something which has been lost in

the community sector lately. As you know

I have worked in the community sector for

many years. I would love to work with you in

the future. Maybe we could explore this at

some point.”

Course Participant

“Since I have been going to STR!VE women I

have learnt a lot about the communities and

different cultures. There is so much available

out there, attending the STR!VE has made

me a stronger and a better person it is very

informational I very much enjoyed going.”

Course Participant

“Projects like these one need to continue to

support these women but they need to go

far from these. They need to include women

in wider society and provide them trainings

and advice in other areas so that they can,

understand their value, feel stronger, cope

and gain control of their life’s, not as women

from a particular religion or race but as

women.”

Course Participant

“It made a lot of difference. It was something

different, met different people and different

points of views. It made me stronger about

where to go to talk and find out.”

Course Participant

TesTImonIals

“I feel more sessions like the one STR!VE

run are needed and are highly important in

black and minority ethnic women’s life’s. It

gives them a sense of achievement, drive

and they are able to learn about new subjects

every week”

Meena Kumari-Thakore (Director) H.O.P.E Training & Consultancy (Leicester) Ltd

33

“There is definitely a need for more groups

like this to receive information on various

different topics, which could benefit the

community as a whole. We find in society

that there are so many problems and issues,

but these are not addressed at a local

level. STRIVE have been achieving this by

running groups out in the heart of the local

communities to engage them in discussion

and increase their knowledge around issues

which directly affect them.

I would like to congratulate STRIVE in

achieving to get hard to reach local community

members to sit together and discuss subject

matters which are often not spoke about and

swept under the carpet! Well done, and we

hope to work in partnership in the future

together to inform, protect and nurture local

communities.”

Sejal Modha Training and Publicity Coordinator Domestic Violence Integrated Response Project.

“I’m concerned that there are clearly many

women in the Muslim community who have

lived in Leicester for many years, who are

not accessing the services in Leicester,

either because they do not know about

what is available or they do know, but due

to a lack of trust of agencies or fear that

agencies will not be culturally sensitive

to their needs they are not accessing the

service. I believe the work that STRIVE does

is invaluable, because it gives women from

the Muslim Community an opportunity in

a safe environment to be informed about

what services are available in Leicester City

and an opportunity to question and discuss

issues that they may not ordinarily be able

to do. I know of one lady who has had the

confidence to access a service directly as a

result of attending the STRIVE group; in my

opinion that shows in a relatively short space

of time what STRIVE, given the opportunity,

could achieve long term. My hope for the

women in the Muslim Community is that

STRIVE will continue to exist and to grow as

a group. Thank you Sumaiya and Rumena

for letting me be part of the STRIVE group, it

helped me to understand directly what kind

of issues Muslim women have to contend

with on a day to day basis.”

Service Provider

For more informationContact Sumaiya or Rumena

[email protected]

Call 07792 448413

Keep up with STR!VE on twitter

www.twitter.com/strive_women

and find us on Facebook too.

© Copyright 2010 STR!VE

in association with

strive report leicester - empowering muslim women

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