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Twelve women from various backgrounds embarked on a six-week journey to enhance their leadership skills to collectively break down the stereotypes of Muslim women.
This was a group of health professionals, educators, students, wives and mothers who laughed, joked, debated and discussed innovative ways to create change and improve the profile of Muslim women in the local community.
A Muslim woman is more than a religion, a colour, a dress code. A Muslim woman is a mother buttering toast for her two boys in the morning; she’s a fashion designer chasing her dream; a professional who prays in the first aid room; a student of Kung Fu; and a single mother studying to empower herself and inspire her children.
What a Muslim Woman Looks Like tells the real stories of twelve women who participated in the 2010 Brimbank City Council Muslim Women Leadership training. This book is a not-for-profit publication written by two of the participants Amra Pajalic and Demet Divaroren.
‘The energy that is radiated and reflected in these stories is an important lesson for all of us.’ Helen Szoke, Commissioner, Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission
Get a free copy
This book is being distributed for free and we are charging postage costs plus a $1.00 handling fee to cover fees.
Australian residents
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International residents
Email your address to receive a paypal invoice for postage costs.
Collect a free copy
Brimbank City Council is making copies available for collection from:
Brimbank City Council
Hertford Road Office
12 Hertford Rd Sunshine Vic 3020
T: 9249 4437
St. Albans Connect
10C East Esplanade,
St. Albans, Victoria, 3021
T: 03 9310 7341
Opening Hours
10am to 2pm Mon – Fri
Read the profiles on-line
You can read the profiles on our website by clicking here
Email
If you have any further questions please contact us via email
WhatAMuslimWomanLooksLike@gmail.com
Teacher notes
We are developing teacher notes and these will be available to download from the website.
Author Biography
Amra Pajalic is born and bred in Melbourne’s Western suburbs and this is the inspiration for her debut novel The Good Daughter published by Text Publishing. The Good Daughter won the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature’s Civic Choice Award, was a finalist in the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature Best Writing Award and was shortlisted in the 2007 Victorian Premier’s Awards for Best Unpublished Manuscript. Her short stories have placed in competitions, been published in magazines, journals and anthologies. Amra conducts short story workshops and was funded by Artists in Schools to be an Artist in Residence in 2010 and 2011.
Amra is working on a sequel to The Good Daughter funded by Arts Victoria. She lives in St Albans, Melbourne, with her husband, daughter and three cats, and is a co-author and Project Manager for What a Muslim Woman Looks Like.
Visit amrapajalic.com
Demet Divaroren has a Professional Writing and Editing diploma from Victoria University. Her writing has appeared in Island magazine, Scribe’s New Australian Stories anthology and The Age Epicure. Her first novel Orayt? was shortlisted in the 2008 Australian Vogel Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript and the HarperCollins Varuna Award for Manuscript Development. In 2009 she received a Glenfern Grace Marion Wilson fellowship for an emerging writer, a Varuna Fellowship for a Writing Retreat and a Rosebank Residential Writing Fellowship. In 2010, Demet was selected to participate in an intensive Non-Fiction Masterclass with Robin Hemley and received an Australia Council Artstart grant to develop her writing.
Demet is currently working on a young adult novel and a longer work of non-fiction. She is represented by Curtis Brown Literary Agents and lives in Melbourne’s north.
Visit demetdivaroren.com