Report aims to give voice to Muslim women

Coalition’s assessment outlines 35 recommendations for service providers in region

The Coalition of Muslim Women Kitchener-Waterloo is looking to amplify the voices of Muslim women from around the region.

Earlier this week, the coalition published a report aimed at helping community service providers understand how to better meet the needs of Muslim women. These providers include those offering social services, community services, and cultural and faith-based organizations.

The community needs assessment report, called Creating Equitable Services for Muslim Women in Waterloo Region, was based on data collected from more than 600 individuals, including representatives from service providers, in January and February.

Researchers connected with 475 Muslim women in the region who completed a survey, either online or over the phone.

The aim was to gather information, experience and ideas around six major themes: employment, young people, community harm and hate crimes, family harm, mental health and financial independence.

“The goal was to give voice to Muslim women in Waterloo Region, and allow them to speak to service providers about their experiences, needs, hopes, and wants,” the report states.

Along with highlighting the responses received, the report presents 35 recommendations for service providers to better serve Muslim women in the region.

Some of the recommendations include offering different ways to access to services, such as reaching out over WhatsApp and Facebook to distribute information; offering interpretation services; or having support services either endorsed by the mosque or available at the mosque.

Other recommendations were more focused on addressing specific organizations, like the police. The report authors suggested the Waterloo Regional Police Service expand efforts to send police to community events in order to sit and engage with people.

Also, the service should fund an armslength engagement process with ethnic, religious and language communities to hear concerns and ideas for systemic reforms, the report recommended.

Even though the Coalition of Muslim Women provides a variety of different programming to serve Muslim women across the region, the study isn’t meant to be an assessment of the coalition and its work, said executive director Fauzia Mazhar.

“The idea was that there needs to be a bridge between these voices in the community and the community itself, the service providers,” she said.

“The report is for the community. The report is for all of the service providers.”

One of the most important pieces to this study was that researchers made a point of getting the survey out to Muslim women across various demographics, reaching especially those who were isolated and unable to access or navigate technology, just to make sure their voice was counted, Mazhar said.

The report and recommendations can be found online at cmw-kw.org/publications.