Programme name: a muslimah can

- Step 1: Our target audience is strictly Muslim women/girls

- Step 2: Why did you choose this audience?

- We chose this group because the campaigns that are currently around aren’t suitable or
specifically targeted for muslim women, as they are usually gender mixed or more
generalised. Existing participants of campaigns are generally not encouraged alot because
of this, and since islamic culture does not prioritize women exercising in todays society, by
creating a campaign that encourages and normalizes exercising in the female-muslim
community, we can encourage these women to break social norms of the generation and
change peoples lifestyle for the better.

- Step 3. Statistics, facts, trends and norms of our specific target group

There was study done in the UK stating that less that 1 in 5 muslim women actually maintained a
healthy excercising habits. Reason being a lack of proper knowlegd when it comes to excercising in
islam specificaly, more restitriction on females than males, mixed gender sports and lack of support
in the community as a whole.
Another study done in Australia in 2018 found that muslim women find it hard to start exercising due
to the popularity of group fitness sessions in gyms, the social expectation of women wearing tight
clothing and the clashing of social expectations and the limitations of their religion. In Islam, muslims
are encouraged to take care of their bodies in a spiritual, physical and mental way. They are told to
participate in specifically swimming, horse riding, and archery, which are all popular activities even
in todays society, but muslim women in particular find it difficult to practise these in the society we
live in now. Many women who took part in this survey mention the presence of men in traditional
physical activity settings as a factor to limiting the extent of their participation in physical activity, like
at the beach and at gyms.
A participant from the Middle-east said, “I do not want any male to observe my bodily movements
while carrying out physical activities. This goes against my values which are based on my religion.
As Muslim women, there are many restrictions that are being imposed on our lives. Some of those
restrictions are being compromised because we are living in a different condition here. For example,
I am not wearing a hijab and am exposing myself to other people… But that does not mean that I
will allow myself to go out there to do a demonstration of my bodily movements in front of a male.”
This demonstrates that muslim women dont engage in physcial activities in public because of the
presence of the opposite gender, which in Islam women are told to shield themselves from,
especially in terms of physical movements. Another participant also from the Middle-east
emphasises the fact that in the Quran, women are told not to expose themselves by saying “The
religion teaches us moderation and modesty. Especially for swimming it gets difficult, we can't wear
a bikini and go on a beach where there are other men. It is not allowed at all…Definatly in Islam it’s
not allowed to expose yourself so much. If there are only women it is allowed, but when there are
men, you can't expose yourself.” These women expressed their reasoning for their lack of physical
activity in their daily lives mainly with the presence of the opposite gender, and the discomfort of
exercising due to social expectations and the fear of being judged even in segregated settings. The
same study also identifies that clothing options and the Islamiphobic views of todays society
towards the clothing choices of muslim women, such as hijab or burkah/niqab, limit and prevent
muslim women from participating in daily physical activity. They also found that Islamophobic
stereotyping of muslim women by the fitness industry didnt position Muslim women as a potential
marketing audience, therefore limiting their access to gyms and fitness centres that cater to their
religious needs and limitations.
 Additionally, according to data collected by the Australian Government, only 41% of women aged
18+ were sufficiently active, with just over 1 in 5 women doing strength or toning activities on 2 or
more days. Only 14% of women were sufficiently physically active and met guidelines for muscle
strengthening guidelines. This shows that as a whole, women in Australia are not sufficiently
physically active, and our campaign strives to aide the population of Muslim women who struggle
more than the majority of the population to get their daily exercise in.

Reference list

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2019). AIHW - Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. [online]
www.aihw.gov.au. Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/men-women/female-health/contents/lifestyle-risk-
factors/physical-activity.

Shabana (2016). Take care of your Body for a Beautiful Life in this World and the Hereafter ! [online] Body Mind
Fit Muslimah. Available at: https://www.bodymindfitmuslimah.com/muslim-women-and-sports/.

Summers, J., Hassan, R., Ong, D. and Hossain, M. (2018). Australian Muslim women and fitness choices -myths
debunked Important infectious, zoonotic and emerging diseases of livestock and poultry in Bangladesh View project
The Impact of Gym Club Servicescape on Individual Behaviour: The Mediating Role of Emotional Response View
project. Article in Journal of Services Marketing. doi:10.1108/JSM-07-2017-0261.

- Step 4: Our goals and things we would like to provide

Our campaign will have a website where we will share our goals, visions, timetables, weekly
activities, resources, and contact information. We will have links to our social media and we will
provide locations of our sessions on our website and social media as part of our timetable.
We would provide a list and hold exercise sessions in exercise facilities that are segregated,
and provide good coverage and private showers and bathrooms, as this is one main factor for
why muslim women do not fulfill the suggested requirements for physical activity. We would
provide physical and a list of equipment that they can use to exercise within the limitations of
islam, like breathable sport hijabs and modest workout clothes. In addition to this we would
provide areas and people to play and play sports with the children of our participants when their
mothers are taking part in our workshops/sessions. Giving this will open up new opportunities
and encourage more muslim women to try to participate in exercising more often, while trying to
encourage it as a habit for life.

Our campaign is very supportive, and we would have multiple support mechanisms in place to
encourage and motivate our participants in ways specific to them while still staying in line with
their wishes and personal limitations. Some of these may include call centres for those who
have concerns or questions, weekly or daily sessions at set places to hold discussions and talk
about future endeavours with our participants, and we would have social media platforms that
we would use to promote daily physical activity with things like daily challenges and motivations,
tips for balancing work, exercise and life etc. Our social media platforms would be a safe space
for people to voice their concerns and interest in our cause. We would try to motivate our
followers by promoting involvement in our cause for people from many walks of life, body shape,
age or physical limitations.

Having a social media presence will help our campaign to reach out to adolescent muslim girls,
and this will allow us to start more endeavors to aide this new audience in reaching their
exercise goals and motivating them to make physical activity a lifelong habit. We would
nonetheless encourage not just middle-aged muslim women but muslim women of any age to
participate and promote our campaign.

In terms of security, all photographic evidence or content made during sessions is limited to
female viewers and is strictly forbidden unless otherwise stated. This information will be shared
when activities/sports for the weekly sessions are announced on social media and on the
website. Content from security cameras are limited to female viewers. Participants will have to
sign a contract outlining this in more detail when sessions include more sensitive activities, such
as swimming or indoor activities, as for example, full-time hijabis would not wear a hijab doing
these activities. This helps ensure our participants' sense of safety and privacy rights.

“We strive to encourage muslim women and girls in todays society to break social norms and be
confident in their way of practising physical activity as a lifelong endeavor while still maintaining
their Muslim identity.”

Step 5: timetable and general disclaimers and notes

(participants can choose whatever session they like depending on their daily circumstances)
5.00 to 6.00 8.05 to 8.50 12.00 to 1.00 6.05 to 7.05 7.10 to 8.10 8.15 to 9.15
(am) (am) (pm) (pm) (pm) (pm)

saturday Morning jog + running Sport session Sport session

stretches in local in local
oval/facility oval/facility
(with child
activities)
 sunday Morning jog + running Sport session High-intensity Sport session
stretches in local workout in local
oval/facility session oval/facility
(with child
activities)

monday Morning jog + running Sport session Sport session Zumba

stretches in local in local session
oval/facility oval/facility

tuesday Morning jog + running Sport session High-intensity Zumba

stretches in local workout session
oval/facility session

wednesday Morning jog + running Sport session Sport session Zumba

stretches in local in local session
oval/facility oval/facility

thursday Morning jog + running Sport session Sport session Zumba

stretches in local in local session
oval/facility oval/facility

friday Morning jog + running Sport session Sport session

stretches in local in local
oval/facility oval/facility

- The session times are made so that mothers or students can go before, between or after
school or work hours
- All sessions, facilities and equipment are free (clothes and hijabs- not included)
- For morning sessions, no booking needed, participants could just join the sessions
- Activity/sports change every week and stay consistent throughout each week
- All sessions are open to women and girls from ages 12+
- *DISCLAIMER* ANY MUSIC PLAYED DURING SESSIONS WOULD BE HALAL
- Gym facilities will be available 7am-11pm Mon-Sat with membership
- All activities will be held in segregated, women-only facilities
- Any changes or notifications will be sent via social media accounts

Part B
PART 2. You are required to critique your health intervention, campaign or program by thoroughly
evaluating its effectiveness.

Pros:
- Provides muslim women with a sort of support mechanism when it comes to physical activities
- Allows people to get to know people from similar backgrounds and the same religious beliefs
- Provides motivation and facilities for lifelong exercising habits
- Social media status helps promote the cause for people outside off our physical sessions and
limitations (as physical campaign activities would be most likely very limited to a state or area),
 therefore motivating more people to participate even from longer distances from the programs
main base
- Supports and encourages involvement of people from many backgrounds, cultures, mother-
tongues, and ages while still limiting participants to Muslim women.
- Provides care-facilities for younger children who come along with mothers who may participate in
our sessions
- Provides a broad range of activities/sports taking into account ability, desired intensity of the
activity, clothing choices
- Security and explicit access to photographic evidence is limited to women (no men are allowed to
access security cameras etc)
Cons:
- Physical campaign activities wont reach every muslim woman in Australia, and would be very
much limited to a state or area
- Not much involvement for people who may have disabilities or special needs
- Facilities may be inaccessible for those who live in other areas
- May transport issues for those without access to cars or public transport
- The lack of payments for sessions may result in less seriousness of attending and making the
most of it
- Less awareness of importance of physical activity in physical settings (we may have it online (eg
on a website) but we wouldn't have sessions discussing the importance of it)
- Mostly voluntary so access to funds to run the campaign would be hard to come by

Potential success:
There is a large amount of muslim women in Australia, alot of which are not sufficiently active in their day-
to-day lives. Introducing a program like this would greatly motivate the women and help them use their
time more effectively to exercise more. Our social media will help promote our message to people that are
not only participating in our physical promotional sessions but also people all around the country and
maybe even in the world to get moving and be confident in being sufficiently active despite their religious
limitations. Despite this though the success of the campaign would be very limited to most likely NSW and
surrounding areas and not the entirety of the whole of Australia as it is a very big program and would
require lots of funding and would be hard to run in the whole country.

General conclusion:
This is a big project and is new to the society, but the importance of it is very significant, as muslim
women are often not given these chances and attention from the society. When a programme like a
muslimah can is presented to the muslim women, it might not be very popular since its only targeting a
very specific group of people, but it will be very beneficial to them and would be popular in the media as
the idea is unique and is not often talked about. It will help them build a healthy habit of exercising and
help them keep it a lifelong practice. Still this program is the first of its kind so it might not reach every
muslim woman in Australia and there might complications and things might not work out but there is
always time and chance to fix and replan things over and over again, as long as people keep a positive
mindset, everything is possible. Even though the programme will face obstacles, we are hoping it reaches
as many muslim women as possible in Australia and succeeds to influence them to practice a healthy and
physical life.
CRITERIA D: REFLECTING AND IMPROVING
PERFORMANCE
Day 1: In class we chose our target audience, and justified our choice. We also started gathering
statistics relevant to our target audience.
This day was just to set down our foundations and figure out how we were going to work through the
assignment. It was quick paced as we didn't have much time in class but we felt we needed to get a basic
idea of how the campaign would work.
Day 2: We met up at Rouse Hill Library to work on the assessment. We completed the statistics report
with references, identified our goals for the campaign, created a detailed one-week timetable for our
campaigns events, and identified pros and cons of our campaign.
Our goals of this time were to:
- Finish the statistics report with references
- Identify our goals and things we would like to provide and achieve as part of our campaign
- Create our timetable with extra notes
- Come up with a name
- (getting the pros and cons things done was a bonus)
We worked this day very effectively getting quite a lot of work done to a good standard with still having
time to spare. It was enjoyable working with Salma outside of school and I was proud of our progress.
Day 3: We worked throughout the day in between classes to write down the potential success of the
campaign if it had been released in Australia and a general conclusion of our campaign planning.
Day 4: We worked on the last part of our task, criteria D. It was a slight bit of a rush today as we dont
know exactly how to structure or what to put in this section but we did what we understood. We also
thought of adding some pictures that we took on the day we went to Rouse Hill as a type of evidence.
We worked on this entire task together, and when someone completed a part on their own, the other
would review and edit accordingly. Overall we worked together very well.

Peer assessment:

Salma on Sara: Sara worked really hard on this assessment, i gave my fair share of ideas and i'm really
thankful for her hard work, she came up with ideas and was in charge of writing most of the time. She was
efficient and produced high quality work, while managing her time very well. When we went out to work in
the library and started our work, she was serious about it. She did her work with minimal distractions and
worked within the time we set. She was also very respectful when I suggested something, hearing my
point of view and wasn't being bossy or rude, she made me feel appreciated to be part of a team. Overall
it was a really fun and good experience to work with Sara, we had fun while we were doing the work but
still got it done in time.

Sara on Salma: Salma tried very hard with this and came up with some very good ideas for the
assessment. When I told her to start on something while I was finishing one part off she would start and
get a good amount of it done until I finished the part I was doing and started helping her. We did this with
the weekly timetable, which Salma had started doing while I was writing the statistics report. The work
she came up with was good, and I only had to make a few minor grammatical edits or add a few things
whenever she would ask me to review something of hers, and she did the same with me. She made the
experience of working with someone out of school an enjoyable first time, and I would gladly do it again
with her.
Self assessment (salma): i really had a lot of fun doing this assessment, i was aiming to work hard and
produce good quality work but my main goal was to be able to manage my time better than the times
before. It isn't my first time working in a team, I worked in a team of 6 before but it was really messy and
chaotic but this time we were in pairs which is just way easier, me and Sara were able to communicate
easily, plan and do the work on time. I'm really proud of myself this term. I decided from the beginning of
the term to work hard and change my mindset towards studying. Even when I was tired and lazy, I still
persevered and completed my work and I hope my hard work pays off.

Photos: