 Having visited schools and spoken to young Muslim girls, I was struck by the fact that most said they did not have a role model and were not aware of many or any successful Muslim women. The low aspirations of these girls also caused me concern.This led to me setting up this Big Sister website. I wanted to make Muslim female role models more accessible and create an environment where Muslim girls can be mentored online and inspired so they can achieve their goals in life and have a positive impact on their own families, communities, and society at large.
Vision of Big Sister : "A world in which Muslim women participate at all levels of society."
Mission of Big Sister: "Raise aspirations of Muslim girls and women."
It is important to learn from the success stories of those that are admired and show the depth and breadth of the incredible talent. Big Sister will be able to motivate girls to think about what they want to be, what they want to do, and how they'll contribute back to their communities and society.
By showcasing successful Muslim women from all walks of life, Big Sister can help Muslim girls to map out their lives and influence their career choice. Stories have the ability to change and inspire and I hope they will also show girls that they have an equal stake in society, they can contribute and influence and be our future leaders.
Some role models will be able to give others hope by sharing their stories and their wisdom through mentoring to enthuse the next generation. By highlighting the role models via the internet, it makes them more accessible to tens of thousands of girls in schools, colleges and universities in the UK as well as millions of other girls around the world
In addition, I hope the role model stories will challenge the negative stereotypes of Muslim women held by both Muslims and non-Muslims; encourage citizenship; encourage civic participation; increase the number of Muslim girls in male dominated professions; and raise teacher aspirations of young Muslim girls.
Shaista Gohir MBE
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