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Today reporter, Zubeida Malik writes this week's newsletter.
It started off as a couple of lines in our planning diary and, as tends to happen on a fast-moving news programme, it got overlooked... Baroness Uddin was getting together with some Muslim women to see how they could fight extremism.
It sounded interesting to me. My first reaction was: "Why should women react any differently from men?" Surely in this day and age it doesn't matter if you're male or female. "Not another meeting" was another thought whizzing round my head.
But there was something about it that struck me. A couple of phone calls later, with more details, I realised just how determined they all seemed to be to get everyone together to try and fight terrorism. One woman said all she had seen on TV of late was men with beards talking about Islam. "Where were the women?" she asked me. I didn't know what to say, but figured that going to the meeting might help to provide an answer.
After convincing the producers that this was something worth pursuing, I got the green light and the next day saw me down in the Moses Room of the House of Lords at the launch of the "Muslim Women Talk" campaign.
Listen to Zubeida's report
In the grandeur of the Moses room, with its biblical paintings and what looked like William Morris wallpaper, it was a delight and such a contrast to see Muslim women in their colourful salwar khamez, all kinds of head scarves, and with some wearing Jilbabs and Burkas.
I wasn't too sure who was going to turn up (i don't think the organisers at that point knew) but there was a real mixture of muslim women: sunni to shia, from bangladesh to somalia. Some looked quite religious, there were others who quite frankly would have passed for Supermodels. None fitted into any existing stereotype.
There had been some doubt as to how much access we'd be given, and whether any of those attending would be willing to talk to me. I needn't have worried. Inviting me to their private lunch, they tut-tutted when I didn't help myself to the chicken kebabs: "Are you sure you have enough there?" one would ask as she walked past... "Have some more", as another plate of rice and pakoras was pushed in my direction. Our Deputy Editor would have been in Heaven here.
Over lunch I talked to many of them about the recent terrorist attacks, the stop-and-search and the on-going national debate about British Muslims. What struck me was how passionately they all felt, and how they all wanted to be able to do something to help. How did they feel they were perceived by society at large as "Muslim Women"? They all agreed: "They see us as uneducated"... "They think just because we wear the headscarf we are backward"... "They think we are all oppressed by our men". I wanted to laugh because there was no way these women were oppressed, downtrodden, stupid, or backward looking. These were strong, intelligent women who for various reasons were being overlooked. Being part of this campaign meant getting their voices heard, being able to change things.
Some said that they wanted to go into schools and colleges to speak about Islam and the Muslim community here, another said she wanted to get the men in her community to play a more active role in bringing up young boys so that they weren't exploited by extremists.
What was so refreshing was that none of these women talked about - as many politicians do - setting up steering committees, advisory groups, or (shock horror) of having another meeting. For them, it was all about action.
As I left one woman clearly wanted to say something to me. She started then stopped. "I'll get into trouble for saying this, but I'll say it anyway," she said and went on to explain that she was born in Britain, educated here and worked here. "Why am I not involved in that experience of the bombers... What happened to those young people?" she asked. She didn't have any easy answers or solutions - only that she and many other women were deeply concerned and wanted to prevent it from ever happening again.
Zubeida
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