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Women in BCMA
3-22-2017
The journey of Muslim women in BC started with very humble beginnings as immigrants from Fiji, India, Pakistan and the Middle East started to make BC their new home. This meant there was a need to not only assimilate into the new country but to ensure there was a connection and support system for Muslims to be able to have a place of worship to practice, learn and congregate.
In 1976, 10 years after the BCMA was formally registered as a non-profit organization, the first Women’s Auxillary was formed under BCMA. The first members of the Women’s Auxiliary were Fatima Ali , Qamrul Ali , Samsun Ali , Tazul Ali , Salar Buksh (Religious), Mehrul Aziz Khan and Kamla Habib (Social committee). From the beginning to today their stories are filled with hard work, perseverance, dedication and passion for maintaining the sisterhood bond through education, community outreach and Islamic social interactions.
In 1988, there was a transformation in the role of women in BCMA with the establishment of the first Women’s Chapter, which gave the female members a broader mandate regarding their own affairs to support women and youth. The following decade saw the Women’s Chapter undertaking many initiatives that provided valuable services to the Muslim community.
Today, under the Women’s Affairs Board, the women are managing their own affairs with active branch and chapters at all the BCMA Masajids in the lower mainland. In 1976 the vision was education, community work and building a platform for women in the Masajids. Today as our community is growing and our diversity is increasing the services and engagement has strengthened and grown with work done by our branches and chapters to work with local communities, helping the needy, charity, education for women and youth, sports and empowerment, interfaith dialogue, social and political engagement.
The recent activities of the BCMA women in the past few years reflect how much the organization has evolved and adapted in order to meet the needs of the community. Since raising Islamic awareness has been an important goal, the BCMA women have participated in events including the celebration of Eid-ul-Adha at the Provincial Legislature and interfaith dialogues with sisters of other faiths. Future aspirations of the Women’s Council and the local chapters involve expanding community work to local food banks and women’s shelters, generating support for Muslim women who wish pursue a higher education, and creating a greater sense of environmental awareness in the community.
As we reflect on the hard work and dedication of our pioneers it’s important for women to continue to shatter the glass ceiling and be the visionaries to strengthen, support and lift each other up through the challenges ahead.
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