Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Good morning.

Thank you for having me.

We should start by talking a little bit about your own background.

I mean, you are Australian, obviously, by citizenship, but your background informs everything that you are.

I was born in Australia.

My father is Palestinian.

He is dispossessed from his family home, which still remains in the West Bank, but he is unable to return.

My family live as refugees in Jordan, also unable to return to their home.

My mother is Egyptian, so I am of Palestinian-Egyptian descent and a Muslim as well.

Now, how did that affect you growing up? Did you go to a non-denominational school? Did you go to an Islamic school or what?

Both.

I went to a Catholic primary school, actually, and had a very strong Catholic education as a young girl.

My parents felt very strongly that the Catholic values would be closer aligned than a public state school.

And then I went to Australia's very first Islamic secondary school.

And it was there that I really came of age in terms of my identity as a young Muslim woman.

This was at the time of the first Gulf War.

And so the racism that I experienced at that time really gave me a strong sense of what it meant to fight for my identity and my right to be heard on my own terms.

Sometimes, and particularly for women, I suppose, the identity is associated totally with hijab.

Is she wearing the hijab or is she not? And you're not.

I did, actually.

I wore hijab of my own choice.

My mother didn't wear it throughout my teenage years.

And it was my struggle to actually find employment that ultimately led to my decision to stop wearing it at that time.

And, you know, at that time, I was facing extreme discrimination trying to get a job as a lawyer.

But no, I don't wear it now.