Muslim Women's National Network Australia

Muslim Women's National Network Australia (MWNNA) is an association in Australia which represents a network of progressive Muslim women's organisations and individual Muslim women. MWNNA runs events and projects for Muslim women, and represents their views to media and government organisations.

The MWNNA was founded in 1990 by Aziza Abdel-Halim AM and her husband as a community centre to teach English and Arabic. Over time it came to advocate in Australia for Muslim women across all ethnic backgrounds. It is involved with and organises cross-cultural and interfaith events to educate the wider community about Islamic issues. Aziza Abdel-Halim was President, before becoming an Advisor. Silma Ihram is a board member.

The goals of the organization are:

In 2003 the MWNNA developed and implemented a strategy to meet with and educate media executives, journalists, and journalism students to discuss the impacts of negative stereotyping and misreporting in the media, and build relationships between the media and Muslim communities. Training modules and online resources were delivered through a number of universities that taught media, covering controversial topics such as the hijab, Islam, and terrorism.

In 2004 the President of the MWNNA, Aziza Abdel-Halim AM, was member of the Muslim Community Reference Group to provide the federal government with advice on how to help the Muslim community integrate and foster understanding of Muslims amongst Australian society, public institutions and government bodies.

In the lead up to the 2004 federal election and the 2007 federal election, the MWNNA ran "Learn To Lobby Your Polly" workshops and "How To Vote" seminars to educate Muslims about voting in Australia and raise their awareness of the Australian political process.

In 2006 MWNNA members contributed to the Muslim Women’s Project run by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. The Muslim Women's Project was created in response to the findings from the 2004 Islamic Report, which found that it was women who were most affected by racial and religious discrimination, in order to engage with Muslim Women about human rights and responsibilities.

In 2008 the MWNNA gained a $99,991 grant from the Federal Government for the purpose of helping "Australian Muslim women develop self-esteem and overcome discrimination.

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