ÖIF Women's Center Publishes Brochure to Empower Girls with Migration Backgrounds

Background: Headscarf Debate and Political Situation

Those responsible emphasize that their focus is not on bans, but on protecting the girls. Sonia Koul, project leader at the ÖIF Women's Center, explained that many families want guidance. The brochure is intended to help make generational conflicts visible and to involve parents as well as educators.

The backdrop is also politically sensitive. The initiative comes at a time when the debate over wearing headscarves in schools in Austria has flared up anew. The ÖVP had also recently called for stricter regulations. According to the ÖIF, the brochure is expressly not intended as a political statement, but rather as a preventive offering.

Content and Target Groups

In addition to the printed edition, the brochure will be available as a download on the Women's Center's website, according to the ÖIF. This will allow schools, counseling centers, and families to use the content directly. The first edition is planned in Turkish, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Arabic, and German.

The Women's Center in Vienna-Favoriten regularly offers workshops, counseling sessions, and psychotherapy practices for women. With the new publication, the center is expanding its offering for young target groups. Managing Director Claudia Bauer sees it as another building block in reaching girls at an early stage.

Reactions from the Women's Center

In addition to information, the brochure contains case studies and exercises that can be worked through together with family members or trusted persons. Educators receive accompanying materials for classroom use.

Emina Šarić, social worker at the Women's Center, reports that many girls face conflicting expectations in their everyday lives. "Viele Mädchen brauchen vor allem eines: jemanden, der zuhört und sie ernst nimmt", she said at the presentation. The brochure is intended to enable this kind of listening even when no in-person conversation takes place.

Bugl-Havli, a representative of the ÖIF, also pointed out that integration can only succeed if young people are encouraged to find their own paths. The brochure is therefore conceived as an invitation to dialogue between the generations, not as a lecture.

The brochure is planned to be distributed to schools, counseling centers, and integration associations across Austria in the coming months. An initial evaluation is intended to show whether the content is being taken up by the target groups and which topics need to be added.