Yassmin Abdel-Magied

Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Abdel-Magied in 2016
Born	(1991-03-03) 3 March 1991 Khartoum, Sudan
Nationality	Sudanese Australian (Dual)[1]
Education	Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering (Honours)
Alma mater	University of Queensland
Occupation	Mechanical Engineer, Author, Radio & Television Presenter

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese-Australian born in Khartoum, Sudan on 3 March 1991^[2] who moved to Brisbane, Australia when she was almost two years old.^[3] She is a mechanical engineer,^[4] author,^[5][6] activist,^[7] keynote speaker^[8][9][10] and part-time radio presenter. Yassmin hosted the Australia Wide television program on Saturday mornings on ABC News^[11] which the ABC cancelled on 24 May 2017.^[12] She assisted in the establishment of 'Youth Without Borders',^[13][14] and has held membership in the Council for Multicultural Australia, Federal ANZAC Centenary Commemoration Youth Working Group, the 2014 Youth G20 Summit,^[15][16] and the Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR).^[17]

Education and early career

Primary and secondary school years

According to her autobiography, Abdel-Magied started primary school at the Islamic College of Brisbane at the age of 4, after being turned away from the local kindergarten because she was too advanced in her reading and mathematical skills, having been taught by her mother.^[18] She then attended John Paul College (Brisbane), an independent Christian high school, where she was elected Senior School Vice Captain, and graduated first in her class. In her memoir, Abdel-Magied stated that her father chose John Paul College "following the principal's positive response to my request to wear the hijab,"^[19] having herself decided to start wearing it at the age of 10.^[20]

At age 16 in 2007, Abdel-Magied and two others founded Youth Without Borders^[21] (from which Board she finally departed in October 2016^[22]) and was subsequently named 2007 Young Australian Muslim of the Year.^[23] She was active in the debating team and competitions at school, learnt how to box at the local gym, and participated in several community groups such as Al-Nisa and World Vision's STIR, started the Amnesty International Club at her school, attended a national conference for young Muslims and Oxfam events, volunteered at local Islamic schools as a support teacher during her school holidays. "All my activities were social but had meaning."^[24]

Mechanical engineering

In 2011, Yassmin Abdel-Magied graduated as valedictorian with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with First Class Honours from the University of Queensland.^[23][25]. In 2012 Yassmin was hired by Schlumberger and placed in the PathFinder department as an MWD Field Specialist until Feb 2014.^[26][27][28] In March 2014, she joined Shell in Perth, Western Australia as a graduate well-site engineer,^[29] where she worked as a FIFO worker until 2016. In under two years Yassmin completed both Rounds 1 and 2 of Shell's Wells Distance Learning Package.^[30]

Community, organisational and governmental roles

• During high school years (2002-7), Abdel Magied was a founding member of Al-Nisa Youth Group.
• Started Amnesty International Chapter at her school, John Paul College.
• Deputy Chair of the Queensland Youth Council.
• Sat on the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland (ECCQ) and the Youth Affairs Network of Queensland (YANQ).^[31]
• In 2007 Abdel-Magied co-founded Youth Without Borders, an idea she pitched at the Youth Summit of the closing ceremony of the Asia Pacific Cities Summit^[32] and continued as Chair until October 2016.^[33][21]
• In 2008 Abdel-Magied was invited to join the board of the Queensland Museum aged just 17^[34] and remained on the board until her term expired in 2013.^[35] She is currently an Ambassador for the Museum.^[36]
• In 2010 she was invited to the board of the newly formed Queensland Design Council, during her 2nd year at university. She found this a good fit for her profession and area of expertise, and it was where she met Julianne Schulz, editor of the Griffith Review, who encouraged her to write.^[37][38]
• In August 2011, she was appointed to the Council for Multicultural Australia.^[39]
• In 2014 she was part of the organising committee for the G20 Summit in Brisbane.^[2]
• In November 2014, she became a board member of ChildFund Australia.^[40]
• In 2015, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop appointed Abdel-Magied to the Council for Australian-Arab Relations.^[41]
• In November 2015, she was appointed to the board of directors of OurWatch, an organisation for the prevention of domestic violence.^[42]
• In 2016, she was elected academic fellow of Trinity College in the University of Melbourne.^[43]
• She has served as a member of the Federal ANZAC Centenary Commemoration Youth Working Group^[44]
• In late 2016 the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia) (DFAT) sent Abdel-Magied, as a member of the board of the Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR), to the Middle East to promote Australia. Abdel-Magied visited Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Kuwait, Jordan, Ramallah, Cairo and Sudan. (George Brandis, Attorney-General of Australia, explained the purpose, rationale and cost of the tour, upon being grilled by One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts: “Yassmin Abdel-Magied visited a number of countries in the Middle East to promote Australia as an open, innovative, democratic and diverse nation. She met youth representatives, scientists, entrepreneurs, women’s groups and others. The visit also promoted female participation in male dominated industries such as the oil and gas sector, and featured targeted engagements with young women considering careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths.”)^[45]. Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop announced on 9 August 2017 that Abdel-Magied had been replaced on the board of the Council for Australian-Arab Relations (CAAR).^[46]

Honours and awards

• 2007 Young Australian Muslim of the Year^[47]
• 2010 Young Queenslander of the Year
• 2012 Young Leader in the Australian Financial Review
• 2012 Westpac’s inaugural 100 Women of Influence Awards.
• 2015 Young Australian of the Year for Queensland^[2]
• 2015 Named in the Top 100 Most Influential Engineers in Australia by Engineers Australia^[48]

Publications and media appearances

• She has written for the Griffith Review,^[49] The New York Times and The Guardian.^[23]
• She has been on radio on Triple J's Mornings with Zan^[50] and Hack,^[51] Radio National ^[52] and ABC Local Radio.
• Her 2014 TED talk, What does my Headscarf Mean to You, had attracted 1.8m views by May 2017.^[23][53]
• In March 2016, Abdel-Magied's memoir Yassmin's Story: Who Do You Think I Am? was published by Penguin Random House.^[54][55]
• In August 2016 she began work at the ABC as presenter of the weekly TV programme Australia Wide, about the different cultures that make up Australia.^[56] The cancellation of the show following the ABC restructure was announced in late May 2017, with the last episode airing on July 1.^[12][57]
• From September to November 2016 she hosted a motorsport podcast alongside Michael Lamonato about F1 Racing.^[58]
• She has been a guest panellist on Q&A, The Drum, The Project, and appeared internationally on the BBC.^[23]
• In February 2017, she was one of three hosts for the documentary The Truth About Racism on SBS.^[59]

Personal life

Abdel-Magied was born in Khartoum in 1991,^[60] and holds dual Australian/Sudanese citizenship.^[61]

Her father spent 4 years in the UK, completing a PhD in electrical engineering at Imperial College, London, returning to teach at the University of Khartoum for a number of years,^[62] but was unable to find work in his profession in Australia and later studied IT. Her mother qualified and worked as an architect in Sudan.^[14][63] Abdel-Magied speaks of her maternal grandmother in her memoir: "Habooba believed if her daughters were educated they would never be completely dependent on a man... She was proud of mothering a doctor, two architects, three engineers, a scientist and a pharmacist".^[64]

When she was 18 months old, in late 1992,^[62] Abdel-Magied and her parents moved to Australia as skilled migrants^[65] and were one of the first Sudanese families to move to Brisbane^[6] the capital of the Australian state of Queensland. A pen pal her mother had been writing to for many years and his family extended hospitality and practical help to the family.^[66]

In July 2017 she announced that she would be relocating to London to partake in what she called the "Aussie rite of passage".^[67]

Political, personal and religious views

Abdel-Magied describes her multiple identities on her personal website. "First and foremost, I am a Muslim, Alhamdulillah...a mechanical engineer, with a passion for adventures, football, boxing, and motorsport."^[68]

In her memoir, she writes at length about her interests, personal beliefs and world view, as well as the huge influence of her mother and father, and discusses her personality traits - her competitiveness as well as her drive to improve the world by working with others. She also writes at some length about her understanding of topics such as Sharia Law,^[69] wearing the hijab and other beliefs and customs pertaining to Islam which she believes have often been misunderstood or misconstrued by non-Muslims.^[70]

Media controversies

In June 2016 on the ABC The Drum program, Abdel-Magied said Sharia law, "allows for multiple interpretations... it's about mercy, it's about kindness".^[71][72] In February 2017 Abdel-Magied was a panelist on the ABC Q&A program where she was challenged about her views on Sharia law. She said "Islam to me is the most feminist religion. We got equal rights well before the Europeans. We don't take our husbands' last names because we ain't their property."^[73] On the same program, Abdel-Magied stated in response to another panelist, Jacqui Lambie, that Sharia law is as simple as "me praying five times day," and that it says in Islam, "you follow the law of the land on which you are on".^[73] The comments about feminism and sharia law caused outrage in some quarters.^[74][75]

On ANZAC Day 25 April 2017, Abdel-Magied posted "LEST.WE.FORGET. (Manus, Nauru, Syria, Palestine...)" on her personal Facebook page. The first three words are used on ANZAC Day to remember fallen soldiers. The words in parentheses were intended to remind people to remember also refugees held in detention on Manus Island and Nauru and injustices against the Palestinians. The comment was criticised by many on social media as well as Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton. She deleted the part in parentheses soon after posting it, commenting, "It was brought to my attention that my last post was disrespectful, and for that, I apologise unreservedly".^[76] The following day, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce suggested the ABC should take action against Abdel-Magied.^[77] Senator Eric Abetz formally asked Julie Bishop to exercise her powers to sack Abdel-Magied, which she declined to do.^[78] The ABC also stood by Abdel-Magied.^[79] Various Australian Muslim leaders expressed varying views on the controversy, from support for expressing a compassionate view to denouncing her remarks as not reflective of the views of all Muslims.^[80][81][82]

See also

• Islam in Australia
• Women in Islam

References