Marie Claire Australia — June 2017

CONVERSATION

Rwanda

61.3%

Bolivia

53.1%

Australia

28.7%

France

25.8%

Sri Lanka

5.8%

marieclaire.com.au 85

KATH

KOSCHEL

Founding director of

Kindness Factory

HER START

A professional cricket player for

the NSW Breakers, Kath Koschel’s

dream career was shattered after

a persistent back injury required

multiple surgeries and a long stint

in rehab. It was there she met Jim,

the man she dubs “the love of my

life”. Tragedy struck again, when

he took his own life the day before

he was due to leave the program

and start his life with Koschel.

HER RECOVERY

Koschel discovered helping others

helped her feel better. It was an

attitude she’d learnt from Jim, she

says, and so in his memory she set

up a website, Kindness Factory, in

2015. There, she logged the acts
      of kindness she performed – from
      thanking those who aided her own
      recovery to shouting a struggling
      family their groceries for the week.
      Gradually, others began logging
      their own good deeds.

THE MOVEMENT

Today, Kindness Factory funds

a range of community projects

nationwide, including feeding the

homeless and financing life-saving

hospital machinery. Koschel aims

to have a million acts of kindness

logged by 2020. “Collectively

we can make the world a better

place, just by being kind to

each other,” she says.

Visit kindnessfactory.com.

W

ON

DER^ WOMA

N

Female imam Sherin Khankan is

challenging patriarchy within Islam

It’s Friday afternoon and prayers are underway

at the Mariam Mosque in Copenhagen.

The sermon is being delivered by Sherin

Khankan to a crowd of women, some wearing

headscarves, many not. Later, Khankan

will conduct a marriage ceremony and sign

people up for seminars on meditation and

domestic abuse. Welcome to feminist Islam

and Scandinavia’s first women-only mosque.

Mariam was created to promote progressive

Islam, says Khankan. “We want to challenge

Islamophobia. It’s difficult to hold on to the

narrative that Muslim women are suppressed

when people can see them taking the lead.”

While she has faced criticism from

conservative Muslims and even death threats

from the Danish right wing, Khankan remains

sanguine. “When you challenge patriarchal

structures and change the power balance

people naturally oppose you. You just

have to be prepared for it.”

FEMALES FIRST

SNAPSHOT

Sydney photographer Emma Leslie’s photography

series Transcend captures transgender and gender-

diverse children dressed as their true selves, such as

six-year-old Briella, who recently transitioned from

a boy to a girl. The exhibition will be on display at

NSW’s Head On Photo Festival, May 5 - 27.

PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN IN

PARLIAMENT AROUND THE WORLD

THE WORLD

IN NUMBERS

PHOTOGRAPHED BY GETTY IMAGES; EMMA LESLIE; COURTESY OF THE KINDNESS FACTORY. TEXT BY KATHRYN MADDEN; TIFFANY DUNK. †WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

NEWSFEED