Fatima Payman Becomes Australia’s First Hijab-Wearing Senator

27-year-old Afghan refugee Fatima Payman has created history, becoming the first hijab-wearing woman to win a Senate seat in Western Australia.

Fatima Payman on Monday won Western Australia’s sixth and final Senate seat, becoming the first Afghan Australian, the first hijab-wearing Muslim woman and the third youngest Senator in history of parliament.

While Fatima won the last seat, the final seat was won by Green senator Dorinda Cox who, became the first Indigenous woman to represent WA in the Senate in 2021.

As Labor’s newest senator from WA, the Australian Muslim says she will wear the Hijab with pride.

“I want to normalise hijab wearing. I hope to be an inspiration to many other young Australians, that just because you believe in God, or just because you look different, it shouldn’t prevent you from being involved in such an important institution,” Payman told The Guardian Australia.

“You can’t be what you can’t see, and if that [parliament] is not reflective of the general Australian public then how can you have complete faith that they can hear your voice, and be your voice in power?”

As per the media, Fatima was just five years old when she fled Afghanistan with her family, seeking refuge from the Taliban. The now-ruling government of the country had targeted the family because her grandfather was a member of the Afghan parliament.

“Seeking a better life for his children,” her father, Abdul Wakil Payman left by boat from Pakistan to come to Australia.

After three years later, Fatima, her mother and her siblings joined him in Perth, where he worked three jobs – as a kitchen hand, a security guard and a taxi driver, according to The Guardian Australian. Her mother also ran a business providing driving lessons.

Payman became an AFL organizer after watching her parents’ struggles. When she lost her father to cancer in 2018, she decided she wanted to represent hard-working Australians like him who struggled to make ends meet.