RIYADH, Saudi Arabia- In March 2013 the Saudi Arabian government officially sanctioned girls’ sports in private schools. The move comes amid a string of subtle signs of progress in a country consistently ranked as one of the worst for women.
Before the official sanction, physical education for girls already existed secretly in private schools. Even after the sanction Saudi athletics are still banned for girls in public schools where most children receive their education.
The new regulations dictate that girls must “dress modestly” and practice with proper facilities and equipment, and that female teachers lead such activities.
Women’s sports have been a particularly contentious fight in Saudi Arabia. In 2012, the kingdom sent its first female athletes to the Olympics—Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani for judo and Sarah Attar for track and field—amid strong international pressure and threats to bar Saudi Arabia from the games if it continued to exclude women from the competition.
Saudi Arabia’s laws are based on the ultraconservative Wahhabi school of Islam, wherein clerics serve as judges of public morality. By law, women have male guardians who can decide whether they are allowed to work, travel, study or get married. Human Rights Watch says the system treats women as perpetual minors.
Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, the country’s highest religious authority, warned that women entering the workforce, driving, and becoming involved in politics is, “opening the door to evil.” He has also stated that “Women should be housewives,” and they have no need to play sports. Other clerics have warned that playing sports can cause a woman to lose her virginity and that sports are a slippery slope that leads to Saudi women socializing with men and dressing immodestly.
However, some clerics counter that women’s sports are a “religious necessity” because of rising obesity rates and the risk of health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle.
Education Ministry spokesman Mohammed al–Dakhini says that the allowance “stems from the teachings of our religion, which allows women to practice such activities in accordance with sharia.”
Eman al–Nafjan, a prominent Saudi blogger who writes about women’s rights, has said that the new regulations do not change much for children at private schools, but she believes the move could be used as an indicator of public opinion for extending girls’ sports to public schools.
A study suggests that public opinion may in fact favor more lenient rules about girls’ and women’s sports. As a part of a master’s thesis, Mariam Dujain Al-Kaabi surveyed 312 Saudi men and women from the education field and found that 73.5% “unambiguously endorsed” women’s rights to participate in sports. Only 21.6% believed that the right should have conditions attached.
The study debunks the idea held by some in the kingdom that allowing women to play sports would be unpopular and have negative social consequences.
Further, the first women’s sports facility opened in the city of Kohbar in June 2013, which includes various female exercise classes and activities for children. Previously, women’s facilities had to be licensed as “health centers” and were typically attached to hospitals, or they charged very high prices and catered to only wealthy Saudis.
Analysts say that Saudi King Abdullah is a subtle reformer on women’s rights. He is credited with giving women the vote and the right to run for office in local elections, easing restrictions on female employment, allowing women to become lawyers, and appointing 30 women to the Shura Council (Saudi Arabia’s advisory body), making women 20% of the previously all-male constituency.
As the Saudi government and people debate the role of women in sports, employment, driving and other aspects of society, some feel as though the tide of change will not be quelled.
Raha al–Moharrak, who in May 2013 became the first woman from Saudi Arabia to climb Mount Everest, asserts, “You can’t stop change. The younger generation knows exactly what is out there. Everything is at our fingertips.”
– Kaylie Cordingley
Sources: Thomson Reuters Foundation, Policy Mic, Human Rights Watch, Reuters, Albawaba, Daily News Egypt, CNN
Photo: KPBS