Flora Lethbridge-Cejku

Flora Lethbridge-Çejku

Foundations of Islam

Islamic Women in the Media

04/10/12

            The gendered discrimination and segregation prevalent in Saudi Arabia is well known throughout the world with one of the most infamous examples being that Saudi women are not allowed to drive. Most people, however, are probably unaware of the ban that is brought to light by Asma Alsharif in her February 29 article for Reuters. Women cannot play sports. In Alsharif’s article entitled “Saudi Women Seek Right to Play Sports Despite Muslim Clerics’ Veto”, she focuses on a particular women’s basketball team, Jeddah United, to highlight the desire of many young Saudi women to participate in organized sports despite the constant obstacles they face in society and government in trying to engage in physical activity.

            In this article, Alsharif emphasizes the close relationship between the Saudi institutions of Islam and institutions of the state and how easily influenced government policy is by the opinions of religious scholars. High-ranking clerics have repeatedly said that sports for girls are “forbidden in Islam”. Alsharif cites the religious edict issued by the Supreme Council for Religious Scholars where in 2010, Sheikh Abudulkareem al-Khudair stated having girls participate in sports “will lead to follow in the footsteps of the devil”. Other comments by conservative religious clerics have claimed that “the excessive moving and jumping needed in football and basketball may cause girls to tear their hymens and lose their virginity”, hence the need for the ban. With the ban in place, sports are prohibited for girls in state schools but there are ways for girls and women to engage in physical activity outside the privacy of their homes in some private schools or private female gyms. However in the latter option, membership fees are usually very expensive, and there also exists the great social stigma of female participation in recreational physical activity which Alsharif notes where women have been dubbed “shameless” in the media for challenging their traditional roles to play sports.

            Despite this strong governmental and societal effort to prohibit women from engaging in fitness and sports activities, Alsharif does note that some progress has been made. As the kingdom was criticized by Human Rights Watch earlier in February for never having sent a female athlete to the Olympics, this signified an international awareness of the inequality of opportunity for men and women in Saudia Arabia. In response to such criticisms, the government has announced within the last year “plans to introduce after-hours physical education classes for both girls and boys”, as Alsharif writes, in addition to a summer hiking expedition to Mt. Everest base camp led by Princess Reema al-Saud which will seek to fundraise for women with breast cancer and promote a healthy lifestyle for women, which the princess believes includes “healthy nutrition and fitness”.

            As King Abdullah has moved to seek more women becoming involved in politics, Alsharif opines that this may signify a move to a greater tolerance for women’s participation in sports with rumors of one female equestrian being sent this summer to London to represent the nation in the Olympic games. However, the author also notes that this athlete, Dalma Mahas, has trained extensively by way of private means and gives the impression that she has never received state support.

            Alsharif concludes her article with the same female basketball team she began with and gives the impression that although it may take some time for Saudi society and government to change in their attitudes towards women participating in sports, as more and more women choose to become active. such as the players of Jeddah United, the less influence conservative religious, government, and social misperceptions will have on society.

            Alsharif’s article does an excellent job of portraying how in parts of the Muslim world where conservative religious institutions are so closely intertwined with the policies of the state, and little room for interpretation is allowed, the effects on society can be quite negative. That is, when there is little acceptance or encouragement for alternative interpretations or ways of thinking when it comes to religious doctrine, guidelines laid out for people of the faith can be sometimes misconstrued and manipulated by those in power to enforce policies they believe in. In this case, it is obvious that Saudi women tend to suffer greatly at the hands of many interpretations by Islamic scholars that have been able to impose clearly segregated gendered roles in Saudi society. The example shown in this article also highlights how differently the role of Muslim women in society can be interpreted and applied from place to place, but at the same time, the increase in challenges to inequalities perpetuated by misperceptions of religion in today’s globalized world.