Saudi Arabia: An Olympic Door Opens for Saudi Woman

Arwa Mutabagani, here with Saudi rider Faisal al-Shaalan in Hong Kong, is the first woman in a Saudi Olympic delegation.

By Faiza Saleh Ambah

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- The first female member of a Saudi Olympic delegation is spending her days with the equestrian team in Hong Kong, checking on horses, encouraging riders, planning training schedules and meeting with officials.

Arwa Mutabagani, 38, a professional show jumper, became a member of the Saudi Olympic Committee after her appointment in April to the government body in charge of sports in Saudi Arabia, another first for a woman.

Saudi Arabia has long been criticized for being one of a few countries that ban female athletes at the Olympics, but Mutabagani said her role is a sign that Saudi Arabia is trying to open the way for women in sports.

"The door has been opened. I want to work hard and prove I'm not just a token woman or figurehead," she said.

Some female activists say the government is not moving fast enough.

"We have been asking for years via the media and academics and education experts and officials to be allowed the right to practice sports," said Manal al-Sharif, head of the women's section of al-Madina newspaper. "There is nothing in the religion that bans this. It's only our tradition and culture that are driving this ban until now."

Saudi Arabia, a deeply patriarchal and predominantly tribal society, remains a traditional kingdom in which puritan clerics wield a great deal of influence.

Women are not allowed to drive or travel without the permission of a male guardian. The country bans sports and physical education classes in state-run girls' schools, and there are no public sports complexes for women. On their own, women have discreetly formed a few sports teams, but the level of competition is nowhere near Olympic caliber.

Activist Wajeha al-Huwaider posted a video on YouTube to coincide with the start of the Olympics, demanding the right for Saudi women to participate and an end to the official ban on women's sports. The video showed five young women sitting on a soccer field, their bodies and faces covered in the traditional black abaya and head scarf, but their hands and feet symbolically shackled by tape.

Huwaider said she was surprised and touched by photos on the Internet of European women at the 2004 Olympics holding up signs that said "Where are our Saudi sisters?"

"I posted this video because I wanted people to know that there are Saudi women as well asking for this right," said Huwaider, 46, an educational analyst at an oil company.

But women's sports is a controversial subject in Saudi Arabia, where clerics preach against the encroachment of "Western values" and the dangers and sin of women trying to imitate men.

Saudi cleric Mohammad al-Munajid told the Saudi-owned Iqra channel this month that the revealing dress of women at the "Bikini," not Beijing, Olympics, was a source of pleasure to the devil. "What women are wearing in the Olympic Games are among the worst clothes possible. Women have never gotten naked for sports like they do in the Olympics."

The Saudi Shura Council, a government-appointed body that serves as a toothless parliament, has discussed the subject of women's sports several times, and, with few in favor and many against, has not come up with any resolutions.

"What's frustrating is that they discuss it like it's a luxury, a vanity. But the right to exercise is a basic right, it's a health issue," said activist Hatoon al-Fassi, an assistant professor of history at King Saud University. "Even in schools and universities, girls are obliged to wear skirts and not allowed to wear pants because they reveal women's curves."

The activists cited government statistics showing that more than two-thirds of Saudi women suffer from obesity and many are developing high blood pressure and diabetes.

Mutabagani, a single mother who has competed in many show-jumping events in Italy and is a qualified judge, said Saudi sports officials were considering appointing a woman to the board of each sports federation but were meeting resistance from the public.

At her first public event after her appointment, just one man out of more than 1,000 from Saudi Arabia's more than 35 sports federations congratulated her, she said. "People on the outside don't realize how difficult the position of Saudi sports officials is. They are going against a very conservative society, against generations and decades of one way of thinking. It has to be done gradually."

Mutabagani, who dreams of actually competing in the Olympics, said it was premature to predict whether Saudi women would participate in the 2012 London Games.

"Definitely they're trying to make an effort for women to participate," she said "I don't know if it will be that soon. I want to be optimistic, and I will do my best. But it takes two hands to clap."

---Washington Post

Middle East: Women on two wheels: A Middle East dialogue tour

BAAKLINE, Lebanon - As President George Bush visits the Middle East this week, more than 250 women are spreading their own message for peace – on bicycles.

The "Follow the Women" bike tour kicked off in the mountains outside of Beirut on May 4 with women pedaling from nearly 30 countries, including Turkey, Iran, Europe, and the US. The group is cycling through Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and the West Bank. The tour ends in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem on Thursday, May 15.

"We're hoping to dispel the myth that this region is only full of conflicts. We want to tell stories of the hospitality and the love of the people," says the tour's founder, Detta Regan of Berkshire, England. This year she's cycling with her two grown daughters, Pippa and Becky. "Meeting the people and watching how welcoming they are is always the best part."

Making its fourth annual tour of the Middle East, "Follow the Women" is not a race. It's not even about cycling for many participants – some learned to ride just to come on the trip.

It's become a means of intercultural dialogue, a forum on two-wheels allowing women to learn firsthand about life in the Middle East. As there are no Israeli cyclists, some participants say it should not be marketed as a solidarity ride, or peace tour, because it's not bringing women from different sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict together.

But three-time tour veteran Wiaam Youssef couldn't wait for the group to wheel into her home country of Syria. "Americans and Westerners have stereotypes about women here. They think they don't participate in any social activities. I'm part of changing those stereotypes and providing a new image. This bike ride is a form of peaceful protest against such stereotypes."

Ms. Youssef, who like many of the Arab participants biked in the 75-degree F. heat wearing long sleeves and a head scarf, sees empowerment of women as crucial to helping the region.

"I believe in women taking a role to make peace in the area," Youssef adds. It's a perspective shared by most in the group: that dialogue by people like themselves, and not politicians behind closed doors, is the key to improving relations between countries and laying a foundation for peace.

As a youth organizer, Ms. Regan schedules conferences and exchanges between Arab and European students. This tour is an unpaid project, but, according to her daughter Becky, it is what she lives "24/7."

The next step for Regan is a conference, possibly held in Turkey, which would focus on women and conflict in the Middle East. The Turkish team is one of the largest, with 20 riders. Their ride is sponsored by the wife of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ermine.

The Turkish women are cycling not only in the name of dialogue but in the memory of an Italian artist, Pippa Bacca, who was found raped and murdered in Turkey last month. Ms. Bacca was hitchhiking from Italy to Israel wearing a wedding dress, as part of her own "Brides on Tour" campaign. The cyclists have tied strips of wedding veils to their helmets and one woman will ride the last leg of the trip in a wedding dress "symbolically" finishing Bacca's trip.

"'Follow the Women' doesn't end with the last day of biking," Regan says. "Our hope is that it will inspire women to return home and actively work to end the conflicts of the region."

By Iman Azzi Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

Saudi Arabia: A Drive Toward the Goal Of Greater Freedom: Basketball Team Resists Saudi Restrictions on Female Athletes

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- The Jeddah United women's basketball team trickled onto the court, each player wrapped in a black abaya and head scarf. Within minutes, the women had shed their cloaks and were in uniform -- white pants and jerseys with their names in red -- practicing layups, passes and foul shots until they were wet with sweat.

The team, made up mostly of Saudi students and housewives, is preparing for a local tournament this month. But what the women would really love to do, many said, is compete internationally and represent their country abroad, something Saudi Arabia does not permit.

"We want to reach Olympic levels," said Shatha Bakhsh, 21, a law student. "We have a lot of potential, but not the chance to show it."

Saudi Arabia follows a strict version of Islam that bans men and women from mingling and does not allow women to drive or travel without a male guardian's permission. Powerful religious clerics also ban sports for girls in public schools, deeming it un-Islamic, and recently canceled two rare all-women's events, a soccer match and a marathon. Gyms for women were closed in the early 1990s and have been allowed to reopen, but only when affiliated with hospitals.

Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries competing in the Olympics without a female delegation. Though the kingdom has come under increasing pressure from the International Olympic Committee to include women on its team, many in this deeply patriarchal and traditional society agree with the restrictions, believing that allowing female athletes could lead to Western-style independence for women and an erosion of established culture.

But Lina al-Maeena, Jeddah United's founder and team captain, said women's sports are a positive force and should be an integral part of every young woman's life.

"When parents say that sports is sinful for girls, it really upsets me, because they're depriving their daughters of something that's very good for them," said Maeena, who has two young daughters.

There are more than a dozen women's basketball teams in this Red Sea city, the country's most liberal, involving several hundred players. Some operate legally but quietly under the umbrella of women's charitable societies or as part of private high schools and colleges, but others operate without a government permit, as in the case of Jeddah United.

Many of the teams maintain a low profile, refusing photos and interviews for fear of drawing attention to themselves and being forced to shut down. But some, like Jeddah United, are seeking to make public appearances and are pushing for change.

The phenomenon has prompted sharp words from the conservative clergy. In a recent posting on the Web site http://www.islamlight.net/, prominent Saudi sheiks Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak, Abdullah al-Jibreen and Abdul-Aziz al-Rajhi issued a fatwa, or religious decree, banning women's sports centers in the kingdom.

"Opening these centers is one of the main reasons and the biggest doors leading to the spread of decadence," the decree states. "And it is known that the only women who will frequent these centers are those with little or no manners."

It concludes: "Banning the opening of these sports centers is not a ban on sports. A woman can practice sports at home, and there are many ways to do that, or she can race her husband in a deserted area, like the prophet Muhammad -- peace be upon him -- who raced with his wife Aisha twice."

In March, the women of Jeddah United were angling for a chance to play in a regional tournament in Kuwait. But Kuwaiti officials said they needed approval from the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee. Maeena said that she asked Saudi officials for a permit but that they refused to issue one, saying only that the women did not have clearance.

Maeena said she is convinced the government is not against the idea, pointing out that the teams have been allowed to organize tournaments and that articles and photos about the proliferating women's teams have started appearing in the local press.

But without permits or official sanction, teams have little chance of receiving funding and sponsorship, she said. Televising games and allowing women's teams to represent the kingdom abroad would give women's sports a big boost, she said, and would help pay for training and accreditation for female coaches and referees, of whom there are only a handful.

"The idea of Saudi women playing sports is socially unacceptable to some people," Maeena said. "That's the barrier we're trying to break."

Maeena's club has grown from six members to more than 100 since it started in 2006 with divisions for children, teenagers and adults. The club has won four local tournaments in the past two years.

One of the most gratifying experiences for Maeena has been seeing young girls blossom after they take up basketball, she said. "You see them developing self-confidence, attitude, personality. It gives them a sense of empowerment," she said. "They arrive shy, and in a very short period they are outgoing, energetic, motivated."

The team's co-captain, Maha bin Laden, remembers yearning to be an Olympic athlete after watching the 1988 Seoul Games with her father when she was 10. The niece of Osama bin Laden -- she has never met him -- shared her Olympic aspirations with her father, who told her, "In Saudi Arabia, women can't become athletes."

"Sports is my life, my passion," said bin Laden, 29, who wears jersey No. 3 like her favorite player, the Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade. "But many people here think sports is just for boys."
Rawabi Zahed, 23, said basketball rescues her from the stresses of daily life. After she drops her children off at school, she practices for two hours before going to her college. "I'm married, with kids, and I study," she said. "But after a game, all the heaviness goes away. I feel happy inside."

Zahed, who prays regularly and wears a head scarf even when outside Saudi Arabia, said that nothing in Islam bans women from sports. "Our society just has to get used to it," she said. "It's not yet normal for them to see women playing sports. But times are changing, and they have to start accepting it."

Because of the country's strict social codes, Zahed said, her husband is not comfortable with the idea of her being photographed, appearing on television or traveling without him. "But if people get used to it, he will, too," she said.

After a recent game against a local high school, which Jeddah United won, French coach Pat Saddik made the team run laps.

"A lot of my team is not physically fit," said Saddik, who is married to a Saudi and whose daughter Tamara, 15, plays on the team. "A lot of these girls have not had proper physical education since they were young."

Saddik said she hopes the game will be accepted soon so the team can get funding for an indoor basketball court. "We played and practiced outdoors in the heat and humidity in August," when temperatures can top 100 degrees, she said.

After the postgame workout, Zahed, Tamara Saddik, several other Jeddah United players and the referee started a friendly half-court game.

Maeena, who is eight months pregnant, sat on the sidelines, watching wistfully. "I love basketball because it makes me feel 17," she said. "Even married, with children, when I play basketball I feel like I'm in high school again."

Tamara Saddik, a ninth-grader with long braids, said she'd love to make it to the next Olympics with the Saudi team. For now, though, her dream "is just to learn how to dunk."

By Faiza Saleh Ambah, Washington Post Foreign Service

Saudi Arabia: Steps Toward Women's Rights?

By Stephen McInerney,
Director of Advocacy, Project on Middle East Democracy

The royal family in Saudi Arabia has long been decried as one of the world's most repressive regimes. In Freedom House's annual survey of political rights and civil liberties, released earlier this month, the House of Saud maintained its ranking as one of the seventeen most repressive governments in the world. Perhaps most infamous is the particular lack of rights for the half of the Saudi citizens who are female. When King Abdullah ascended to the throne following the death of his half-brother King Fahd in 2005, many had high hopes that his rule would bring reform and greater freedom to Saudi Arabia, and to women in particular. But the reforms of the first couple of years of King Abdullah's rule were markedly underwhelming, and the area of women's rights was essentially ignored.

However, the past two weeks has quietly seen a flurry of small steps toward greater rights for women in the kingdom. Last Monday, January 21, it was reported that the Saudi government had ruled to permit women to stay in hotels without the presence of a male guardian, effective immediately. On the same day, government officials also confirmed that a decision had been reached to remove the ban on women drivers, with a decree to that effect to be issued before the end of 2008. Lifting the ban on driving would be a move of great symbolic value, as Saudi Arabia is the only country to prohibit women behind the steering wheel, and this fact is the most often cited example to demonstrate the oppression of Saudi women. Also, on Tuesday, January 29, it was revealed that the Saudi Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has approved the establishment of the first women's rights organization in the kingdom, to be known as Ansar al-Mar'ah (patrons/supporters of women).

In addition, last Friday, the first-ever women's soccer game was played in a large stadium in Dammam between teams of two Saudi universities, with the stands full of female fans and the score reported in local newspapers. Within a few days, it was announced that the Saudi government will establish women's sport clubs in the country. This is a far cry from the recent past of soccer in Saudi Arabia - just last year a professional men's game was interrupted by the official on the field so that security personnel could remove the one female in attendance - a 12-year-old girl enjoying the game with her family.

Although there have been some reports of complaints by local residents and the governor of the Eastern province over last week's game, it seems that opposition has been milder than in the past, perhaps encouraging the government to move forward with women's sport clubs.

Why Now?

This string of announcements does follow a period of intensified scrutiny and key interactions with the West, as well as some increasingly bold internal demands for reform. In December, the sentencing of a 19-year old rape victim to 200 lashes and six months in prison for being alone in a car with a man who was not her relative sparked international outrage. Following widespread condemnation, including the introduction of three bills in the U.S. Congress demanding that all charges against the victim be dropped, King Abdullah announced his decision to pardon the girl.

In UN meetings that followed in Geneva in January, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women challenged the Saudi delegation on numerous aspects of gender inequality in the kingdom. In response to concerns raised in these meetings, the UN has
now announced that the UN special rapporteur on violence against women will visit Saudi Arabia from February 4 to 13 and give a series of reports on the findings of her visit to the UN Human Rights Council.

January also saw President Bush pay a visit to the kingdom during his eight-day visit to the Middle East. On January 14, as Bush arrived in Riyadh, the State Department officially notified Congress of a controversial agreement to sell 900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) advanced missile systems to Saudi Arabia. The sale had been delayed in the fall by strong opposition within Congress, which considerably raised the profile of numerous concerns with regard to the Saudi regime including its fostering of extremism, its destabilizing ties to insurgent groups in Iraq, and the repression of its own people.

Conclusions

In short, the Saudi regime deserves credit for these apparent openings in terms of women's rights. Given the timing, the moves appear to be at least partly the result of constructive pressure from the international community including the United States. Needless to say, the Saudi regime still has a very long path to tread in terms of women's rights and equality, but hopefully these measures signal the beginning of a long period of steady progress, rather than merely an isolated burst of activity. The recent moves can also be taken as encouraging evidence that international diplomatic pressure can yield results.

But it is critical that such pressure on the Saudi regime not abate once the long-awaited arms deal is finalized in February and a few positive steps have been taken. It is also essential that recently announced measures such as the lifting of the driving ban be carried out as planned - authoritarian Arab regimes have become increasingly adept at timing announcements of reform to relieve international pressure, then failing to carry out the steps as promised once the outside attention has diminished. If those conditions are met, and the recent moves turn out to be merely the beginning of women's rights reform in Saudi Arabia, then the steps taken in January 2008 will have been very important indeed.

Saudi Arabia: First Girls’ Soccer Match

JEDDAH - The first soccer match between female teams has taken place in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, the Al-Watan newspaper said.

No men were allowed in the stadium, and the referee and her linesman, as well as the fans, were also female.

The Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University team defeated their guests, the Al-Yamamah College, from the capital, Riyadh, in a penalty shoot out after the game had ended 2-2 on Thursday.

Al-Yamamah college's goalkeeper was declared "woman of the match."

The match was held at a 35,000 capacity stadium in the city of Dammam.

Saudi Arabia's male national soccer team is one of Asia's most successful teams, currently ranking 57 in the FIFA ratings and has taken part in the last four World Cups.

It is unclear if a female Saudi national soccer team is in the offing and whether they would participate in international competitions.

- Saudi Gazette report