Women and Sport in Islamic Countries
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ICLE Art 35 A Palestinian muslim Woman plays table tennis in a rare competition among women in the Hamas-rum Gaza Strip, December 2009 (Photo: mahmud Hams/Scanpix). Women and Sport in Islamic Countries Modern sports claim to guarantee equality and ticipated in 26 of the 28 sports and in 137 of the especially the equal right to compete in them. 302 events.4 The Olympic Charter, and more particularly the The gradual increase in the number of female “Codification of the Fundamental Principles of Olympians clouds the reality that a woman’s op- Olympism” states that “every discrimination portunity to participate and compete in sports, with regard to a country or a person on grounds and in the Olympic Games in particular, de- 36 of race, religion, politics, … is incompatible with pends to a large extent on her cultural and reli- r 1 E … belonging to the Olympic Movement”. The gious background. Traditionally, Islamic cultures t ‘Sports for all’ movement similarly aims at inclu- do not prioritise “modern sport”5 and thus the PFIS D siveness and participation by all, men and wom- number of athletes from Islamic countries who en alike. Both movements are rooted in Western compete in the Olympic Games continues to be rtru GE cultures, and it is the intent of this paper to ex- quite low. In 2008, 427 men (6 % of male ath- plore if and how Western sports discourses and letes) and 98 women (2 % of female athletes) practices can contribute to women’s develop- from Islamic countries6 competed in the Olym- ment in Islamic countries.2 pic Games. This is a small number in the view of This article focuses on sports and physical ac- the fact that around 20% of the world popula- tivities of girls and women in Islamic countries. tion adheres to Islam. Up to the 1980s, only It will inform the readers about opportunities women from “secularised” countries, i.e. Turkey and barriers that these women’s faces in elite and pre-revolutionary Iran, had the opportunity sports (especially in the Olympic Games), as to compete in the Olympics. The first female well as at the ‘Sports for all’ level. Special focus Olympians from an Islamic country were two will be placed on the reasons for their (lack of) fencers from Turkey, who participated in the engagement in sports. In addition, the article Olympic Games in 1936.7 Iranian female track will discuss initiatives aiming at stimulating and field athletes and gymnasts competed in the sport participation by Muslim women Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. In 1968 and 1972, the Iranian National Olympic Committee (NOC) did not send women to the Olympic elite sports and woMen from IslaMic Games, but in 1976, female athletes from Iran countries participated in fencing competitions. Three Egyptian women qualified for the Olympic Olympic Games Games in 1960 but for unclear reasons they did Participation by women in the Olympic Games not participate. However, the Egyptian NOC was mirrors the development of women’s sports in amongst the first Islamic NOCs to send women general. In 1896, women were excluded from to the Olympics. In 1984, five female athletes re- the Games, but their participation rate grew presented Egypt in diving, swimming and slowly and steadily from the time the Olympics synchronized swimming. The swimmers owed were held in Paris, France (1900). In 1908 the their Olympic participation to Safeya (Sofi) percentage of female athletes was 2 %,3 8% in Tharwat a former athlete and powerful woman 1938, 11 % in 1960, and in 2008 (Beijing) more in the Egyptian Swimming Federation (Alsharif, than 42 % of the athletes were women who par- 2008).8 By gertruD pfister The success of the first generation of female Olympians from Islamic countries was based on their representation at the Games rather than on their results. Only with the participation of North-African athletes in the Olympics of the 1980s, women from Islamic countries took part 37 in the challenge for medals. In 1984, the Moroc- r can, Nawal El Moutawakel, a 400m hurdler, won E t a gold medal as the first woman from an Islamic PFIS country. In the 1992 Olympic Games, the Alge- D rian native, Hassiba Boulmerka, became the Turkey was the most successful Islamic country rtru gold medal winner in the 1500m race. She ran in at the 2008 Olympics having won 8 medals, four GE shorts causing such an uproar among religious of which were won by 20 female athletes. Two fundamentalists that she had to leave her coun- silver medals in the 10,000m and 5,000m races try. were won by Elvan Abeylegesse, the female long With regard to the inclusion of women in the distance runner of Ethiopian origin. Sibel Ozkan national Olympic delegations of Islamic coun- won a silver medal in weightlifting, a sport with tries, progress has occurred over the past de- a Turkish tradition (note that in 2004, the cades. More specifically, of the 160 NOCs invol- weightlifter Nurcan Taylan had become the first ved in the Seoul Olympics (1988), 42 (including Turkish female athlete to win a gold medal). In 21 Islamic country NOCs) sent only male athle- 2008, another silver medal was won by Azize tes (Hargreaves, 1997, p. 227). 33 NOCs did not Tanrikulu in taekwondo. 20 female athletes and include women on their teams to the Barcelona 48 male athletes competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics (1992), 28 NOCs to the Atlanta Olym- Olympics. In addition, there were two further pics (1996), and 9 NOCs to the Sydney Olympics female medal winners from Islamic countries, (2000). Only three delegations (Saudi Arabia, an Algerian judoka and a Moroccan 800m run- Qatar and Kuwait) had “men only” teams in ner. 2008 at the Beijing Games. Jordan’s delegation The low level of participation and low success consisted of three men and four women and the rate (6 medals out of 958 medals were won by North African nations included a considerable women from Islamic countries) clearly points to number of female athletes, even a women’s vol- the marginalization of this group in the Olympic leyball team (Bannayan, 2008). Oman and the Games, which is still a serious problem, but re- United Arab Emirates, for the first time, sent mains an under-researched and disregarded is- women to Olympic Games. sue.10 A view of the medal count at the Olympics in Many female Olympians from Islamic coun- 2008 shows that only a few delegations (nations) tries do not meet the required performance shared the medals: 15 of the more than 100 standards but compete in the Games because in teams won 75 % of the gold medals. The success- some sports the countries are allowed to send at ful teams, with few exceptions, came from West- least one competitor. In other sports they are ern industrialized countries and from China.9 granted “wild cards”. With a few exceptions, these women have no opportunity to reach even other example is that of the Syrian female the second round of the competitions. They do athletes who compete in national and even in- not fail because they are less talented, have less ternational competitions, mostly in Pan-Arabi- will power or engagement but because they an, Asian or Mediterranean tournaments and have to struggle with constraints from the lack championships. Successful female athletes, as of training facilities and financial support to the Syrian Ghada Shouaa a track and field ath- 38 conflicts with families or attacks from Islamists. lete, winner of the heptathlon in the 1996 r E Although women’s participation in the Olympics Games, are treated as heroines (El Houda Kar- t is a contested issue among traditional Muslims, foul, 2010). The same is true for Malaysian ath- PFIS D women from Islamic countries are extremely letes (Wirdati, 2006) and sports women from proud to represent their nations and their com- many other Islamic countries. rtru GE patriots join their female athletes in the cele- These success stories should not hide the fact bration of national and Muslim identity. that women in Islamic countries are a small mi- nority in the competitive sports arena. They re- Competitive sports main marginalised when compared with male Despite the numerous barriers that exist, wo- athletes and are often stereotyped as unfemi- men in Islamic countries have managed to be- nine and bad Muslims. They lack resources and come successful athletes, even in martial arts facilities and face resistance based on religion, like karate or taekwondo. This is especially true tradition and culture. Structural and economic in the case of Turkey where the separation of problems impede sports development in many State and religion and the westernization of the Islamic countries but women more than men are middle classes in large cities provide a positive affected in many ways and to a much higher de- climate for women’s sports (Pfister, 1997). Ac- gree (Benn, Pfister & Jawad, 2010). cording to Koca and Hacisoftaoglu (2010) who It should be emphasised, however, that parti- draw on information from the Turkish Govern- cipation in sports, and especially in elite sports, ment Agency for Sports, the number of female is not a valued activity per se. On the contrary, athletes has increased threefold since 1997.11 sports face criticism in Western as well as in Is- Currently, 13% of the 420,000 elite athletes in lamic countries. Top level sport is flaunted Turkey are women. Most of the 57,000 sports through commercialisation, affected by an in- women in the 23 million female population (15- creasing sexualisation of the athletes, and en- 64 years of age) compete in volleyball (approx.