DOCSLIB.ORG

Rethinking Women's Roles in Saudi Arabia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rethinking Women's Roles in Saudi Arabia Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 12-2013 Silence, Declaration, and Circumstance: Rethinking Women’s Roles in Saudi Arabia Ashleigh Elizabeth Dunham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Dunham, Ashleigh Elizabeth, "Silence, Declaration, and Circumstance: Rethinking Women’s Roles in Saudi Arabia" (2013). Master's Theses. 432. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/432 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SILENCE, DECLARATION, AND CIRCUMSTANCE: RETHINKING WOMEN’S ROLES IN SAUDI ARABIA by Ashleigh Elizabeth Dunham A thesis submitted to the Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of Anthropology Western Michigan University December 2013 Thesis Committee: Laura Spielvogel, Ph. D., Chair Bilinda Straight, Ph. D., Co-Chair Mustafa Mughazy, Ph.D. SILENCE, DECLARATION, AND CIRUMSTANCE: RETHINKING WOMEN’S ROLES IN SAUDI ARABIA Ashleigh Elizabeth Dunham, M.A. Western Michigan University, 2013 The canon of academic research on Saudi Arabian women still fails to address the stereotypical images that represent them. While Anglo-American models of feminism may benefit American women, they cannot and should not be a lens through which Americans view Saudi women, as American and Saudi cultures are fundamentally different. Because of this issue, Anglo-American feminism along with the obvious problems of racism and Islamophobia contribute to the American assumption that Saudi Arabian women lack agency and control of their lives. The resulting ideologies continue to influence American ideas about Saudi Arabian women’s access to the opportunities that non-Saudi women may take for granted. Through qualitative ethnographic research, this thesis examines the changing lives of Saudi Arabian women to illustrate that, despite Anglo-American assumptions about their disempowerment, Saudi Arabian women do have access to many opportunities that non-Saudi women take advantage of. Copyright by Ashleigh Elizabeth Dunham 2013 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all of my committee members, Dr. Laura Spielvogel, Dr. Bilinda Straight, and Dr. Mustafa Mughazy, as well as my previous mentor Dr. Allen Zagarell, for giving me their guidance and support throughout all the stages of the thesis writing process. I have learned so much from all of them and am very grateful for their patience and their willingness to work with me through my setbacks. I thank my friend and copy editor Shannon Cunningham, who has helped me continuously by reading, rereading, editing my thesis, and providing me with her feedback, which has helped immensely in conceptualizing my research and how to best lay out this thesis. I also thank my family for their support and encouragement of this work. Finally, I am extremely grateful to the Saudi women who agreed to participate in this research. I sincerely appreciate their willingness to let me into their lives. They welcomed me with open arms, despite our differences. I truly hope this thesis will illustrate the complexity of the lives of Saudi women and will help to dismantle the presuppositions about them. I hope this thesis demonstrates that there is a need for us to rethink our ideas and assumptions about Saudi Arabia, the women and men who live there, the different contexts that exist in Saudi Arabia, and the ideologies that arise from those contexts. Ashleigh Elizabeth Dunham ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………… ii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………… 1 Review of Literature on Saudi Arabian Women and Empowerment…. 5 On Representations of Saudi Women…………………………………. 11 Methodology…………………………………………………………… 16 2. IN THE FIELD……………………………………………………………. 24 Fieldnotes………………………………………………………………. 24 Positioning Myself in the Field………………………………………… 27 3. CIRCUMSTANCE………………………………………………………… 37 Wahhabism and the Need for Islamic Rhetoric to Legitimize Reform… 37 The Oil Era: Reform and Women’s First Noted Attempt to Mobilize…. 41 The Era of Globalization: Reform and Women’s Attempts to Mobilize…………………………………………………………………. 44 4. SILENCES AND DECLARATIONS…………………………………......... 55 Alaa and Mona………………………………………...……………….. 63 On Family……………………………………………………………...... 68 On Education, Saudi Cultural Attitudes and Institutions, and Islam ….... 85 5. A MODEL FOR SAUDI WOMEN? ……………………………………… 95 The Women’s Movement in Egypt……………………………………… 96 My Life in Cairo…….…………………………….……………………… 104 No Place for Gender Rights During or After the Revolution……….…..... 109 Victims, Villains, and Vigilantes………………………………………….. 120 iii Table of Contents—Continued CHAPTER Beyond Saudi Women’s Failed Attempts to Mobilize………………….. 145 APPENDICES A. List of Saudi Respondents…………………………………………………… 149 B. HSIRB Approval Forms……………………………………………………. 150 C. Arabic Transcript and English Translation for Ala al Tayer TV Show…………………………………………………………………. 153 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………. 155 iv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Despite the critical impact of Said’s Orientalism (1978) on scholarship dealing with Muslim and Middle Eastern cultures, deeply seated assumptions surrounding Islamic practices and Islamic actors persist. -Sherine Hafez, An Islam of Her Own In America, ideas about Saudi Arabian women have become associated with Muslim women or women from the Middle East, and vice versa—this is a problem. The presuppositions made about Muslim or Middle Eastern women collectively, and Saudi women in particular, contribute to the stereotype that they are oppressed victims of a male-dominated society and religion. It is common hegemonic “knowledge” in our Anglo-American society that Saudi Arabian women face discrimination in many forms, but when it comes to the idea that Saudi women have access to power many disagree. Unlike women in Saudi Arabia, many women in other parts of the Middle East, and women in other Islamic countries, have already experienced empowerment in ways that Saudi Arabian women have not. Furthermore, the way American women experience and understand empowerment seems to be at odds with the way women in Saudi Arabia do. For example, it is common knowledge that Saudi Arabian women cannot drive and need a male’s permission for educational and work-related opportunities. This is not the case for many non-Saudi women, and many Saudi women see this as disempowering. In America's post 9/11 context, rhetoric concerning the "war on terror," along with liberal feminist discourses, continue to affect and prolong misguided ideologies about 1 Muslim and Middle Eastern women and their access to different forms of liberation. Hafez agrees and asserts that: [A]lthough deeply committed to raising awareness of the plight of oppressed women in the Middle East and elsewhere, feminist literature still fails to articulate their condition in ways other than the obvious dichotomy of state versus Islam or modernity versus tradition. (2011: 75) Presumptions about Middle Eastern and Muslim women that stem from these dichotomies fail to acknowledge the multiple ways these women, and more specifically Saudi women, can become empowered on their own terms. Anglo-American models of feminism, while beneficial to American women, cannot and should not be a lens through which we view Saudi women—our cultures are fundamentally different, and we need to adjust our ways of thinking in order to do the situation justice. Because of this issue, Anglo-American feminism, along with the obvious problems of racism and Islamophobia, contribute to the American perception of Saudi women as oppressed, which stands in opposition to the idea that Saudi women can be empowered in specific contexts that will be mentioned throughout this thesis. In this thesis I argue that Saudi Arabian women do have access to power through many different avenues. These avenues wherein Saudi women can exercise control of their lives can be partially attributed to the shifting material conditions in Saudi Arabia— conditions that have influenced social relationships to the benefit of Saudi women. Additional avenues to power exist in areas where Saudi women are making headway in Saudi Arabia—via their active participation in Saudi society and through social networking sites, television programs, and Saudi publications. 2 I analyze the experiences and exchanges I had within the Kalamazoo, Michigan Saudi Arabian female community to learn about the ways women’s roles in Saudi Arabia are changing. From these experiences and the research done for this thesis, I learned that although there are many instances where Saudi women are oppressed, there are also many instances where they are liberated. Saudi Arabian women are demanding the right to become more fully integrated into Saudi society and are actively challenging and raising Saudi consciousness with regard to things that Saudi women are concerned with. This nuanced perception of women in Saudi Arabia must be brought to the table to break down the misconceptions about Saudi women that portray them in only one light. The questions I attend to in this thesis are: How have the circumstances and developments in Saudi Arabia transformed the lives of Saudi women? What avenues of power do Saudi women
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Onwards and Upwards with Women in the Gulf
    Onwards and Upwards with Women in the Gulf by Andrew Leber , Charlotte Lysa | published January 11, 2018 Change is afoot for Saudi Arabia’s female citizens, or so suggests much commentary about events over the past few years. There was the first election in which women could vote, the first public concert by a female performer, and soon (if all goes according to plan) for the first time Saudi women will be able to drive on the streets of Riyadh and elsewhere in the kingdom. All have garnered their share of headlines. Rulers in the Arab Gulf monarchies, including Saudi Arabia, seem well aware of the spotlight grabbing power of historic “firsts,” in which the power to effect change seems to derive from the hand signing the latest decree. This September, Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry quickly warned activists away from speaking to the press about any role they might have had in ending the driving ban, so determined were they to see media narratives of a changing kingdom driven by references to “modernizing monarchs”—chiefly the oft-profiled Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. As Saudi scholar Hala al-Dosari noted in an interview regarding the announcement on women driving, “[i]n order to gain an alliance with international powers, they [the Saudi government] need to normalize certain issues—but not too much, not to the point that it’s transforming the structure that lends them power.” [1] Thus, while a Gulf version of “state feminism” appears increasingly in vogue, rulers in Saudi Arabia appear unwilling to share the stage with those Saudi activists who kept the issue a source of international embarrassment for the Saudi government over the years: Manal al-Sharif, Loujain Hathloul, Maysa al-Amoudi and Eman al-Nafjan, all of whom have repeatedly filmed themselves driving since 2011, as well Aisha al-Mana and Fawzia al-Bakr who joined 45 other women to drive through central Riyadh as far back as 1990.
    [Show full text]
  • Transcending National, Religious and Gender Identities on BBC Arabic
    . Volume 12, Issue 1 May 2015 Tweeting the Olympics: Transcending national, religious and gender identities on BBC Arabic Nour Shreim, Independent Scholar Abstract: This paper examines the negotiation of identities on Twitter during the 2012 London Olympic Games. The interplays of national and transnational, gendered and religious identities in Twitter conversations generated by BBC Arabic (BBCA) are assessed and how they were contested and reconfigured during the Olympic Games. The representation of Arab women athletes is analysed and discussed. The perception and discussion of Great Britain on BBCA, particularly during the Opening and Closing ceremonies, is also examined. The paper reveals that Arabic speaking Twitter users expressed a great sense of national pride, often praising the mere participation of their own national athletes. However, users also articulated a strong sense of transnational Arab identity when athletes from any Middle Eastern or Arabic speaking country achieved only modest success. Support for female participation was often determined by religious attitudes. Those expressing stronger religious beliefs often opposed the participation of Muslim women in sport. The paper argues that the BBC’s ability to promote a ‘global conversation’ was curtailed by the aspirations and interests of the target audience. The paper offers insights into the co- construction of national, gender and religious identities during globally mediated events, such as the Olympic Games. Key Words: London Olympic Games; Twitter; BBC Arabic; BBCA; Gender; Religion; Patriotism and Transnational Identities. Introduction In recent history, social media have grown significantly in terms of user uptake and incorporation within traditional media platforms and outlets. As a result of this, the 2012 London Olympic Games was described as ‘the first social media games’.
    [Show full text]
  • President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Comm
    HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 Tel: 212-290-4700 Fax: 212-736-1300 October 27, 2015 H.R.H. Prince Abdullah Bin Musaed Bin Abdulaziz MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA General President of Youth Welfare/ D I V I S I O N Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee Eric Goldstein, Deputy Director Nadim Houry, Deputy Director General Presidency for Youth Welfare/ Joe Stork, Deputy Director Ahmed Benchemsi, Advocacy and Communications Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee Director Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ADVISORY COMMITTEE Subject: Advancing the rights of all women and girls to Kathleen Peratis, Chair Asli Bali, Officer practice sports in Saudi Arabia Prince Moulay Hicham, Officer Bruce Rabb, Officer Gary G. Sick, Officer Your Excellency, Ahmed Al-Mukhaini Gamal M. Abouali Salah Al Hejailan Wajeha Al-Huwaider We are writing to request a meeting to discuss the Abdul-Ghani Al-Iryani Ghanim Al-Najjar Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee’s and the General Lisa Anderson Shaul Bakhash Presidency for Youth Welfare’s efforts to increase the M. Cherif Bassiouni David Bernstein participation of women and girls in sports in Saudi Robert L. Bernstein Nathan Brown Arabia, as well as to seek clarification on some of the Paul Chevigny Ahmad Deek efforts already undertaken or currently planned to Hanaa Edwar Bahey El Din Hassan better foster gender equality in sports. Hassan Elmasry Mansour Farhang Loubna Freih Georges Aeyal Gross Human Rights Watch welcomed the participation of Asos Hardi Shawan Jabarin Saudi athletes Wujdan Shahrkani and Sarah Attar in Marina Pinto Kaufman Youssef Khlat the London 2012 Games, and statements made by Azza Kamel Maghur Ahmed Mansoor Mohammed al-Mishal, secretary-general of the Saudi Stephen P.
    [Show full text]
  • Week Two: Unwritten Stories—The Olympics
    SOCIAL STUDIES Week Two: Unwritten Stories—The Olympics Weekly Focus: Comprehension Weekly Skills: Main Idea, Textual Evidence Lesson Summary: This week students will consider our essential question, “Why do we tell stories?” in connection to the Olympics. Students will think critically about the kinds of stories our cultures tell from generation to generation in ways other than the written word. During this lesson students will work with various texts about the Olympic Games. Materials Needed: Internet and Projector, Reading Log, Handout, Group Roles Objectives: Students will be able to Identify main ideas in excerpts about the Olympic games Correctly answer comprehension questions Compare and contrast differing points of view concerning the Olympic Games Formulate and support a written response concerning the Olympic Games Common Core Standards Addressed: Notes: This lesson’s weekly focus is on Comprehension. The weekly skills of finding the main idea and finding textual evidence to support answers will aid in Comprehension. The creation of the timeline is an important process for students to participate in: the scale of the timeline and the plotting of events will build mapping/graphing skills as well as prepare students to plot points on a number line/timeline for the GED 2014 test. The Reading Log is not directly used in this lesson. However, students may choose to use it while reading and completing the group questions if they would like. Heather Herrman, Minnesota Literacy Council, 2012 p.1 GED Social Studies Curriculum Updated by Lindsey Cermak, Minnesota Literacy Council, 2013 SOCIAL STUDIES Week Two: Unwritten Stories—The Olympics Activities: Warm-Up: Olympics Time: 15 minutes 1) As students enter the class, have this question up on the board: “If you could compete in the Olympics, would you? Why or why not?” Have students free-write their answers and then have volunteers share with the class.
    [Show full text]
  • The Relationship Between Media and Domestic Governance in Saudi
    Media and Politics: The Relationship Between Media and Domestic Governance In Saudi Arabia (2001 to 2015) By Auhoud Sultan AL Shehail A Dissertation submitted to the Division of Global Affairs, Rutgers University, The State University of New Jersey For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Under the Direction of Dr. Jean-Marc Coicaud Approved by Newark, New Jersey May 2017 Copyright Page: 2017 Auhoud Sultan AL Shehail ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii Abstract The following research examines the relationship between media, both new and traditional, and Saudi governance between 2001 and 2015. By utilizing qualitative data gained through both acquiring Royal Decrees and independently soliciting case study interviews with high ranking officials in Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Media, Ministry of Education, and Presidency of Youth Welfare— the study demonstrates that the rapid increase in digital technology and media since the beginning of the 21st century has played a significant role in bringing about policy change in three specific domains of Saudi life: women’s empowerment, education, and citizen digital voice. For the first time in its history, Saudi Arabia is at the dawn of a new age, in which public expression and opinion are breaking down the unidirectional traditions of a once absolute monarchy. Although many aspects of Saudi culture and society influence the non-transparent political decisions of the ruling class, the intention of this study is to highlight only the role that media plays in influencing the governing process. iii Table of Contents Abstract iii Acknowledgments viii Chapter 1 1 Logging Into the Kingdom: 1 Introduction 1 I.
    [Show full text]
  • 2020 R U N H
    2020 RUN HOU RUN 2020 2020 CHEVRON HOUSTON MARATHON World Athletics Table of Contents Letter from Mayor Turner .................................................................4 Top 100 Men All-Time .....................................................................43 World Athletics, formerly known as the International Association of Athletics Federations Letter from Race Director ..................................................................5 Top 100 Women All-Time ................................................................44 (IAAF) is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, covering track and field, Sponsors ..........................................................................................6 Multiple Winners ............................................................................45 cross country running, road running, racewalking, mountain running and ultrarunning. HMC Staff .....................................................................................7-8 Year-by-Year History ..................................................................46-58 World Athletics Labeled Races are races that World Athletics designates as one of the leading road races around the world. The classification was first introduced for the 2008 MEDIA INFORMATION HALF MARATHON RESULTS & RECORDS running season, upon the suggestion of the IAAF Road Running Commission. The races are Media Information .....................................................................11-13 2019 Top Ten Open Finishers ..........................................................61
    [Show full text]
  • Women and Sports in Saudi Arabia
    International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research_______________________________ ISSN 2277-3630 IJSSIR, Vol. 4 (8), AUGUST (2015), pp. 24-27 Online available at indianresearchjournals.com WOMEN AND SPORTS IN SAUDI ARABIA SAJEED K.P ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, CALICUT UNIVERSITY CENTRE, KADMAT, LAKSHADWEEP, INDIA. ABSTRACT Saudi Arabia is the world's dominant oil producer and exporter while it controls world's second largest hydrocarbon reserves. Women’s rights in Saudi Arabia are limited in comparison to many of its neighbors. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving. Saudi Arabian law, women were, until recently, not permitted to compete in the Olympic Games. There were calls for Saudi Arabia to be barred from the Olympics until it permitted women to compete. In 2013 Saudi Arabia’s first dedicated sports center for girls was opened in Khobar, offering training programs that include physical fitness, karate, yoga and weight loss as well as special activities for children. That year it was also announced that Saudi Arabian girls are officially allowed to practice sports in private schools. However, following the International Olympic Committee pressuring the Saudi Olympic Committee to send female athletes to the 2012 Summer Olympics, in June 2012 the Saudi Embassy in London announced this had been agreed and two young women from Saudi Arabia, WojdanShaherkani and Sarah Attar, who were the first Saudi women ever to compete in the Olympics. The issue of women driving remains unresolved. However, the recent decision on sports in Saudi Arabia is a step in the right direction that might eventually inspire athletic leadership among young women who have yet to even play sports.
    [Show full text]
  • London 2012: an Historic Step Towards Gender Equality
    12 July 2012 London 2012: An Historic Step Towards Gender Equality London 2012: An Historic Step Towards Gender Equality Shotlist IOC announces all nations – including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei Darussalam – to send female athletes to Olympic Games for first time in history Saudi Arabia: Training shots of Sarah Attar training at Triton Track and field stadium at University of California, San Diego, USA she will be competing in the 800 metres competition in London 2012 IV “A big inspiration for participation in the 2012 Olympics for me, is being one of the first women for Saudi Arabia to be going – it is such a huge honour and I hope that it can really make some good strides for women over there to get more involved in the sport” “I definetly think that my participation in this Olympic games can increase women’s participation in sports in general - I can only hope for the best for them and that we can get some good strides going for women in the Olympics and just in sports in general” “To any women who want to participate I say go for it and don’t let anyone hold you back – we all have the potential to get out there and get moving so I just really think we should do the best we can” Qatar: Training shots of Bahiya Al-Hamad. Bahia who will be competing in the shooting competition at London 2012 Shots Bahiya studying in library Shots Bahiya shooting IV Bahiya Al-Hamad: (Arabic) “Any Championship I participate in , whether Arabic or Gulf championship, I feel that I represent Qatar and that I have to achieve something that makes my country and parents proud of me” IV Bahiya Al-Hamad: “Each female athlete has a dream that she wants to achieve.
    [Show full text]
  • Women in the Saudi Press by Eiman Kurdi 2014 Submitted to Cardiff
    Women in the Saudi Press By Eiman Kurdi 2014 Submitted to Cardiff University in fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cardiff School of English, Communication and Philosophy Cardiff University 2014 1 Summary This PhD explores the experience of female journalists working in the Saudi Arabian press. It looks at the difficulties they face as women journalists, their motives for working in this area and their writings. The research discusses how the culture gender segregation in Saudi Arabia impacts upon Saudi media representations of gender stereotypes and the role of print media (the press) in exposing women’s issues to the public and forming public opinion. I utilised a media studies’ approach adopting an Islamic feminist perspective. I generated data from in- depth interviews with seven Saudi female journalists working in Saudi press, who discuss female-related topics as well as content analysis of related press articles. The analysis indicated that the Saudi culture of extreme gender segregation has impacted on the experience of female journalists, particularly on their ability to compete with male journalists. As my analysis argues, my participants report experiencing female segregation and discrimination mainly affecting their pay, job opportunities, promotion, availability and access to information. My findings further suggest that the media in Saudi Arabia is the most direct venue for women to express their views and discuss their issues. In accordance with previous studies in the field, my study reveals that Saudi Arabian women interpret feminism within the boundaries of their specific culture and Islamic standpoint. Lastly, I discuss how current political, social and economic reforms in the region, which influence women’s status in the public arena, are reflected in the Saudi press.
    [Show full text]
  • Neoliberal Formations of Women's Sport By
    Transnationalizing Title IX: Neoliberal Formations of Women’s Sport by Paulette Stevenson A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved November 2016 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Maureen Daly Goggin, Chair Heather Switzer Keith Miller ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY December 2016 ABSTRACT Transnational feminist scholars have increasingly recognized the need to interrogate the dominance of the US and the global north in transnational transactions. Chandra Mohanty argues that transnational feminist scholarship needs to “address fundamental questions of systemic power and inequities and to develop feminist, antiracist analyses of neoliberalism, militarism, and heterosexism as nation-state-building projects” (2013, p. 968). Following this call for analyzing power from feminist, anti- racist stances, this dissertation interrogates Title IX as a nationalist discourse with global reach. As a law created in the era of liberal feminism, Title IX still operates today in neoliberal times and this dissertation makes sense of Title IX as an instrument of neoliberalized feminism in transnational sporting contexts. The following three case studies focus on Title IX as it travels across nation-state borders through 21st century ideas of equity, empowerment, and opportunity. This dissertation begins by exploring at how transnational sporting policy regarding the participation standards of transgender and intersex athletes operates under the neoliberalized feminism of Title IX. It then moves to a discussion of a Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) project--Women Win’s digital storytelling project. In analyzing SDP projects, I map the cultural logics of Title IX’s neoliberalized feminism in the context of training girls and women to record their stories sport participation.
    [Show full text]
  • Sarah Attar Sarah Attar Personal Information
    Sarah Attar Sarah Attar Personal information Nationality Saudi Arabian, American 27 August 1992 (age 19) Born Escondido, California Sport Country Saudi Arabia Sport Athletics Event(s) 800 metres Sarah Attar (born 27 August 1992), is a track and field athlete who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics as one of the first female Olympians representing Saudi Arabia. She has Saudi Arabian and American dual nationality and is currently a student at Pepperdine University in Los Angeles County, California. Early life and education Attar was born in Escondido, California in 1992.[1][2] Her mother, Judy, is an American national hailing from California[3] and her father, Amer, is a Saudi Arabian national.[4][5] She graduated from Escondido High School in 2010,[1] having competed for the school in cross country running.[6] As of 2012 she attends Pepperdine University,[2] where she is majoring in art, having won the Rex Hamilton Memorial Art Scholarship.[1] ↑Jump back a section Athletic career Attar was named one of the first two women to compete for Saudi Arabia in their Olympic team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. The other woman representing Saudi Arabia is judoka Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani. Prior to June 2012, the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee had banned female athletes from competing at the Olympics,[7] but the International Olympic Committee had threatened to ban Saudi Arabia from the Games unless they allowed women to compete.[8] She was expected to wear outfits that comply with Islamic law.[9] 2012 Olympic Games Attar was one of two
    [Show full text]
  • A BRIEF STORY of WOMEN's Setbacks and SUCCESSES AT
    SPORTS AND SOCIETY GENDER EQUALITY IN OLYMPIC SPORT A BRIEF story OF WOMEN’S SETBACKS AND SUCCESSES at THE SUMMER Olympic GAMES – Written by Jennifer Hargreaves, UK INTRODUCTION: 2012 - FEMALE OLYMPIANS • Oman sent 4 athletes, 3 men and 1 different sports in the future and for more FROM THE ARAB STATES woman (25%). of them to become elite athletes and even The London 2012 Summer Olympic • Qatar sent 11 athletes, 7 men and 4 Olympians. But Arab sportswomen are at Games were historically significant for women (36.36%). an early stage in their Olympic endeavours, female athletes. It was the first time that, • Saudi Arabia sent 18 athletes, 16 men whereas Western sportswomen have come with two exceptions (Republic of Nauru, St and 2 women (11%). a long way towards equality with men Kitts and Nevis), that there were women • United Arab Emirates sent 30 athletes, throughout the whole of the history of the in the teams of all the competing nations. 28 men and 2 women (7%). Olympic Games. There was a higher percentage of female In total there were 66 male and 19 Olympians than at any previous Summer female competitors from the GCC countries 1894: THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT Olympics and for the first time there at London 2012. Women comprised The modern Olympic Movement were women competitors in every sport. approximately 28% of all GCC competitors1 originated in the West as an all-male Significantly, also for the very first time, compared with 44.3% overall2. Although event, so women who lived in western each of the member countries of the Gulf (except in the case of Bahrain) there were countries faced some challenges to be Cooperation Council (GCC) had at least one still more men than women, the inclusion allowed to compete in the Olympic Games.
    [Show full text]