By James M. Dorsey
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Female US Congressional staffers in Riyadh's King Fahd
Stadium, source: James M. Dorsey
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A Saudi debate about the societal role of soccer expanded
this week with controversy over a group of female American Congressional
staffers being allowed to watch a match in a Riyadh stadium from which Saudi
women are barred and a video in which a teacher encouraged his students to
chant slogans for a soccer club rather than the national anthem.
The expanded debate hooks into a broader debate about
women’s rights in a country that upholds gender segregation; bans women from
driving, attending sports matches and forces women’s soccer clubs to operate in
a legal and social nether land; and in general provides few sporting
opportunities for women. A Saudi student allegedly died earlier this month
after officials at King Saud University refused to allow male emergency
responders entry to the women only section of the campus to apply first aid.
In the latest twist of the debate on women’s rights, Saudi
media quoted female entrepreneurs as saying they were forced to close down
shops because their women employees had difficulty finding affordable transport
to and from work. With relatively few municipal busses offering separate
sections for women, women are forced to either hire a full-time driver or pay
for expensive taxis.
The restrictions on women’s sports appear at odds with
public opinion. A Saudi sociologist concluded in November on the basis of a
survey that the vast majority of Saudis favour granting women the right to
engage in sports. The survey conducted by Mariam Dujain Al-Kaabi as part of her
master thesis showed that 73.5 percent of the respondents unambiguously
endorsed a woman’s right to engage in sports while 21.6 percent felt that it
should be conditional.
There are no official facilities for female athletes or
physical education programs for girls in schools in the kingdom. Spanish
consultants hired to draft Saudi Arabia’s first ever national sports plan were
instructed by the government to do so for men only.
Saudi Arabia alongside Yemen was the only... (the rest is @Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer) Continue: http://mideastsoccer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/saudi-soccer-debates-broadens-over.html
