Feminizing fighting sports?

By Jasmijn Rana

Fouzia (the trainer) told us that we were not training hard enough, because she never saw anyone vomit in Ladies-Only kickboxing training. Naima, with whom I was training, responded: “But we’re girls, right? We don’t have to do exactly the same as they do in the men’s training?”   Fouzia answered elaborately by sharing a personal experience. One day, she was training with a new male pupil, who told her she could punch and kick as hard as she wanted because she was a girl. So, she did and she said she “totally destroyed him.” Naima just nodded and we continued the exercise. Then she whispered: “Well I don’t want to vomit. Do you?” I shook my head and we continued taking it easy. 

The phenomenon of Ladies-Only training contests the masculine practice of thai-/kickboxing by challenging the aggressive, competitive and painful nature of the sport. Participation of girls and women in this sport is often initiated as a form of ‘empowerment,’ both by local governments, incited by national policies, and by the gyms. The wider public tends to view kickboxing negatively as an overly aggressive sport. Yet in the case of women, kickboxing is perceived as emancipatory enskillment and as a form of self-defense. My research on female kickboxing practices in the Netherlands demonstrates how ideas of masculinity and femininity are contested and reproduced in sports.

Read the rest: http://www.culanth.org/fieldsights/489-sports-provocation

Cite as: Rana, Jasmijn. "Sports: Provocation." Fieldsights - Field Notes, Cultural Anthropology Online, February 10, 2014, http://www.culanth.org/fieldsights/489-sports-provocation

Female Students Opinion about Women’s Participation in Sports

Mohammad Younis Khan

Government Degree College # 2 Dera Ismail Khan, K.P.K

Email: yunskhan@hotmail.com

Dr Asif Jamil

Institute of Education & Research Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan, KPK

Email: asifjamil72@hotmail.com

Dr Umar Ali Khan

Institute of Education & Research Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan, KPK

Uzma Kareem

MPhil Student IER, Gomal University DIKhan

Ghazanfar Imran

Ph.D Scholar Department of Arabic, Islamic Studies and Research, Gomal University, DIKhan KPK

Email: ghazanfar4958@yahoo.com 

Abstract

A research study was conducted to know about the participation of Muslim girls and women in sports  and philosophy of Islam in this regard. The population of this study was all female students of Government Girls Degree Colleges of District  Dera Ismail Khan.  Total 100 respondents selected from within the population through convenient or available sampling technique. For the purpose of collection of data a structured questionnaire on three point Likert scale, ranging from disagree (DA= 1 point) to agree (3 points), was prepared and handed over to 100 respondents with the help of female lecturers in physical education of concerned colleges. The main objective of the study was to know about the participation of Muslim girls 

and women in sports and philosophy of Islam in this regard. The result of the study indicated that Muslim women like sports and she wants to participate in sports for overall development but their ethnicity, culture, physical and spiritual challenges, parents, family members, and society members discourage them to participate in sports. The result of the study further confirmed that  Islam encourages the women to participate in sports for good health, fitness and healthy life style after observing the Islamic dress code.

Full Article Available: http://www.hrmars.com/admin/pics/1135.pdf

Veiled Women Athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympics: Media Accounts

By Mayfoud Amara

The aim of this paper is to explore and to compare different international media accounts about the presence of veiled athletes in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In other words, to uncover whether the discourse of clash of cultures or that of cross-cultural dialogue has shaped their position about Islam, Muslim identities,

Muslim women and the Muslim world in general. Furthermore, from the perspective of media in the Arab and the Muslim world, the purpose of the analysis is to explore their responses to international media, and to investigate their positions in relation to the host nation (China), Asian culture and the Olympics.

Keywords: 2008 Beijing Olympics; hijab (the veil); veiled Muslim women athletes; identity; body; media; religion

Full Paper Available: The International Journal of the History of Sport, Vol. 29, No. 4, March 2012, 638–651

Portrayal of Muslim female athletes in the media: Diversity in Sport

Much has been made of the participation of the first Saudi woman in Olympics, with discussions on the headscarf and its compatibility with international sport. While it is an important debate, the media has completely glossed over the participation of many other Muslim women in London 2012. Sertaç Sehlikoglu argues that this is because non-stereotypical images of Muslim women puzzle the male colonial gaze. In this post, she aims to propound a more comprehensive understanding of the debates on Muslim sportswomen.

Recently at BBC World, I was part of a discussion around the ways in which women are sexualised in media coverage of Olympics. In that particular radio programme, two young feminist debaters were criticising how media pay less attention to women’s events except when the women participants look hyper-feminine or ‘pretty’ according to Western standards. I realised that the same media was paying more attention to (veiled/hijabi) Muslim female athletes than Muslim male athletes which is another face of the very same masculine perspective: sexualising Muslim women.

Turkish athlete © Flickr user mattk1979

As a researcher and blogger on Muslim women’s involvement in sports, I have noticed a high demand of and interest in hijabi Muslim sportswomen’s participation in Olympics. Some media coverage has focussed on the fact that Saudi Arabia has sent women to Olympics for the first time in its history (together with Brunei and Qatar, both of which are less highlighted in these news), while some others are discussing the conditions under which hijabi Olympians should participate in the games.

In this media coverage, whether on TV, radio or on paper, there is emphasised focus on veiled images of Muslim women which can be seen as another way of sexualising women, though through veiling in this case. According to many feminist scholars in subaltern studies, a continuous focus on veiling is an extension of male-oriented colonial perspectives (Harper 1985, Hoodfar 1992, Kabbani 1986, Alloula 1986, Yeğenoğlu 1998). Indeed, very little or no attention is paid to any image that may puzzle the colonial perspective such as the fact that a Muslim country (Turkey) sent more female athletes than male ones to London 2012.

In order not to fall into the mentioned trap and develop a more comprehensive understanding in relation to the debates on Muslim sportswomen, I would like to suggest that we can group Muslim female Olympians into three categories, based on their outfits.

The first group of women is composed of those who are not following the Islamic dress code, some of whom do not believe that such dress code (that is, headscarf) is Islamic. Historically, this group has been involved in international games for much longer than the other two, since modernists in many Muslim societies viewed sports as a means of breaking women’s segregation and including them in public life in the early 20th century. The first Muslim women attended the 1936 Berlin Olympics: Suat Aşeni and Halet Çambel represented Turkey in fencing; 36 years after first women were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. Turkey, as a country which accepts international dress regulations for different branches of sports, does not have any problem in sending its successful sportswomen to the Olympic Games and the sportswomen follow the international dress codes in sports. Thus, Turkey’s outfit regulations are designed to include women in professional sports, although this might end up excluding those with Islamic outfit concerns.

The second group of Muslim women is composed of those who believe in modesty and prefer observing Islam in terms of the dress code. These women often face dress restrictions, such as those in international games, which forbid wearing of headscarves based on safety and security concerns. Muslim sports activists propose ‘safe hijabs’ to negotiate with these concerns and suggest alternative styles for different branches. FIFA, for instance, had to get into contact with several designers for an approvable headgear to be used in international soccer games and decided on one developed by a Montrealer designer. In some cases, such as in the case of Ibtinaj Mohammad from USA, hijabi women interested in professional sports choose branches that will not jeopardise their Islamic dress concerns, as she did by focusing on fencing.

A third group of Muslim women however, are not allowed to participate in sports, not because of their religious choices or international game regulations, but because of the regulations of their own countries. Iranian sportswomen are an example since the branches of sports Iranian women are allowed to participate in are limited: Lida Fariman, Manije Kazemi (archery), Marjan Kalhor (skiing), and Sara Khoshjamal Fekri (taekwondo) are four Muslim women who have represented Iran in the Olympic Games in earlier years in accordance with dress regulations enforced by their country. In these cases, the dress codes of the sport are in line with Iran’s national dress code for modesty to be preserved. Similarly there are countries, such as Brunei, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have not sent a single woman to the Olympic Games until this year. Such outfit regulations influence female citizens of these countries whether the sportswomen themselves are Muslims or not, since they are bound with the codes both at national and international level.

There has been a lot of focus on the Saudi judo athlete who created history by becoming the first Saudi woman to participate in the Olympics. Of course, her participation is a big leap towards participation of Saudi women in sports but at the same time, her case should not be seen as typifying Muslim sportswomen. We need to recognise the plurality of Muslim sportswomen, instead of stereotyping and sexualising them.

Sertaç Sehlikoglu has recently completed her field research in Istanbul, Turkey on self-formation and subjectivation of sporting Muslim women for her PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. Her academic interests are leisure, daily politics, body, agency, subject formation and feminine normativity. Sehlikoglu is an active user of new media tools and owner of the blogwww.muslimwomeninsports.blogspot.com.

Source: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/diversity/2012/08/portrayal-of-muslim-female-athletes-in-the-media-diversity-in-sport/

Women's Softball in Iran: An Autoethnographic Journey

By Sarah J Hillyer, University of Tennessee - Knoxville

Date of Award

5-2010

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Exercise and Sport Sciences

Major Professor

Joy T. DeSensi

Committee Members

Dulcie Peccolo, Ronald Taylor, Lars Dzikus

Abstract

This autoethnographic dissertation recounts numerous untold stories about my journeys into the Islamic Republic of Iran as a sports consultant and women’s softball coach for Global Sports Partners (GSP). Autoethnography as defined by Ellis & Bochner (2000), is “an autobiographical genre of writing and research that displays multiple layers of consciousness, connecting the personal to the cultural…Autoethnographers vary in their emphasis on the research process (graphy), on culture (ethnos), and on self (auto)” (pp. 739-740). Autoethnographers, writing within a branch of narrative inquiry (Ellis & Bochner, 2000), believe in the power of story and that humans learn through stories lived and told (Ellis, 2004). To date, the majority of the literature devoted to Iranian women in sports has been written from a critical feminist perspective, detailing the “oppressive” societal structures associated with sport in an Islamic Republic (Hargreaves, 2000; Pfister, 2003; Pfister, 2006). While understanding the structure in which Iranian women compete is important, it does not closely reflect my experiences with the way Iranian women define their own sport participation. The purpose of this autoethnography is (1) to confront my previously held stereotypes and reveal my personal transformation, (2) to provide a counternarrative that “extends sociological understanding” (Sparkes, 2002), (3) to demonstrate the use of sport in fostering cross-cultural respect, appreciation, and dialogue, and (4) to offer new ways of knowing and telling (Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Richardson, 2000b).

Source: http://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/702/

Doha 2020: 1st Women and sport conference discusses their role in the Middle East

LAURA WALDEN / Sports Features Communications

LAUSANNE: The Olympic bid city of Doha hosted January 22-24 at the Museum of Islamic Art the inaugural conference on the role of women in sport in the Middle East and the Arab countries.

Under the theme ‘Women and Sport: From Past to Future’ there were participants and speakers from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Syria, UAE and Europe to exchange information on  the challenges of women from an Arab countries perspective.

The event was held under the patronage of  Sheikha Jawaher Bint Hamad Bin Suhaim Al-Thani, the Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum (QOSM) and the Qatar Women’s Sport Committee (QWSC).

Noora Al Mannai, CEO Doha 2020, herself a woman in a top position in a predominantly men’s world said, “I am looking forward to attending this important conference and learning from some of the leading authorities on women in sport in the Middle East. 

“Getting more girls and women to participate in sport in the region is important and with innovative thinking, new investment and a commitment to embrace change, real progress can be achieved. 

“This is one of the main ambitions of our 2020 bid. 

“If Doha was to be given the honour of becoming the Host City for the Games in 2020, this would represent a major boost to the development of women’s sport in the Middle East.  It would be a real legacy for the region. 

“This conference will allow many insights and ideas to be shared and discussed and will help to push the agenda of women’s sport forward, not just in Qatar but across the Arab world and beyond.”  

Speakers and panellists at ‘Women and Sport: From Past to Future’ include:

 Nour El Houda, Former Secretary General of Syrian National Olympic Committee

Dr Yousra Al Sinani, Assistant Professor in Physical Education, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman

Lolwa Al Marri, Secretary General at Qatar Women's Sport Committee

Shk Hayat Abdulazizi Al Khalifa, Bahrain Olympic Committee Member

Shk Naeema Alahmad Alsabah, Chairperson of GCC Organizing Committee of Women's Sports

Mrs Noora Khalifa Alswaidi, Director of UAE Women’s Union

The conference was also streamed live on Facebook on the Museum of Islamic Art’s page.

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/olympicsnews/story/49297/doha-2020-1st-women-and-sport-conference-discusses-their-role-in-the-middle-east

Source: 

The latest book on Muslim Women and Sport

This book by Prof. Tansin Benn (University of Birmingham) and colleagues examines the global experiences, challenges and achievements of Muslim women participating in physical activities and sport. It makes a profound contribution to our understanding of both contemporary Islam and the complexity and diversity of women’s lives in the modern world. A must-read for anyone interested in learning more about this fascinating topic. The book confronts many deeply held stereotypes and crosses those commonly quoted boundaries between ‘Islam and the West’ and between ‘East and West’. It makes a great-read reading for anyone with an interest in the interrelationships between sport, religion, gender, culture and policy.
Also: http://muslimwomeninsports.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-book-on-shelves-muslim-women-and.html

Apologies for the Delay, and Welcome to Dr Samaya Farooq

Dear Followers of Muslim Women in Sports Blog,
Please accept my apologies for the one month break. As devoted followers may know, it was such an unusual incident for this blog. I was hospitalized for approximately two weeks, due to two surgeries in row on my right lung.

I am much better now and you shall soon begin receiving news about Muslim Sportswomen around the world.
Also, Dr Samaya Farooq is now a member of this blog. Dr Farooq is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Gloucestershire. She will start sharing news with you. She is also an Advisory Board member to the ‘Centre for Sport and Spirituality’, and placement tutor for the ‘Sport Malawi’ initiative. Welcome to Dr Farooq!

Dr Samaya Farooq

Experiences of Embodiment: Analysis of Muslim Women's Participation in Physical Activity

Natalie V.K Szudy, The University of Western Ontario

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Kinesiology

Supervisor

Dr. Angela J. Schneider

Abstract

This dissertation examines the relationship the „lived body‟ experiences of veiled Muslim females in sport and physical activity. When considering the relationship between religious requirements and participation in sport and physical activity, the discussion of the conflicts that have occurred with some veiled Muslim female athletes can support the examination of the articulation of sport and religion. In this dissertation, I will explore the application of logical and philosophical discussion as an analytic framework in the evaluation of social, cultural and religious discourse. The application of this framework will contribute to the evaluation of epistemological premises that have contributed to the definition of: i) the experiences of women in sport; and ii) the impact of the institutional requirements on female embodiment.

Rooted in the development and promotion of group and individual rights within a community, 'Ishraq: Safe Places to Learn, Play and Grow', currently utilizes sport and physical activity to encourage young girls and women living in rural areas to build upon their educational experience and learn about health care, citizenship rights, and seeks to encourage full participation in all aspects of public life. Through the evaluation of an applied case example, this dissertation examines the implementation of a physical activity program as a vehicle to support changes in the local community.

Recommended Citation

Szudy, Natalie V.K, "Experiences of Embodiment: Analysis of Muslim Women's Participation in Physical Activity" (2011). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. Paper 221.
http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/221

Source: http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/221/ 

Embodied faith: Islam, religious freedom and educational practices in physical education

Tansin Benn, Symeon Dagkas & Haifaa Jawad
Sport, Education and Society: Volume 16, Issue 1, 2011

Abstract

The growing incidence of withdrawal of Muslim girls from physical education prompted this study into tensions between religious freedom and educational practices. It was located in a city in the West Midlands of England. Data on experiences, issues, concerns and solutions related to participation of Muslim girls in physical education were collected by a team of eight researchers including Islamic studies and physical education subject specialists, city advisors and teachers. Methods used were: eight in-depth case studies across primary, secondary and Muslim state schools including interviews with 19 head teachers and teachers (two were Muslim), focus-group interviews with 109 pupils and 32 parents. In addition, four focus-group interviews were held with 36 young people in community/supplementary schools for Muslim communities. All city schools (402) and 12 community providers received questionnaires, 50 were returned. Consultations were held with key national associations including the Muslim Council of Britain and the National Subject Association for Physical Education. Empirical analysis is reported elsewhere. During the experience of conducting the study four problem areas emerged that required attention to effectively address tensions between religious freedom and educational practices in physical education: bridging the gap between research and educational practice; the concept of embodied faith;the significance of context—physical education and religion in England; and finally widening researchers' frames of reference to include intersectionality and interdisciplinary approaches. The discussion exposes the complexity of pursuing social justice in a democratic society that embraces people of multiple ethnicities and religions. The paper concludes by exploring ways in which theoretical constructs increase understanding and can influence policy and practice.

• Keywords: Islam, 
• Muslim girls, 
• Embodied faith, 
• Physical education, 
• Sport pedagogy

Source: http://0-www.tandfonline.com.mercury.concordia.ca/doi/abs/10.1080/13573322.2011.531959   

Gender constructions and negotiations in physical education: case studies

By: Ninna With-Nielsen & Gertrud Pfister

Sport, Education and Society, Vol. 16, Issue 5, 2011

Abstract

In Denmark as in other European countries, many girls, and especially Muslim girls, seem to lose interest in physical activities and sport with increasing age. However, in a Danish context, little is known about the reasons why girls drop out of sport and which role physical education (PE) plays in this process. In this article we present results of a qualitative study on gendered discourses and doing gender in a PE class at a Danish high school. Drawing on constructivist and post-structuralist approaches to gender and ethnicity, we explore the different opportunities of girls in PE based on in-depth interviews and video observations. Three case studies of three girls are the focus of this article: Nanna, the Danish ‘athletic girl’ who found a balance between (en)acting femininity and presenting herself as a competent athlete; Iram, the ‘Muslim girl’ whose position as a Muslim causes her to hide her sporting abilities and Ida, the Danish ‘normal girl’ who re-interprets PE and adapts it to her needs. These three girls act in and react to a discourse that emphasises competitive sport and is orientated towards male sport tastes and sport practices. The results of this study indicate that PE, with its focus on games and performances, meets the requirements and expectations of many boys but contributes to the decrease in sporting interests and activities among numerous girls.



Keywords: Physical education; Gender; Denmark; Muslim girls; Ball games; Poststructuralism; Sport discourses; Drop out; Sport participation; Femininity; Intersectionalit

Source: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13573322.2011.601145