This has been talked about to death in some circles, I know – fortunately this isn’t one of them. As the Beijing Olympics roll on and the Michael Phelpses and Nastia Liukins (or the Cheng Feis and Yang Weis, if you prefer) win medal after medal, it’s almost too easy to forget those left out of the Olympics. No, I’m not talking about the North Korean women’s artistic gymnastics team; although MENA countries on the whole are underrepresented at the Olympics (and, for that matter, aren’t bringing home the proverbial bacon – save for Algeria and Tunisia, oddly enough), we shouldn’t fault them for their performances rather, we should fault only a handful, but for the performances that never happened…those of their female athletes.
A few good women are missing from this year’s competition. Though it’s fewer than ever before, it’s still too many. In 2008, 3 countries lack a single woman competing for their team: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait. Of those three, only one has ever sent a woman to the Olympics (that would be Kuwait, represented in ’04 by 16-year-old runner Danah Al-Nasrallah). Afghanistan also sent its first female competitor to Athens, while female Omani, Bahraini, and Emirati Olympians are appearing for the first time in Beijing.
While it’s unfortunate for any team to lack female representation, however, Saudi Arabia is the only country which outright bans women from competing. That’s their prerogative, perhaps, but shocking that the IOC, the Olympic governing body which prohibits “any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, sex or otherwise” would allow them to compete; that’s the same IOC that barred South Africa from the Olympics in the 1960s during the apartheid era. And South Africa actually offered to send black athletes. It was for their refusal to allow interracial sporting at home that they were barred; Saudi Arabia’s situation is actually much worse, as women aren’t allowed to compete at home or abroad.
What’s worse is the apologists for Saudi Arabia; among them Ray Hanania, who argues:
Newscasters make a point of always saying its team is “all male.” Women are prohibited by Saudi Arabia’s government from participating, but many other nation’s [sic] also have teams that are also only all male.
Many other nations, no. It’s now down to two, in fact – so when will Qatar and Saudi Arabia step up to the plate and join their neighbors? Hijab is clearly not the problem – Egypt, Iran, Yemen, Bahrain, and Afghanistan all sent hijab-clad athletes this year, and development in athletic clothing for Muslim women is improving all the time.
Little girls in Saudi Arabia (which I will use as an example from now on, given that Qatar’s population equals that of Boston) deserve to have strong heroes too. Girls in Morocco idolize Nawal El Moutawakel the same way young Romanian girls have idolized Nadia Comaneci and Americans Mary Lou Retton. The next generation of young Muslim women might grow up to idolize Bahrain’s Ruqaya al Ghasra (pictured) or Lebanon’s Nibal Yamout.
So until Saudi women are allowed to play sports, and compete in the Olympics, the IOC should hold to its standards and simply ban the country from competition. Full stop.
Related posts:
- In Saudi, life is better with a penis
- Saudi Arabia Advances in Little League World Series
- Saudi Jarabia
- Saudi Finally Releases Fouad
- Saudi Arabia — a Good Witness
The best addition to the KabobCrew, bar none.
MENA = Middle East N’ Asia?
Posted by Firouz | August 17, 2008, 8:32 pm+North Africa?
Posted by Firouz | August 17, 2008, 8:41 pmHOw come no talk of heptathlete gold medal winner Ghada Shouaa?!?!?!
Posted by Maytha | August 17, 2008, 8:49 pmMENA = Middle East/North Africa!
Admittedly, Maytha, I only actually follow artistic gymnastics (which saw its first woman from the MENA region this year! 17-year-old Sherine El Zeiny got a wild card and competed, albeit poorly, in Beijing), but you’re right – Ghada Shouaa deserves mention as well.
Posted by Jillian | August 17, 2008, 9:15 pmJillian,
You make it sound as if Arab countries have constantly been raising the bar when it comes to athletes performance at the summer games.
Posted by il7as 6eezee | August 17, 2008, 10:55 pmNice post, Jillian
Posted by programmer craig | August 17, 2008, 11:55 pmyour at-a-glance graphic seems to be missing a few countries…
Posted by Anonymous | August 18, 2008, 5:31 amThat’s why it’s “at-a-glance” and not “complete and thorough”
Posted by Jillian | August 18, 2008, 6:27 amwelcome aboard Jillian, great post.
Posted by Mohammad | August 18, 2008, 7:25 amGoing from that picture on your link it seems improbable that there is any dress to satisfy the stricter Islamic elements that will not be a handicap in the great majority of Olympic sports. Hardly streamlined is it?
Hopefully more enlightened attitudes will win out but unfortunately, to us non-muslims at least, that is not the way things appear to be going in almost any Islamic country one can think of.
Posted by xoggoth | August 18, 2008, 8:47 amHopefully more enlightened attitudes will win out
Xog, you assume that hijabi/burka women MUST be allowed to play a certain sport. Why?
The hijab/burka is a choice for many women. Choices have consequences. Why is there this expectation that no matter what choices people make, we should still allow them to participate in everything that everyone else does?
If you’re wearing a hijab, but your rubber suit is so tight we can see your nipples on a frosty morning, then just take your hijab off, it’s meaningless.
And if you decide to wear a hijab and loose Islamic dress, stop trying to make it seem like you can do everything that everyone else can do, while keeping your beliefs.
You can’t competitively run a marathon and be properly covered up at the same tim. You can’t swim or play volleyball or any number of other sports, where tight fitting clothing, or no clothing, is a key component of success.
Muslims are stuck on this notion that they are backwards and need to combine Islam and modernity, bending and stretching long established laws to do it. Why? Just take off the hijab and participate, or leave it on and don’t. Be honest with yourself and everyone else
Posted by Anonymous | August 18, 2008, 9:36 amDunno, there is money to be made here. Maybe a skintight reflective suit with hundreds of irridescent colours so the form beneath could not be distinguished. Or ones with men’s naked bodies printed on them, nobody who would lust after a women could look at them then.
Posted by xoggoth | August 18, 2008, 12:57 pmsorry dear, that’s not what “at a glance” means…
Posted by Anonymous | August 18, 2008, 1:57 pmOfcourse they wont ban Saudi Arabia, its a rich country and already countries like the US and Europe dont care about human rights violation in KSA. So why should they bother? But I dont mind creating a group on facebook for that
Posted by Ali | August 19, 2008, 2:13 amThis lady won a heat with “modest” garb on so who knows? Looks fairly tight compared to that link pic though.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1046912/Muslim-sprinter-wins-Olympic-sprint-dressed-head-toe-hijab.html
PS Can’t say she fills this infidel with too many lustful thoughts.
Posted by xoggoth | August 19, 2008, 10:03 amAli – Facebook group, right on!
Posted by Jillian | August 19, 2008, 12:37 pmRead what I wrote about this:
http://kalamoha.blogspot.com/
Posted by nasamat | August 20, 2008, 3:29 amOf course, I expect you to miss the point in your zeal … I was arguing that it is wrong to single out Muslims because there has been a HISTORY of non-Muslim countries banning women too.
The number of women competing in the Olympics has been steadily increasing : “Of the 11,427 athletes participating in these Games, 4,845 are women — 500 more than in Athens four years ago, 1,000 more than competed in Atlanta 12 years ago”. In 1996, 26 countries sent all-male teams to Atlanta . In Sydney the number was 12 and by Athens it was down to five. The two nations making their Olympic debuts this year, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, each have women on their small teams .
The critics of Saudi Arabia don’t give a damn whether Arab women are allowed to comete, they are only attacking Saudi Arabia because THEY DON’T DISTINGUISH between Saudis, Palestinians or Syrians. To Americans, we’re all the same.
Seems the only people who discriminate among the Arabs are a few of the writers right here at KabobFest.
Thanks for the link anyway …
Ray Hanania
http://www.TheMediaOasis.com
Posted by Ray | August 25, 2008, 10:09 amRay,
I didn’t miss the point; you’re absolutely right that in the past, many non-Arab/non-Muslim countries did not have women participating, but again, the difference is that those countries didn’t have women participating and Saudi does not ALLOW women to participate.
You said:
“The critics of Saudi Arabia don’t give a damn whether Arab women are allowed to comete, they are only attacking Saudi Arabia because THEY DON’T DISTINGUISH between Saudis, Palestinians or Syrians. To Americans, we’re all the same.”
I’m American, by the way. I’m also a critic of Saudi Arabia, and I do give a damn; I think that every woman should have absolute equal rights to men (or, alternatively, choose not to have equality – whatever). The point here is, for Saudi women only, it’s not a choice.
Jillian
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Posted by bsqtbpwfyh | June 29, 2009, 9:09 pmit nice job for the , emancipation of saudi girls!ALAAS for their conservative life….zabih
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