Women’s sports: more fun, more support

Yemen Observer: http://www.yobserver.com

Women’s sports: more fun, more support

Posted in: Reports
Written By: Noura al-Amodi
Article Date: Jun 21, 2008 - 3:20:55 AM

Girls in Yemen practice martial arts, just like the boys.

Yemeni women have succeeded in many fields and have become famous both domestically and internationally. Sports are no exception and many Yemeni women have won local and international championships.

Fatima Suleiman, a sixteen-year-old Yemeni girl, won a golden medal in the 400-meter track event at the Asia Championship, held in Jordan in February 2008.

She is one of the few Yemeni girls who participated in an athletic event outside of Yemen and has won, above any medal or award, the respect of her community and peers.

“We female players represent Yemen to the whole world without losing our modesty or taking off the hijab,” Fatima said, “We can relieve family fears and gain community support.”

In a conservative society like Yemen, being a female athlete is no “bed of roses.” However, with the support from many authorities and individuals, it finally happened.

“As a girl coming from a country which had no international medalists, I am going to do all my best to gain respect for my country and to myself,” said Fatima.

However Fatima, like any other Yemeni girl, faced many obstacles when she decided to be an athlete. “Some of my father’s family members did not accept the idea, but my father firmly supported me,” Fatima explains. She remembers when she decided to be an athlete, how she wanted to prove that a girl could succeed without giving up her Islamic identity or community values.

She concluded her speech by thanking everyone who had supported her, especially her parents and the manager of the General Federation for Women’s Sports, as well as everyone else who had been on her side all this time.

The Yemeni girls martial arts team.

Another sportswoman, Hala Hassan al-Hady, Judo Bronze medalist at Al AQSA championship held in Sana’a in 2006, asserted the importance of family support for any girl wanting to take part in sports events. “My parents were very supportive, but with regards to other people’s views, it was not easy and only with time did people start to understand that nothing was wrong with girls participating in sports“ Hala said.

She expressed her love for Judo saying that it was not only for self-defense, but also an interesting sport and she encouraged girls to play any kind of sports in general.

Unlike Fatima and Hala, Lena Sultan al-Areqy, captain of Aden’s female volleyball team, had never faced any lack of acceptance from society when she started playing volleyball.

“People of Aden are much more understanding and open-minded than other Yemenis” Lena said. “We started playing at school and then we joined the female volleyball team. We took part in many local championships in Lahj, al Hudaidah, Sana’a, Mareb and other governorates” she continued.

However, most Yemeni girls admit that the necessity of family approval and agreement is the most important thing for any girl wanting to be a sportswoman. Without it, it is very difficult for them to play sports.

Many female teams for different sports have been created in some Yemeni governorates, although sport teams like the volleyball and basketball teams have never participated in competitions outside Yemen.

Kafa Bajary, a fellow volleyball team player from Aden, is disappointed by the lack of international competitions. “Unfortunately, we have never competed outside Yemen,” she says. Kafa said that just making a girl think that she can be an athlete or can play sports, even if she does not join any team, is considered a big step in the community. She asserted that families should trust their daughters because in the end, “ it is all about trust.”

The thing that all these sportswomen have in common is that they used to play sports at school and their families and women’s sports authorities always supported them.

There has been some progress made in the realm of women’s sports in Yemen, starting with governmental instructions to establish the Woman General Administration in the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

“To encourage women we established a department for women’s concerns on all sorts of youth and sports activities. It is one of our priorities to merge women with youth and sports,” said Mo’amer al- Eryani, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The question is if Yemeni women can now break their local atmosphere and compete in international sports championships. However, al-Eryani stressed that “Yemeni women participate locally and internationally…this is definitely a big achievement for all Yemeni women.”

Noura al-Gerwi, the head of the Woman’s Department at the Ministry of Youth and Sport, shares al-Eryani’s opinion, affirming that women are advancing with the strong support of the Ministry.

“We made important steps in order to raise awareness about women participating in sports within the communities and in order to meet our ambitions” al-Gerwi said.

Moreover, the Ministry established the General Federation for Women’s Sports and has appointed a supervisor for women’s activities in every sports federation.

Women have become members of the Board of the Directors of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Yemen, representing 20 percent of the members.

“I hope Yemeni girls can eventually participate in all local and international events. It was a pleasant surprise for all of us when one Yemeni girl won the bronze medal in weight lifting, which indicates the brilliance of Yemeni girls” said al-Gerwi.

Yet again, numerous social difficulties were faced by both, the female players and the administrations working in this field. The idea of getting involved with international and local activities and competing in broadcasted, open-space championships and wearing particular sports uniforms, have complicated social acceptance of female athletes.

In consequence, many formal steps have been taken to relieve the fears of families and to correct the concept of women playing sports.

“Well-planned steps have been taken to show that nothing is wrong with women playing sports. We present women playing sports in a way that is in agreement with Islamic teachings and community traditions,” said al-Gerwi.

Al-Eryani stressed the importance of mediating between community conception of female players and what the girls would gain from playing sports. “When the families realize the respect players earn, they will be encouraged to let their daughters participate” added al-Eryani.

Unlike al-Eryani and al-Gerwi, many people are not in favor of women playing sports. “I cannot accept a woman participating outside Yemen because she will be obligated to give up her Islamic values, such as being forced to wear particular sport suits which is something not acceptable in Islamic teachings,” said Boshra Yahya.

“In some sports like table tennis woman can play without needing to take off her Hijab, while in track and field events for example she can’t,” Boshra continued.

Since the establishment of the General Federation for Women’s Sports (GFWS), there has been a major turn in favor of women playing sports in Yemen, and now girls are beginning to join all sorts of available sports.

Huda al-Haidary, Secretary General of the GFWS explained proudly that such achievements have been made by the efforts and determination of female players.

”Yemeni girls attended honorably many international sports events and won several medals in different sports, for instance chess, judo, track and field events, and weight lifting” she explained.

The GFWS currently contains thirteen different sports and expects to increase the level of participation. “We still need more support as we plan to increase our local and international attendance. We do our best to make sure girls, as well as their families relieve their worries. We provide delivery buses for girls free of charge,” said al-Haidary.

In spite of the improvement in women’s sports in Yemen, there is still a noticeable lack of female sports staff, which is needed together with the development of national female athletic establishments in schools.

In this regard, Mo’amer al-Eryani recalled that “we are going to back sports at schools in coordination with the Ministry of Education. This will surely help in constructing women’s sports infrastructure” he said.

Many people hope such plans will be successful. Mr. Magdy, an Egyptian chess coach, observed that, “In some European countries they teach chess in schools to improve the mental abilities of students.”

“I am pleased with the improvement of women’s status with sports in general and chess in particular,” coach Magdy continued, ”The national team had some wonderful achievements in numerous championships.“

Because of new trends developing within Yemeni society to get involved in what is going on around the world, many have begun to accept the idea of women participating in local and international sports events, as long as such participation respects the Islamic teachings and community values.

While there are fewer opportunities in Yemen available to girls, the increase in support for female athletes represents a shift in the social situation. All agree that the more support woman sports associations get, the more influence and change they can make.