Saudi Arabia: Women Are "Changing the Game"

Women in Saudi Arabia have made some progress in participating in sports for health, competition, and professional opportunities but serious barriers remain. On the eve of the Rio Olympics, the Saudi government, including the new women's section of the Saudi sports authority, should remove the remaining barriers to sports in schools, businesses, federations, and team sports.

Four women will represent the country in Rio, a slight improvement from the two who competed in the 2012 London Summer Olympics. But inside Saudi Arabia, widespread discrimination still hampers access to sports for Saudi women and girls, including in public education. This exists against a backdrop of pervasive discrimination that constrains women's day-to-day lives in Saudi Arabia. Women are not allowed to travel abroad, marry, or be released from prison without a male guardian's permission, and may be required to provide guardian consent to work or get health care. They are not allowed to drive.

"Saudi women are making tremendous strides in the world of sports – climbing the tallest mountains and swimming the lengths of rivers," said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives. "They are showing their determination, talent, effort, and heart despite daunting legal, cultural, and religious hurdles. As the Rio Olympics open, Saudi Arabia needs to change the game by addressing the profound discrimination that holds back women's and girls' participation in sport in the kingdom."

The Human Rights Watch 2012 report, Steps of the Devil, examined in depth what was then the country's effective ban on participation by Saudi women and girls in sports and physical education and its negative effects, including on health.

Saudi Arabia discriminates against women and girls by denying them the same opportunities to exercise and play sports as men and boys. As of July 2016, women were not allowed to attend or participate in national tournaments or state-organized sports leagues. But, in a positive move, on August 1, the General Authority for Sports, which functions like a sports ministry, announced a new female department and appointed Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud as its head.

Saudi women are still denied access to state sports infrastructure. They may not participate in national tournaments or state-organized sports leagues – or even attend men's national team matches as spectators. The more than 150 official sports clubs regulated and supported by the General Authority for Sports are not easily accessible to women, and the national competitive tournaments it organizes are for men only. The Saudi National Olympic Committee still does not have a women's section.

"The creation of a new women's department in the General Authority for Sports is a welcome move, the department should lead reforms for women's access to sport and other physical exercise in the country," said Worden.

The country has made some positive, if incremental, change. While Human Rights Watch was unable to get clear information from the government through written requests on physical education in state schools for girls, public reports in recent years indicate that some government schools are now offering physical education to girls. Private schools have long been able to offer physical education, and in May 2013, Saudi authorities ruled that those programs could continue, provided that girls wear "decent clothing" and are supervised by female instructors.

Women are also opening female-only fitness studios across the country. But major challenges – official, religious, bureaucratic, and cultural – remain for women who want or need to practice sports for health reasons, for fun, or to compete. Some Saudi women say they have no other choice but to leave the country to train as instructors or as competitive athletes.

Human Rights Watch interviewed Saudi women from various walks of life, including athletes, activists, doctors, trainers, and entrepreneurs, who described how they are pressing ahead to claim their right to play sports and to open fitness centers. One advocate of fitness for women is using her Chamber of Commerce position to lobby for more women's gyms. Other women are pushing boundaries by running women's private sports teams as businesses, opening unlicensed gyms in defiance of the government's refusal to legitimize them, pressuring authorities, and training in and outside of Saudi Arabia to represent the country in international competition.

A serious focus on reforms to state schools, gym licensing, and training of physical education teachers by the General Authority for Sports, the Education and Health ministries, and the Saudi National Olympic Committee could have a lasting positive impact on the lives and well-being of millions of women and girls in the country and help them realize their equal rights to practice sport.

Saudi Arabia's 2016 Vision 2030, a new government road map for economic and developmental growth, could also improve access to sport for women and girls. The road map says: "Opportunities for the regular practice of sports have often been limited. This will change." Saudi officials should fulfill this promise by allowing and encouraging sports for women and girls.

The Olympic Charter states that, "Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit." In December 2014, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) unanimously adopted a set of reforms called "Olympic Agenda 2020," which made gender equality a central plank of the Olympic movement. Among key reforms, for the first time, the IOC's own agenda precludes the selection of a host country that discriminates against women and girls.

In January 2015, IOC President Thomas Bach rejected a suggestion by Saudi Arabia that the country could seek to co-host a sex-segregated Olympics with a Gulf neighbor, Bahrain, with men to compete in Saudi Arabia and women in Bahrain. Bach stated that Saudi Arabia would be denied the chance to bid until the country complied with rules barring discrimination. "A commitment to 'non-discrimination' will be mandatory for all countries hoping to bid for the Olympics in the future," Bach said. "Countries like Saudi Arabia must really work to allow female athletes to freely participate."

In line with the Olympic Charter's mandate that discrimination is incompatible with the ideals of the Olympic movement, and the IOC's mission to eradicate such discrimination, the IOC should encourage Saudi Arabia to accelerate reforms to end discrimination against women and girls in sports, as in other areas of life. The IOC should work with Saudi officials to encourage reforms including mandatory physical education programs in girls' state schools, the creation of a women's section inside the Saudi National Olympic Committee, sports federations for women, and the removal of all obstacles to women's participation in international competitions such as the Youth Olympics.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly promised, and is internationally obligated, to take immediate steps to end discrimination against women and girls. The IOC should do its part to encourage and assist Saudi Arabia to meet these goals as soon as possible. Otherwise, another generation of Saudi girls may grow up without meaningful opportunities to play sports and enjoy the attendant health benefits.

Recommendations

The Saudi Government Should:

• Act on the Shura Council's April 2014 recommendation and introduce mandatory physical education in all state schools for girls throughout the years of compulsory education and set out a clear timeline;
• Ensure that women are able to train to teach physical education in schools;
• Create a women's section in the Saudi National Olympic Committee;
• Establish sports federations for women and allow sports federations for women to compete in-country and internationally;
• Provide funding, training, and support to women who want to compete in international sporting competitions on an equal footing with men, and enter women in international sporting competitions, and;
• Allow Saudi women to attend sporting events in the country's stadiums, including to watch men's national teams.

"Women and girls in Saudi Arabia should be able to realize their dreams of taking part in sports from the primary school gym to winning gold medals," Worden said. "Saudi authorities need to address gender discrimination in sports, not just because it is required by international human rights law, but because it could have lasting benefits for the health and well-being of the next generation of Saudi girls."

How Saudi Women Are Changing the Game for Sports Equality
Saudi Arabia's 13 million women and four million girls face severe discrimination in all aspects of their lives. The country's male guardianship system requires women to obtain permission from a male guardian to travel abroad or marry, and women may be required to provide guardian consent to work or get health care. This system, and the related issue of sex segregation, is the backdrop to other pervasive restrictions on women's day-to-day lives in Saudi Arabia, including with respect to exercising for fitness and engaging in sports.

There is ongoing discussion and debate within Saudi Arabia on the health benefits of sports for women and on the urgency of reform to ensure women's access to sports.

In Saudi Arabia, schools are segregated by gender. Many girls' schools do not include physical education or sports programs in the curriculum. But boys' primary, intermediate, and most secondary state schools have compulsory physical education classes. Since 2013, private schools have been permitted to offer physical education programs to girls so long as the girls wear "decent clothing" and are supervised by female instructors.

In 2011, the Education Ministry wrote to Human Rights Watch that, "The issue of girls' physical education is under serious consideration as one of the priorities of the ministry's leadership that regards physical education in schools as one of the necessities helping male and female students to stay healthy."

In April 2014, the Shura Council, an advisory body to the king, directed the Education Ministry to study the possibility of introducing mandatory physical education for girls in state schools in compliance with Sharia rules on dress and sex segregation. The council voted overwhelmingly – 92 to 18 – in favor of the recommendation. But, in March 2015, then-Education Minister Azzam al-Dakhil stated that even if physical education is introduced in girls' state schools, it will not be mandatory.

Saudi Arabia has still not incorporated physical education as part of a compulsory curriculum for girls in state schools.

Despite the government's lack of progress, some state schools have created some access to physical activity for girls. In 2012, a state girls' school in the Eastern Province erected basketball hoops and allowed students to play at break time. The Saudi daily al-Watan reported that the school was the first state-run girls' school that openly encouraged sports. In March 2015, soon after the education minister stated physical education would not be mandatory, Okaz (another Saudi daily) nevertheless reported that five state schools in Ha'il had introduced fitness programs for girls. Yet there is no indication that the large majority of state schools have followed suit.

"Warda," who like some other women interviewed asked Human Rights Watch not to use her real name, is a Saudi woman who runs a private sports club for girls in Saudi Arabia. She told Human Rights Watch that, "The majority of public schools for girls still have no sports or gym classes." She noted that introducing these programs would require outfitting and providing girls' state schools with gym facilities and trained instructors.

Saudi Arabia's State Sports Infrastructure
Saudi Arabia does not grant women equal access to state sports infrastructure. Women are not allowed to attend men's matches as spectators, or participate in national tournaments or state-organized sports leagues. None of the more than 150 official sports clubs regulated and supported by the General Authority for Sports are open to women, and the national competitive tournaments organized by the authority are for men only.

In April 2015, the Shura Council renewed its recommendation to the General Presidency for Youth Welfare (GPYW), the body since renamed the General Authority for Sports, to establish a women's section. On August 1, the General Authority for Sports came through on this recommendation and created a women's department. However, the Saudi National Olympic Committee still does not have an official women's section.

Several female athletes in Saudi Arabia reported that they struggle to find professional training or coaching, and many often need to train outside the country, drawing on their own or their families' finances.

"Amal," a Saudi martial arts expert who lives abroad, said, "I am used to training every day so when I go to vacation for like three to four weeks there [in Saudi Arabia], I have nowhere to train…I try to contact (martial arts) schools and there are some – but only for guys, of course."

In 2013, 27-year-old Raha Moharrak made history as the first Saudi woman and the youngest Arab to reach the summit of Mount Everest. However, she points out that her challenges to train as a Saudi woman were nearly insurmountable: "There were no outdoor training facilities, so to prepare I had to get a driver to take me to the middle of the desert, where I would fill a backpack with sand and run up and down hills."

Raha Moharrak holds the Saudi Flag on Mount Everest as Saudi Arabia's first female and youngest Arab to reach the summit. With limited training facilities in Saudi Arabia, Moharrak taught herself to climb. In one year, she reached the peak of eight mountains before tackling Mount Everest.

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