Muslim Women and Sport by Tansin Benn Gertrud Pfister Haifaa Jawad

Author:Tansin Benn, Gertrud Pfister, Haifaa Jawad [Tansin Benn, Gertrud Pfister, Haifaa Jawad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Women's Studies, Sports
ISBN: 9781134008506
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2010-07-12T04:00:00+00:00

Elite-level competitive sport

Whilst physical education and sport have been part of the school curriculum for girls since the early 1970s, at least in principle, and specialist teacher training has been undertaken at the University of Sultan Qaboos from 1993, the development of competitive sport opportunities for women has been piecemeal, with no official records or database for research. Women only began to compete at a national level in the early 1990s. Organising bodies were not officially recognised and women were not allowed to represent Oman abroad. In the capital city, Muscat, enthusiasts began to form teams that competed in events organised by hotels and private clubs in such sports as netball, tennis, squash, volleyball and the martial arts. Some established sports clubs did open their doors to women sports enthusiasts, but the lack of suitable (sex-segregated) facilities and (female) coaches meant that there was little take-up and much of the initial promise was not fulfilled. In 1991, one local club did organise and run the first of four annual volleyball tournaments. Eight teams of women, made up of Omanis and expatriates, took part. Women’s interest in volleyball can be traced back to schools, where the game is popular and a familiar feature of physical education.

A rare but significant opportunity for women to participate in sport at a high level – and also adhere to the required tenets of Islam – was established in 1993 with the Women’s Islamic Games (see Chapter 6). Not surprisingly, the invitation to compete was extended by the Omani National Olympic Committee to past and current students of Sultan Qaboos University as there was no other mechanism in place to select and train a national team. Similar events have been organised following the success of this venture. Apart from tennis, and to a lesser extent athletics, there is still no systematic organisation of individual sports for women in Oman.

Al Hinai devoted many years to trying to stimulate, lead and support interest for Omani women’s involvement in sporting events, becoming vice-chairperson of the Oman Volleyball Association (OVA) in April 2007. She is a former member of the Women’s Sports Committee inaugurated on 30 April 2005 with six members, and they have organised some development work, including tournaments with local private schools. This committee started out as a sub-group of the Omani National Olympic Committee (ONOC). One representative from this sub-committee attends ONOC meetings. A Gulf Countries GCC Women and Sports Committee was formed in June 2007, and Al Hinai led a team of 62 women to the first GCC Women’s Games in Kuwait in March 2008. The only GCC country not in attendance was Saudi Arabia. When interviewed on her return from Kuwait, Al Hinai (2008: 44) stated that Oman did not have enough practising women coaches or administrators to support a developing infrastructure for women in competitive sport. While making progress in participation, women were not fully involved in organising and decision-making positions, sometimes because they did not take up positions they had been offered, demonstrating the strength of traditional beliefs and values about the role of women in Oman.

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