Women-Only Gym Controversy in Afghanistan

After listening T-Bird’s story about teaching athleticism to young Nicaraguan girls, I came across a similar situation that occurred in Afghanistan online. In 2005, the government sponsored the first women’s-only gym to the Afghan public. The gym holds up to 200 people and is located in the Women’s Garden in southwest Kabul. Unfortunately as beneficial as this is to the women it has sparked a lot of controversy within the community. Many people are worried about the modesty issue and how the gym could corrupt the young girls. One woman even commented that she didn’t like the gym because working at home and raising children was a good enough sport for Afghan women. Yet regardless of all this controversy many young girls and women still continue to flock to the gym. All the classes are free and some sessions are even taught by instructors from a French organization called “Athletes Without Frontiers”. Also, even though they don’t have that much equipment to work with the instructors are determined to get some more in the future. I know this story is a bit old but I thought that this was a perfect example of what T-Bird was talking about.

http://www.iwpr.net/?apc_state=hdriwpr2005&l=en&s=f&o=257680


Tabitha Komathy


KIN 338IS.6