Saudi Women & the Olympics

Yesterday, I stumbled across an article from cnn.com titled "Will Saudi Women make Olympics debut?". This article spoke about an historic event that may take place in the upcoming summer olympics which is the inclusion of women athletes from Saudi Arabia.  At first, I was surprised to hear that women from Saudi Arabia have not been allowed in such a grand event but as I gave it more thought I realized that maybe the issue is not discrimination by the International Olympics Committe but rather its the ideology in Saudi Arabia that is an obstacle for these women. Unlike the men in the country, these women are still struggling for their basic freedom. Even though 55-57% of the university graduates are women, they still have a higher unemployment rate than men. The stagnant inclusion for women in society may rise from religious ideologies. Religion plays a big part in reducing women involvement in sports as it is said to be un-Islamic to be a woman and be involved in sports. This made me think back to my childhood when I lived in India. I remember that my twin sister never got the same privilages that I did as a male. If I joined karate classes, she was told it wasn't a sport for a woman. Even when I took art classes, she was was told to stay home and help my mom out around the house. Clearly, the same principle applies in the case for the Saudi Arabian women who are being captured by the shackles of societal values. It's quite saddening to see how much struggle women still have to go through around the world. But on the brighter side, I am glad that the idea of being included in a diversified event such as the Olympics is very much alive for the middle eastern women of our world...
ANI DESWAL
Kin 338I
W 4-6:45