-Megan Benbow
Friday, December 12, 2008
Iraqi Women Athletes
It has never occurred to me how lucky women are in the United States. At the beginning of this semester I was focused on how unfair women are treated in the United States or even just in orange county. When we started this ethnography project I started researching what women in Iraq have to go through to even think about playing a sport. Women have to create underground clubs so that they can play basketball and volleyball. One woman qualified for the olympics in track. She had to buy old new balance shoes because she couldn't afford new ones. It is a big deal to be able to qualify for the olympics in regular old running shoes. Due to the rules and regulations in Iraq she had to wear long spandex under her shorts and shirt to make sure she was fully covered. Others in Iraq still did not think she was being modest enough and during a practice time for her she was shot in the leg. This is just one example of the hardships women face in Iraq. She was one of the brave ones to come out in public and try to chase her dream of being an athlete. Other women in Iraq have to live in fear of even discussing wanting to play sports. If the clergy finds out about women wanting to play sports they will interfere in more times than not in a violent way. I cannot imagine living in that kind of fear. Sports has been such a huge part of my life and without it I would feel like I was loosing a part of myself. It would be terrible knowing that I could not chase after something that I love.
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3 comments:
I'm doing my digital entho on Saudi Arabia where women also not allowed to play in sports openly. What I find most interesting about your article is how outraged many Iraqi's are over her competing in the Olympics. Most countries are thrilled to see there athletes competing in the Olympics, but here it seems just the opposite.
Posted by: Matthew Brian Urtnowski 007107579
Since I'm from Middle East myself, I wanted to add to your first sentence that women are REALLY lucky in many ways than women around the world, especially women in Middle East. Iran, Iraq, and many Arabian countries are in the neighborhood of my country, so I can get a sense of what is going on over there. Of course it is much harder for women to play sports and the society almost doesn't allow women to do so. Even though in most of those countries women are generally allowed to play sports, in Iran and Iraq it includes only indoor sports. In addition, in society, women playing sports are viewed very bad. Major reason is, as followers of Islam they don't expect women to be stronger than men. Another obvious reason is because sport requires having less clothes on which is viewed very bad in Iran and Arabian countries. I know many women work hard to get into professional sports, but from my experience I know that many women in those countries don't view sports as an option for women where being a housewife is the first option.
- Rauf Mammadov
kin 338I.S6
I too forget how we take for granted how lucky us women are in the US. I was astounded when i heared that the Iraq women was shot in the leg. That is so sad and I cant even imagine the hardships over there. I admire this women for her courage and faith as a women. US women should remember this and not take their freedom in our country or even sports for granted.
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