Saudi Arabia’s Sarah Attar competing in her women’s 800m round 1 heat during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is to licence women’s sports clubs for the first time, Al Watan daily reported, in a major step for a country where clerics whave warned against female exercise.
Last year the kingdom, where women must have permission from a male relative to take many big decisions, sent women athletes to the Olympics for the first time after pressure from international rights groups. Until now, women’s exercise facilities, including gyms, have had to be licensed by the Health Ministry and designated as “health centres”.
Last April Watan, owned by a Saudi prince, reported the government had set up a ministerial committee to allow women’s sports clubs. The General Presidency of Youth Welfare, which functions like a sports ministry, only regulates men’s clubs.
The daily said that the Interior Ministry had decided to allow women’s sports clubs after reviewing a study that showed flaws in the existing system. In August two Saudi women, a judoka and a sprinter, became the first to compete for their country in the Olympics.
Saudi women are barred from driving and must seek the permission of a male “guardian”, usually a father, husband or brother, to marry, travel abroad, open a bank account, work or have some forms of elective surgery. Reuters
