Palestinian Girls Compete In A Rare Gaza Boxing Contest, In The Gaza Strip, Where The Sport Is Mostly Popular With Men
New Age Islam News Bureau
21 November 2020
• Saudi Women Allowed To Organise Tours, As Saudi Arabia Seeks To Empower Women
• How Saudi Arabia Plans To Enter Women's Football
Team In Future World Cups
• Woman’s Self-Immolation Sparks Outrage In Iran
• Iran Jails Ailing Female Dissident Who Signed 2019
Letter Asking Khamenei to Quit, Husband Says
• Women Want To Work From Home Post-Pandemic Despite
Housework Burden: Study
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/palestinian-girls-compete-rare-gaza/d/123535
--------
Palestinian Girls Compete In A Rare Gaza Boxing Contest, In The Gaza Strip, Where The Sport Is Mostly Popular With Men
November 20, 2020
Friday’s contest featured female boxers as young as
seven years old
------
GAZA: Trading jabs and punches, young Palestinian
girls competed in a female boxing tournament on Friday in the Gaza Strip, where
the sport is mostly popular with men.
Friday’s contest featured female boxers as young as
seven years old, and was attended by dozens of spectators.
One boxer, Hala Ayoub, said she hoped the contest
would show people that boxing is not only a man’s sport.
“My ambition is to become a famous boxer and to raise
the flag of Palestine and fight in local and international contests,” said
Ayoub, 15.
“It (boxing) taught me how to defend myself, and how
to release bad energy,” she said.
The number of female boxers in Gaza has doubled in the
past six months since an initial 18-member all-girl team was formed. It now has
45 athletes, according to captain Osama Ayob.
Ali Abdel-Shafi, deputy chairman of the Palestinian
Boxing Federation, said some of the girls from Friday’s competition would be
selected to join the Palestinians’ boxing team and take part in a competition
in Kuwait in February.
“This is the first championship I’ve taken part
in...There is tension because of the audience and the noise but I am excited as
well,” said Malak Mesleh, 15.
Women make up half of the Gaza Strip’s two million
people.
Citing security concerns with Gaza’s ruling group
Hamas, Israel and Egypt have long maintained border restrictions.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1765961/sport
--------
Saudi Women Allowed To Organise Tours, As Saudi
Arabia Seeks To Empower Women
November 21, 2020
Ramadan Al Sherbini
Representative image
-----
Cairo: Saudi regulations, outlining rules for
organising tourist trips, are allowing female nationals to be engaged in the
business, a local newspaper reported, as the country is vigorously seeking to
empower women.
According to the regulations, which went into effect
Friday, tour organiser must be a Saudi national - a male or a female - or a
foreign investor having a valid licence, Okaz newspaper said.
In 2018, the kingdom allowed women to drive for the
first time in its history, ending a decades-old ban on female driving. In another
move enhancing women’s empowerment, Saudi authorities have allowed women to
travel without a male guard’s approval and to apply for a passport, easing
long-time controls on them.
Saudi Arabia is endeavouring to boost its tourism
industry as part of an ambitious plan aimed at diversifying the oil-reliant
economy.
According to the Saudi regulations, the tour organiser
is defined as a person licensed to organise tourism itineraries and market them
inside or outside the kingdom in return for specific charges.
The services that tour organisers are allowed to offer
include car rentals, accommodation, entertainment, management of tourist
destinations and insurance brokerage.
Potential dangers
Under the new rules, the Tourism Ministry has obliged
tour organisers to cover tourists and travellers with insurance against all
potential dangers and damage that could result from trips, Okaz reported.
Organisers are banned from operating programmes in
military, border, customs or private zones without obtaining a permit, and are
committed to observing instructions prohibiting photo-taking there.
Last year, Saudi Arabia launched a new visa scheme
aimed at attracting foreign holidaymakers to the kingdom. The instant tourist
visa is obtained online or upon arrival at the Saudi airports.
Before the global coronavirus pandemic, Saudi Arabia’s
aim was to attract 100 million visitors annually by 2030.
https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-women-allowed-to-organise-tours-1.75411981
--------
How Saudi Arabia plans to enter women's football team
in future World Cups
21 Nov 2020
Saudi Arabia has approved the establishment of a new
department to develop women's football in the kingdom, the latest move in a
liberalisation drive.
The board of directors of the Saudi Arabian Football
Federation (SAFF) has appointed Adwa AlArifi to head the department which will
develop a strategy and a detailed implementation plan to promote women's
football and expand female participation levels across the kingdom, Saudi Press
Agency reported on Saturday.
In line with the goals of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030
blueprint, the department will also raise public awareness of the importance of
women’s participation in football and will work to ensure the participation of
Saudi Arabian women’s national teams in international competitions.
AlArifi said in comments published by SPA that
organised women's football in Saudi Arabia has witnessed an encouraging start
in the last two years, generating momentum which led to the SAFF board’s
approval to establish a special department to foster continued growth.
She also noted that the increased presence of women at
administrative decision-making levels within the game will help to accelerate
the development of women's football.
SAFF has also launched a Twitter account to help the
public keep informed about all news and developments in relation to women's
football. (@SAFF_WFD).
The development comes amid as Saudi Arabia's first
women's football league has begun, after being postponed because of the
coronavirus pandemic.
More than 600 players for 24 teams based in Riyadh,
Jeddah and Dammam are competing for a championship cup.
There's also a growing trend of females wearing a
sports-friendly version of the abaya gown.
Pictures of female athletes running in the garb in the
Red Sea city of Jeddah went viral in 2018, setting off a new debate on
sartorial freedoms for women in a country where the typically all-black,
body-shrouding garment is obligatory in public.
Akin to a zippered jumpsuit, sports abayas envelop a
woman's body but offer greater mobility for sporting activities.
The latest fad is an ensemble of "soccer-themed
abayas" - in the colours of the local teams, a new way for female sporting
fans to cheer for their favourite players.
Such fashion trends are gaining momentum amid the
kingdom's liberalisation drive, including the historic royal decree allowing
women to drive and enter sports stadiums for the first time.
https://www.arabianbusiness.com/culture-society/454910-how-saudi-arabia-plans-to-have-womens-football-team-at-future-world-cups
--------
Woman’s self-immolation sparks outrage in Iran
Syed Zafar Mehdi
21.11.2020
TEHRAN
A shocking incident of a woman setting herself on fire
in the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan has evoked widespread anger and
outrage across the country.
The incident was reported on Thursday in the port city
of Bandar Abbas, where a 35-year-old woman attempted self-immolation after her
house was razed down by local authorities.
The woman, according to local officials, suffered
substantial burns and is presently undergoing treatment at a local hospital in
the city on the southern coast of Iran.
Local sources said the woman was living with her two
children along with two other women and their children in the ramshackle house
located in the Bist o Davvam town of the city.
While the mother is hospitalized, her children and
other occupants have been rendered homeless.
Provincial officials who visited the victim in the
hospital on Friday have ordered investigation into the matter that has gathered
storm on social media.
The port city of Bandar Abbas, strategically located
at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, overlooking the Strait of Hormoz, was
tipped to become an important commercial hub in the region.
It, however, has been reduced to a hub of ghettos
occupied by poverty-stricken people. According to official estimates, roughly
half of the population in the port city -- some 240,000 -- lives in authorized
houses.
The latest incident has again put the spotlight on
grinding poverty in the province, difficult living conditions, and indifference
of local authorities towards the plight of people.
The municipality officials say a warning had been
given to the occupants of the house to vacate it, since the land belongs to the
government and is “situated on a flood channel”.
But the woman’s relatives claim they had asked the
municipality not to go ahead with the plan, as they were staying in the house
“as a matter of necessity, not choice”.
The incident has drawn widespread anger and outrage
across Iran.
Samieh Rafiee, a lawmaker from the capital Tehran,
denounced the action and called for “amendments in existing laws” to prevent
such incidents in the future.
Ali Reza Zakhani, a lawmaker from the city of Qom,
termed it a “bitter event” and an example of “discriminatory behavior” towards
the poor.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/woman-s-self-immolation-sparks-outrage-in-iran/2051116
--------
Iran Jails Ailing Female Dissident Who Signed 2019
Letter Asking Khamenei to Quit, Husband Says
By Michael Lipin, Ramin Haghjoo
November 20, 2020
WASHINGTON - Iran has imprisoned an ailing female
dissident who signed a 2019 letter calling on its Islamist ruler to quit,
rejecting her pleas to delay the start of an effective 27-month prison term
until she is treated for severe pain, according to her husband.
Speaking to VOA Persian from Iran on Tuesday, Abbas
Vahedian Shahroudi, the husband of Shahla Jahanbin, said she had gone to
Tehran’s Evin prison on November 14 in response to her latest summons, and had
hoped to be granted a further delay in starting her prison term for medical
reasons.
Jahanbin previously told VOA that she received a
summons to start her sentence in May and persuaded prison officials to postpone
the incarceration by several months so she could undergo needed back surgery
and have time to recover. She said, though, that she could not schedule the
surgery in the following months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, putting her
at risk of being arrested and jailed at any time unless she received another
delay.
In his VOA interview, Vahedian said Iranian
authorities who met his wife at her November 14 arrival at Evin told her that
she would have to begin serving her prison term immediately because Iran’s top
military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, objected to further
delays in her incarceration.
Vahedian later posted a Wednesday tweet saying he had
spoken to Jahanbin by phone minutes earlier in their first contact since her
Saturday arrest. He said his wife told him that she still was suffering from
severe pain in her shoulder and back.
VOA could not independently verify the circumstances
of Jahanbin’s detention because it is barred from reporting from Iran.
Jahanbin was among 14 Iranian women who signed the
August 2019 open letter demanding the resignation of Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Authorities initially arrested her in connection with
the letter later that month before releasing her on bail in November 2019.
The 14 signatories of the letter were charged by
Iranian authorities with spreading anti-government propaganda and “gathering
and conspiring against national security.” Jahanbin received a final prison
sentence of 30 months for her role in the letter, but her effective term was
reduced to 27 months to account for the time that she already served in jail
last year.
Jahanbin was defiant in a VOA interview last month,
saying she had no regrets about the letter despite the prospect of imminent
imprisonment that could exacerbate her osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint
disease affecting both her neck and shoulders. She also faced a risk of
coronavirus exposure in an Iranian prison system criticized by international
rights activists as unsanitary and overcrowded.
Shahla Entesari and Shahla Jahanbin told VOA Persian
they received Wednesday phone calls summoning them to Tehran’s Evin prison
within 10 days to start serving sentences.
Vahedian was one of 14 mostly male dissidents who
signed an open letter in June 2019 making similar demands for Khamenei to quit
and for Iran’s Islamist constitution to be changed. Authorities arrested him in
August 2019 and granted him a temporary release from a prison in Mashhad in
July.
In his comments to VOA, Vahedian accused Iran’s
Islamist rulers of trying to pressure him and his wife into signing what he
called a letter of repentance. He also had a defiant message for them.
“The only way out of this authoritarian regime is to
create a strong alternative to it, and no alternative is more powerful than a
unified nation,” Vahedian said. "No one will help us to make Iran free. We
are the only ones who can do it.”
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/voa-news-iran/iran-jails-ailing-female-dissident-who-signed-2019-letter-asking-khamenei
--------
Women want to work from home post-pandemic despite
housework burden: Study
November 18 2020
Women are expected to prefer working from home
post-pandemic despite the heavy burden of housework, a study carried out by
Turkish academics with the support of the Scientific and Technical Research
Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) has revealed.
Mahmut Bayazıt of Sabancı University and İlknur Özalp
Türetgen from Istanbul University conducted a research to reveal how
white-collar workers who lived with their families and partially worked from
home during the pandemic were affected by the outbreak and how they coped with
the new order.
An eight-week longitudinal study examined how the
work-family balance of individuals who had to work remotely at home, where they
lived with others due to the pandemic, was affected within the scope of the
study.
The research, which brings together data on subjects
such as the time individuals allocate to home, work and themselves, reveals
that the experience of working from home shows significant differences
according to seniority, gender, married and having children.
The research shows that the pandemic strains women
more than men.
As millions work from home, it has been observed that
women experience conflicts based on their job-related roles preventing their
family responsibilities and family roles from their job-related
responsibilities.
Women take on housework more than their spouses, even
if they are more established in their careers than their husband.
Physical stress symptoms such as body pain, fatigue,
and psychological stress symptoms such as helplessness and anger are also more
common in women.
Women with children under six years of age constitute
the group with the highest rates of both work-family and family-work conflict.
Despite all these results, women said they will prefer
to work from home as often as possible after the pandemic, more than men.
When stay-at-home orders and weekend lockdowns ended
on June 1, the research found that the time allocated to work and home
increased rapidly, while time individuals spend on themselves decreased.
It is among the findings that those who believe that
they receive high levels of social support from their managers and family have
lower physical and psychological difficulties and higher levels of
satisfaction.
https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/women-want-to-work-from-home-post-pandemic-despite-housework-burden-study-160114
--------
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/palestinian-girls-compete-rare-gaza/d/123535
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism