Tunisian Ons Jabeur, Egyptian Mayar Sherif Opening Doors For Female Arab Athletes
New
Age Islam News Bureau
24
February 2022
• Saudi
Arabia’s First-Ever Women’s Rally Race Gets Royal Backing
• 11
Saudi Women Prepare For World and Asian Snooker Championships
• Young
Girls in Lebanon Forced To Marry To Secure a Semblance of Financial Security
• Hijab
Row: How Artists Are Celebrating Women as Political Agents
• Two
Arab Female Designers to Watch Out For At Milan Fashion Week
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/ons-jabeur-mayar-sherif-arab-athletes/d/126443
--------
Tunisian
Ons Jabeur, Egyptian Mayar Sherif Opening Doors For Female Arab Athletes
Tunisia's
Ons Jabeur. (Reuters)
----
Lilian
Tannoury
February
23, 2022
RIYADH:
When Moroccan Nawal Al-Moutawakel climbed the podium to receive the gold medal
for the 400-meter hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, it was the first
time that an Arab had pulled off such a feat.
To
this day, it remains an unforgettable moment for Arab sports fans of that era.
A
national hero, Al-Moutawakel later became the first woman to hold the
International Olympic Committee membership at the London 2012 Games. Before
that she was one of eight women to carry the Olympic flag at the opening of the
2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
Over
the years Al-Moutawakel became a role model and inspiration for Moroccan, Arab,
and African female athletes.
In
the two decades or so after that, however, few Arab women have followed in her
Olympic footsteps.
Until
the current generation that is, when female athletes from various sports have
emerged to excel in raising their countries’ flags across major international
sporting competitions.
And
in Tunisian tennis star Ons Jabeur, the perfect ambassador and role model for a
whole new generation of female Arab athletes may just have been found.
Jabeur
has “inspired the new generation of Arab tennis players, realizing her
pioneering role for future generations,” the International Tennis Federation
recently said on its Facebook account, accompanied by a video explaining the
player’s history, her upbringing, and her most prominent achievements.
Jabeur
came to prominence in 2011 after she won the Roland Garros youth tournament,
but it was the last year that has seen a meteoric rise in her career. She
became the first Arab woman to reach the quarterfinals at Wimbledon on the way
to breaking into the top 10, having been the first to reach the quarterfinals
of the Australian Open a year earlier.
After
she made the quarterfinals in Melbourne, Tunisian President Kais Saied, said:
“Her racket is a shield and a sword to achieve more successes, and she remains
the best ambassador for Tunisian sports, and an example for the brilliant
Tunisian women and youth in all fields.”
Despite
getting knocked out of the recent Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in the
quarterfinals, Jabeur once again delighted the home crowd who have taken her to
their hearts, as well as continuing to act as an inspiration for aspiring Arab
players.
It
was not that long ago that young female athletes had few avenues for progress
in most Arab nations, but what was once taboo — a professional career in sports
— is now actively encouraged thanks to the example set by Jabeur and others.
Another
Arab who has shone in the world of tennis is Egypt’s golden girl Mayar Sherif,
who has been creating her own piece of history by reaching No. 74 in the world
rankings, jumping 22 positions after becoming the first female player from her
nation to play at a major (French Open 2020) and the first to win a Grand Slam
match (Australian Open 2021).
At
Tokyo 2020, Sherif also became the first Egyptian female tennis player to take
part in the Olympics, after she had won the gold at the African Games in
Morocco in 2019.
She
was not the only one to make a mark in Japan. Egypt participated with a record
137 athletes, the women distinguishing themselves with Feryal Abdelaziz
becoming her country’s first ever female gold medalist, in the karate
competition. There was another gold for Hedaya Malak in taekwondo, and a bronze
for Giana Farouk in karate.
Tunisia’s
women, too, have made their mark on the Olympics in the past decade. The runner
Habiba Ghribi won a gold at the 2012 London Olympics in the 3,000-meter
steeplechase, while the Tunisian delegation competed at Tokyo 2020 with 16
entries, including one for a team sport, volleyball.
Elsewhere,
there was a silver medal for Bahraini runner Kalkidan Jezahin in the 10,000
meters, and major hope for the future came in the shape of 12-year-old Syrian
tennis player Hind Zaza, who despite losing her first match, became the
youngest player to participate in the history of the Olympics.
The
number of Arab female athletes taking part in the Olympics and sports in
general may still only be a trickle but thanks to Jabeur, Sherif and others,
young women throughout the region are taking notice and starting to believe
they could be next, hopefully turning the trickle into a flood.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2030291/sport
--------
Saudi
Arabia’s First-Ever Women’s Rally Race Gets Royal Backing
Rally
Jameel will be held under the patronage of Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the
United States Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud. (SAMF)
---
February
23, 2022
JEDDAH:
Saudi Arabia’s Rally Jameel, the Middle East’s first-ever women’s navigational
rally, will be held under the patronage of Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud,
Saudi ambassador to the US, it has been announced.
The
rally, which begins just weeks away on March 16, looks to empower Saudi women
in sport.
The
backing of Princess Reema comes under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 ambitions. The
rally is sanctioned by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation and has
the support of the FIA Women in Motorsport Committee.
Princess
Reema has a background in promoting Saudi Arabian sporting initiatives, having
previously served as vice president of women’s affairs at the Saudi General
Sports Authority, a role in which she developed policies and programs that
targeted women and children throughout the Kingdom.
She
was later promoted to deputy of development and planning, and was appointed
president of the Mass Participation Federation, making her the first woman to
lead a multi-sports federation in the Kingdom, a role that she occupied until
her appointment as Saudi ambassador to the US.
Princess
Reema is also a member of the International Olympic Committee Women in Sports
Commission and a member of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee.
“It
is an honor to be involved with this first-of-its-kind rally, which will shine
a light on the positive steps being taken across Saudi Arabia to empower women
to pursue their passions in their everyday lives,” she said. “It is also
fantastic to see this opportunity being made accessible to women, not only
across the country, but the region and globally. I am confident that all
participants will enjoy a truly unique experience, enjoying our wonderful
country’s hospitality and beautiful scenery.”
“Undoubtedly,
we believe that all sports will benefit from higher levels of interest from the
region’s trailblazing women like Her Royal Highness,” said Hassan Jameel,
deputy president and vice chairman of Abdul Latif Jameel.
Up
to 30 teams of women drivers and navigators from Saudi Arabia, the GCC and
across the globe will be taking part in the rally, which will take place from
March 16-19. The rally will begin in the north-central city of Hail, passing
through Al-Qassim and then heading to the capital, Riyadh, via hidden
checkpoints and challenges.
“We
are honored to have the endorsement of Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint
Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and her support for the rally,” said
Jameel. “The patronage of Her Royal Highness demonstrates the progressive
nature of Kingdom and its views on women’s empowerment in line with the
transformative Vision 2030 framework.”
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2030456/sport
--------
11
Saudi women prepare for World and Asian Snooker championships
February
24, 2022
JEDDAH
— The Saudi Billiards and Snooker Federation is continuing to prepare for their
first official international participation by its women’s team in the World
Championships and the Asian Snooker Championship, which will be held in Doha,
Qatar, from March 1 to 12.
The
participants' final preparation stage began on February 22 in Dammam, and the
training camp will run through the end of this week when three players will be
chosen to compete in the next two competitions.
The
players who were elected to join the camp included Sohrab Shukri, Nada
Al-Zahrani, Naglaa Al-Nuaimi, Alaa Al-Helweh, Rehab Shukri, Murouj Felimban,
Noura Al-Daman, Dalal Al-Shamry, Iman Gibran, Lujain Al-Madani, Al-Batoul
Al-Hamza.
The
national team’s coach, Captain Mansour Al-Khanfari, chose the players after
several stages of preparation, the last of which will be an international
friendly tournament in Cairo.
The
Saudi Billiards and Snooker Federation's President, Dr. Nasser Al-Shammari,
stated that everything is in place for the World Snooker Championship and the
Asian Snooker Championship.
He
also mentioned that the preparation had gone through multiple stages, including
the establishment of numerous camps and extensive player preparation. He wished
the team success and an honorable performance that reflects the Kingdom's
prestigious status in the Gulf, Arab, Asian, and worldwide arenas.
Source:
Saudi Gazette
--------
Young
Girls in Lebanon Forced To Marry To Secure a Semblance of Financial Security
Nadia
Al-Faour
February
23, 2022
DUBAI:
Nadia, 14, should be in school in her native Syria. Instead she is married to
someone 13 years her senior in neighboring Lebanon.
She
was married off by her father, Yasser, a Syrian refugee, on the promise of
$8,000, half upfront and the rest when the marriage contract was signed.
“Her
suitor approached me when she was studying,” Yasser told Arab News. “He
promised he would treat her right and help me open a minimarket to better my
finances. But he turned out to be a liar and an abuser.”
Among
refugees in Lebanon, Nadia’s plight is not uncommon. Grinding poverty and a
dearth of opportunities have forced many families to make similarly desperate
decisions — in effect selling their daughters to secure a semblance of
financial security.
Yasser
regrets his decision. “Her husband won’t let her talk to me,” he said. “I
called once. He overheard her saying baba (father) and then snatched the phone
away. I felt like my heart was set on fire.”
In
addition to the perils of poverty in exile, the estimated 1.5 million Syrian
refugees in Lebanon must also endure the myriad of challenges facing their host
country amid its crippling economic crisis.
Add
to that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, political paralysis and the ongoing
violence in Syria that militate against the return of displaced families, and
the options for many appear bleak.
Against
such a backdrop, marrying off children is seen by some communities — including
impoverished Lebanese — as one of the few avenues available to them.
Reem,
who is Lebanese, was only 16 when she consented to an arranged marriage. She
did not object to the idea because several of her friends and neighbors were
also tying the knot at around the same time.
One
of the main factors in her decision — which in reality was only partly her own
to make — was a desire to ease the financial burden on her parents. Now, three
years into her marriage, she feels trapped.
“I
wish I never went through it,” she told Arab News. “What did I know? I have a
daughter. Where will I go with her? I thought I was helping my parents to have
one less mouth to feed. Now it seems I added one.”
In
Lebanon and Syria, children continue to be married off, with neither government
paying much heed. Under Lebanon’s constitution, personal-status laws are
decreed by each individual sect, combining common law with religious doctrine.
As
a result, matters such as marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance are often
governed by religious courts. Each of the major sects has a different legal age
for marriage; for Catholics it is 14, Sunnis have raised it to 18, and Shiites
have set it at 15.
According
to the constitution: “The state guarantees that the personal status and
religious interests of the population, to whatever religious sect they belong,
shall be respected.”
Civil
society groups in Lebanon have long urged the government to introduce an
all-encompassing personal-status law.
A
report published by Human Rights Watch in 2017 said it would be a “common sense
measure” to raise, without delay, the minimum age of marriage to 18 without any
exceptions. Such a law was drafted that same year but never passed.
“The
impact on girls is devastating,” Aya Majzoub, a researcher for HRW, told Arab
News. “They are at heightened risk of marital rape, domestic violence and a
range of health problems due to early childbearing.
“Lebanon’s
parliament can help end this practice. The Lebanese government and local
authorities should develop programs to prevent child marriages, such as
empowering girls with information and support networks, as well as engaging
parents and community members about the negative effects of child marriage.”
The
high number of children who have missed out on an education in Lebanon over the
past two years, because of the pandemic and the economic crisis, has increased
the likelihood of premature marriage, particularly among vulnerable refugee
communities.
A
recent report titled Searching For Hope published by UNICEF, the UN’s
children’s agency, revealed that 31 percent of children in Lebanon are out of
school and that enrollment in classes had dropped to 43 percent in the current
academic year.
The
figures are thought to be much worse among refugee communities, where in many
cases children have little access to any education at all.
Aid
agencies have made efforts to end the custom of underage marriage by raising
awareness of the effects it has on girls’ lives and the potential for traumatic
physical damage to pre-teens whose bodies are not sufficiently developed to
endure the rigors of childbirth.
KAFA,
which translates as “enough” in Arabic, is a Lebanese nongovernmental
organization that was established in 2005 with the aim of eliminating all forms
of gender-based violence and exploitation.
In
2016, it launched a campaign to highlight the plight of child brides. It also
provides psychosocial support to survivors.
The
campaign went viral on social media thanks to an extremely powerful image that
showed a middle-aged man posing with a 12-year-old girl on their wedding day.
“Based
on the abused women who come to our center, our statistics show that 20 percent
of them were actually child brides,” Celine Al-Kik, supervisor of the KAFA
support center, told Arab News.
“There
is a link between violence and child marriages. We are permitted by law to
intervene and provide legal assistance when the underage girl is kidnapped, and
when her parents oppose her marriage when her suitor has her convinced.”
Besides
legal reforms and active public-awareness campaigns, aid agencies believe the
key to ending child marriage is poverty reduction and providing vulnerable
communities with economic security.
“Families
experiencing the economic crisis in Lebanon are increasingly resorting to
marrying off young girls as a coping strategy for the deepening crisis,” Nana
Ndeda, policy director with Save the Children, told Arab News.
“It
is important that the economic drivers of child marriage are urgently
addressed. Girls who marry are most likely to drop out of school and have
limited access to decent work. Child marriage is a violation of human rights.”
Rawda
Mazloum, a Syrian refugee, campaigns on the issues of women’s rights and
gender-based violence in the camps of eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
She
organizes community workshops and partners with local nongovernmental
organizations, such as KAFA, to try to raise awareness about the growing rates
of child marriage, divorces and violence within the Syrian refugee community.
“The
youngest girl I know of (who got married) was only 13,” Mazloum told Arab News.
“Her parents, like the rest, were struggling. These girls often get abused.
They are not aware of their rights as they are still children. They are victims
of ignorance, poverty and war.”
As
the crises on both sides of the Syrian-Lebanese border bleed into one another,
the daily fight for survival, and the desperate decisions that come with it, is
unlikely to end soon.
A
report published in 2019 by Save The Children in Lebanon, titled No I Don’t,
lists poverty, conflict and lack of education as the primary factors driving
child marriage.
However,
it notes that child marriage can also be a means by which families try to
protect their daughters from sexual harassment.
Parents
who have married off young daughters often say security is a key motivation.
Indeed, when refugees and impoverished households live in densely populated
spaces among many strangers, there is a higher perceived risk of sexual
harassment and violence toward girls.
Providing
a male figure who can offer protection is often a consideration. In the case of
Yasser and his daughter Nadia, however, the opposite proved to be the case.
“I
thought I was offering her a better alternative, a better life,” he told Arab
News. “But he wasn’t serious about her. He used her for fun.”
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2030696/middle-east
--------
Hijab
Row: How Artists Are Celebrating Women As Political Agents
Trisha
Mukherjee
24
FEB 2022
Wrapped
in an iridescent red shawl, an elderly woman is looking down, engrossed in
reading a book. Over her eyes is a pair of red spectacles and on her head is a
black headscarf, a hijab.
The
seemingly ordinary portrait celebrates the extraordinary life of Sumana Bano
(52), a physics lecturer. She was the first woman in her family to be educated,
one of the few women in her university to study physics. She fought against all
odds — took up two jobs to run her household after her father passed away, she
took tuitions and embroidered clothes to make money, to achieve what and who
she wanted to be.
Painted
by artist Shilo Shiv Suleman, the artwork is part of a new campaign “Haq” by
the Fearless Collective (founded by Suleman) that is extending solidarity to
all Muslim women fighting for their right to choice amid the ongoing hijab row
in the country.
The
Karnataka government earlier this month introduced a ban on hijab in colleges
across the state triggering outrage over what is being termed imposition of
majoritarian values on the minorities, forcing young girls and women to choose
between their right to education and their right to faith and choose what they
wear.
As
part of the Haq campaign, Suleman and her team make portraits of ordinary
Muslim women, who have overcome numerous obstacles, asserted their voices at
difficult crossroads in their lives to become who they are. The campaign
celebrates these women as agents of their own lives.
Source:
Outlook India
--------
Two
Arab female designers to watch out for at Milan Fashion Week
February
24, 2022
DUBAI:
Zineb Hazim and Lara Chamandi are the names to know this Milan Fashion Week,
currently underway until Feb. 28.
The
Arab designers are set to showcase their latest Fall 2022 collections this
season, and they are certainly ones to keep on the radar.
This
will be the second time Moroccan-born Hazim has showcased her designs in MFW
since her digital debut last season with We Are Made in Italy, a digital
fashion show that presents BIPOC fashion designers, and who she is working with
again this year.
Hazim
started her label more than a year ago after graduating from Italy’s Burgo
Fashion Institute, and uses her native country of Morocco as a constant source
of inspiration.
She
launched her label after realizing there was no type of clothing that could combine
her needs as a professional and as a Muslim woman. Her collection is a modern
reinterpretation of modest aesthetics merged with business.
She
combines traditional Islamic fashion with modern structures, giving customary
clothing an unexpected twist.
Her
brand offers a range of modest pieces, including abayas and pantsuits, with
unusual fabric combinations including denim, tweed and embellishments.
Meanwhile,
Milan-based Chamandi will be debuting her luxury namesake womenswear brand this
season.
Inspired
by the moon, more specifically, her favorite place in her homeland, the
Monastery of the Moon in Lebanon’s Chouf Mountains, the collection is also
peppered with references to the constellations, particularly Scorpio, and other
elements such as crystals and fire.
Chamandi’s
Fall 2022 collection reflects many of the moon’s effects, including its
gravitational pull on the tides, through the fluidity of the designs and
fabric, all while making sure pieces are versatile and evoke confident
femininity.
The
range is also eco-conscious, using sustainable plant-based "leather."
She is presenting the collection via private appointments.
In
addition to a new jewelry line in the works, Chamandi is set to debut a special
20-piece capsule collection for spring, which will be available on the brand’s
e-commerce website launching on March 2 — the day of the new moon.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2030901/lifestyle
--------
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/ons-jabeur-mayar-sherif-arab-athletes/d/126443