COUNCIL REJECTS PLAN FOR FEMALE SPORTS COLLEGES

A proposal to establish sports education colleges for Saudi women has failed to win enough votes in the kingdom’s top advisory body. The proposal needed 76 out of 150 votes in the Shura Council, but fell three votes short. It called for the establishment of colleges that would train Saudi women in how to teach fitness and well-being. Lina Almaeena, one of the three council members who submitted the proposal, said 57 members voted against the measure, with the rest ab- staining. Some of the kingdom’s ultraconservatives consider women’s exercise “immodest” and women cannot exercise in public. “Obviously there are people who have different schools of thoughts,” Almaeena told The Associated Press. Physical education is still not on the curriculum for Saudi girls in public schools, though some private schools offer sports to female students. There are also plans to licence dozens of female-only gyms.