Saudi women pumped up for better life
Riyadh, March 10: Pounding on a cross-trainer in a Riyadh gym, Heelah Abdulaziz is one of many Saudi women hoping the licensing of female-only gyms from next month is another step towards improving the lives of women in the conservative Islamic kingdom.
In one of the world’s most gender-segregated countries, women cannot exercise with men and there are no public sportsfacilities for women as many of the conservative Muslim clerics consider sport for females as immodest.
But gyms for women are being encouraged for the first time due to US-raised Princess Reema bint Bandar who became head of a new women’s unit at the General Authority of Sports last year.
Unveiling the licensing last month, Princess Reema said this was about “opening the doors for our girls to live a healthy lifestyle”, sidestepping the sensitive women’s rights debate.
A spokeswoman from the Sports Authority told the that licences would be granted from April to boost the sports economy which does not just impact physical activity but also employment and business opportunities.
For Ms Abdulaziz, 39, allowing gyms for women — although they are still banned from competitive sports — made sense with around 44 per cent of women classified as obese in Saudi which has some of the world’s highest rates of obesity and diabetes.
“We’ll get a lot more gyms, they’ll compete and get cheaper so more women can come,” she said at a NuYu fitness centre dressed in colourful workout gear rather than the head-to-toe black garment. Until now the only gyms accessible to women were found in women's centres that would only get licenses if their main purpose was not exercise but as a spa.