Saudi women watch sport, make history
riyadh — Saudi women were allowed into a sports stadium for the first time on Friday to watch a soccer match between two local teams — though they were segregated in the stands from the male-only crowd with designated seating in the so-called “family section.”
The move was the first of Saudi Arabia’s social reforms planned for this year to ease restrictions on women, spearheaded by the kingdom’s 32-year-old crown prince. The kingdom has also announced that starting in June women will be allowed to drive, lifting the world’s only ban on female drivers.
More than just an incremental step towards greater rights, the presence of women in the sports stadium underscored a wider effort to integrate women in society and grant them more public visibility in the country.
The first stadium to open its doors to women was in the Red Sea city of Jeddah . The stadium in the capital, Riyadh, will open to women on Saturday, followed by the western city of Dammam on Thursday.
At the Jeddah stadium on Friday, young Saudi women wearing bright orange vests over their abayas were deployed to help with the female crowds. “Welcome to Saudi families,” read a sign in Arabic erected across the section of the stadium reserved for women.
“It’s very festive and very well organised. A lot of people are just really happy to be here. I think there’s a lot of excitement when you walked in, especially among the children,” said Sarah Swick of the match between Saudi soccer teams Al Ahli and Al Batin.
To prepare for the change, the kingdom designated so-called “family sections” in the stands for women, separated by barriers from the male-only crowds. The stadiums were also fitted with female prayer areas and restrooms, as well as separate entrances and parking lots for female spectators. Local media said women would also have their own designated smoking areas.
“Family sections” are ubiquitous across the kingdom, allowing married couples, direct relatives and sometimes groups of friends to sit together, isolated from male-only tables at restaurants and in waiting areas at banks and hospitals.
The sections also include women out on their own or in groups with other women. Although only 20 riyals ($5.33) a ticket, the family section for Friday’s match was still less than half full.
Swick, who grew up in Maryland and has been living in Saudi Arabia for the past nine years, has attended football games in the United States and soccer matches in France, but said she was impressed with how organised on Friday night’s match was. “I definitely think we will come back,” she said.
An Arabic hashtag on Twitter about women entering stadiums garnered tens of thousands of tweets on Friday, with some using the hashtag to share photos of female spectators wearing their team’s colours in scarves thrown over their black abayas.
While many welcomed the decision to allow women into stadiums, others spoke out against it.
Some used the hashtag to write that women’s place should be in the home, focusing on their children and preserving their faith, and not at a stadium where male crowds frequently curse and chant raucously.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seen as the driving force behind the loosened restrictions on women. —
It’s very festive and very well organised. a lot of people are just really happy to be here. I think there’s a lot of excitement when you walked in, especially among the children. Sarah Swick, A Saudi woman
It’s very nice and it’s about time. It’s a huge change because they just used to keep those places for men. I guess, soon they (Saudi authorities) will have women playing football. Karima Buchari, A Saudi lecturer