The Second Saudi Woman in the Olympic Games

The second Saudi woman in the Olympic games is Sarah Attar.

The deeply misogynist Saudi Arabian's society where girls’ sports and gym are effectively banned in public schools and where women are not allowed to participate in sports activity, had to concede and allow two women to participate in the London Olympic Games[1].

The Olympic committee gave an ultimatum to the Saudis. Do not discriminate on the basis of the gender. Either allow the female to participate just like the men or everyone from the country would be bar from the Olympic. An official for Human Rights Watch, one of the groups that called last week for the IOC to bar Saudi Arabia’s male team, said Thursday’s announcement should be a starting point. [1]

“Allowing two women to compete in the London Games is an important precedent that will be hard for Saudi hard-liners to roll back,” Minky Worden wrote in an email. “But the fundamental problem in Saudi Arabia remains legal gender segregation that restricts women’s basic rights, freedoms, and space to participate in public life.”

“They’ll be role models for girls,” said Eman al-Nafjan, a Saudi educator, writer and blogger in Riyadh. “There are a lot of girls who do love to play sports in Saudi Arabia.…They do actually love to play. But it’s very hard. There are no facilities for them.” [1]

“Just the fact that the Olympics committee is pressuring Saudi Arabia will get the dialogue going,” on easing prohibitions on gyms and sports and physical education for Saudi women and girls, Ms. Nafjan added.

Reference
[1] http://stream.wsj.com/story/london-olympics-2012/SS-2-13789/SS-2-33247/