Fighting to Compete
Iranian women are kicking their way into world-class competition Iranian tae kwon do champion Sara Khoshjamal literally fought her way to Beijing in 2008, but the side-kicks and jabs thrown by the 20-year-old are only part of a larger battle she fights every day as a female athlete in Iran. Sara is one of only a handful of world-class competitors from the conservative Islamic nation.
Solmaz Sharif, editor of Shirzanan, the first magazine dedicated to Iranian female athletes, estimates that fewer than 1 million—less than 2 percent—of Iranian women participate in sports. “There are many limitations on women athletes in a fundamental Muslim country,” says Solmaz before describing the barriers: lack of government funding, limited access to equipment, odd hours for women-only training facilities, negative attitudes of conservatives, and, perhaps the most obvious, the hijab. The traditional, full-length dress is required attire for Iranian women, and the most popular female sports are ones in which the whole-body covering isn’t a major impediment to success: archery, shooting, judo, tae kwon do, volleyball, rowing, hiking, and skiing.
“Despite the difficulties they face, they’re not giving up, and they’re fighting for their rights,” says Solmaz. Though Iranian women once participated in sporting events in standard uniforms, that right was stripped in a pro-Islamic revolution nearly 30 years ago. Today the presence of hijabwearing role models—such as Sara Koshjamal; Farkhondeh Sadegh and Labeh Keshavarz, the first Muslim women to summit Mount Everest; and Faezeh Hashemi, former vice president of Iran’s National Olympic Committee who founded the Islamic Countries’ Women Sports Solidarity Games in 1993—are chipping away at the fundamentalism that has hindered women’s participation.
“It’s taken time to convince [the government] that women’s sports aren’t dangerous for Islam,” says Solmaz, “and we have been fighting silently for these changes.” In December Iran’s Olympic committee announced that it will be sending as many as 150 women to participate in the Asian Games 2010 in Guangzhou, China, proof that the tiny victories—and defeats—of Iran’s female athletes are changing their world. Learn more at www.shirzanan.net
