Athletic women run into controversy

24 February 2017 - 09:36 By Reuters
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'UN-ISLAMIC': A scene from the Nike Middle East ad campaign filmed in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
'UN-ISLAMIC': A scene from the Nike Middle East ad campaign filmed in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Image: NIKE

An online commercial released by sports kit company Nike this week showing Arab women fencing, boxing and spinning on ice-skates has stirred controversy, being seen as an attempt to smash stereotypes about Muslim women bing confined to home-bound lives in the conservative region.

It begins with a woman nervously peering out of her doorway and adjusting her veil before going for a run in the street, while a female voice narrates in a Saudi dialect: "What will they say about you? Maybe they'll say you exceeded all expectations."

Within 48 hours the video was shared 75,000 times on Twitter and viewed almost 400,000 times on YouTube.

"An ad [that] touches on the insecurities of women in a society digs deeper and becomes an empowerment tool, not just a product," Sara al-Zawqari, a spokeswoman for the International Red Cross in Iraq, wrote on her Twitter page.

But not all the reviews were positive. "I think this ad was an utter fail," said Nada Sahimi on the company's Instagram page. "This is not the true representation of Arab, Muslim women. We do not wear a hijab and go running in the streets. Shame on Nike."

Filmed in the older, rundown suburbs of the glitzy Gulf Arab emirate of Dubai, the ad reflects the struggles faced not only by ordinary women across the region.

Amal Mourad, a 24-year old Emirati parkour athlete shown leaping across rooftops, said her father was reluctant to let her train in a gym in which men were present.

Women exercising in public is a rare sight in much of the region and women-only gyms are few, are not fully equipped for different sports and are often more expensive than gyms for men.

In Saudi Arabia, physical education is prohibited in girls' public schools. Women's gyms are illegal because female athleticism is deemed "un-Islamic".

Saudi Princess Reema bint-Bandar al-Saud said the government would soon license female gyms, citing public health reasons and not women's empowerment.

"It is not my role to convince the society; my role is limited to opening the doors for our girls to live a healthy lifestyle," she said.

The ad's message might also tap into a new market - Arab women chafing at anachronistic social norms and an entertainment industry that often relegates them to docile roles.

"We need to start driving the conversation away from Arab women being subjects of segregation, or oppression . and more towards them being enablers, achievers and go-getters," said Dubai advertising executive Nadim Ghassan.

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