Women in focus on final day of QSi

Yesterday's session was a continuation of the session which was first discussed at the 2002 QSi World Sports Conference.

Moderating the session was Olympic Gold Medalist and sports commentator Ms Donna de Varona, who was also involved in the 2002 session. Panel members included Dr Aneesa Al-Hitmi, President Qatar Women Sports Committee; Mrs Naseem Ahmed Al Maliki, President of Women and Sport Council in Youth and Sport Ministry of Yemen; Mrs Edwige Avice, Former Minister of Sports; Mrs Farideh Hadavi, Secretary General ICWSF; Mrs Ada Kok, Consultant Speedo, Olympian Medalist; Dr Shokouh Navabinejad, Religious leader Iran; Dr Etsuko Ogasawara, Executive Director Association for Women in Sport.

Starting the session yesterday was a review by Dr Aneesa Al Hitmi as to progress made since the 2002 meeting QSi World Sport Conference and to a response to the question as to the importance of mandates made by Governments to support women in sport.

She stated that QNOC has been active in supporting and raising awareness amongst the Qatari community to promote women in sports. 'It is important to increase women's participation not only in competitions, but also as coaches, sports media, as referees and in leadership positions, in Qatar and also in the rest of the Arab World,' she said.

'It is important to increase awareness within the Qatari community while maintaining our traditions and our culture - and in this regard we must tread carefully. During the Asian Games, women will participate more. QNOC has agreed to have 10% women in organizing the games; 40% as volunteers and 2% as athletes,' she concluded.

Dr Atsuko stated that without mandates it would be difficult to change traditions. 'Mandates are helpful as they provide a reason for change.'
Dr Shokouh Navabinejad said that the right to physical education has been declared a human right but in certain countries, traditions and religion make it difficult for women to participate in Sport. She gave an example of post religious revolution in Iran where the Government was faced with two options: Either prevent women from participating in sport or have women only sport and sport infrastructure. Iran decided for the latter.

'Iran can now boast the highest number of women coaches on a national and an international level,' she said. 'Iran also has a high number of women referees and administrators.'
For twelve years, Iran has been participating in women only sport but is now faced with a challenge. 'Women athletes are losing motivation as they cannot participate in world competitions and the media are not allowed to cover women sports in Iran. We must find a solution for this. The solution may be modified sports attire which conforms to Islamic dress rules.'

Ms Ada Kok, Consultant for Speedo, told the panel and audience that after the meeting in 2002, she approached the design team at Speedo and Speedo is in full support of developing appropriate swimwear. 'We had a meeting here yesterday with 15 people, including many from this panel and we discussed what the swimwear should be like. I now have a lot of information to take back to Speedo and hopefully by the end of the year, we will be able to present ideas to you,' she said.