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 Saudi Arabia is the only country among the 45 competing nations
at the Asian Games, which start in South Korea on Friday under the
slogan "Diversity Shines Here", to have selected an all-male team.
Their decision has drawn criticism from Human Rights Watch but Saudi
officials have defended their stance, saying their female athletes
were not "competitive" enough for the Asian Games, a multi-sports
event held every four years.
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, the president of the Olympic Council
of Asia (OCA) that organizes the Asian Games, said there were no
rules forcing countries to pick females but he was surprised Saudi
Arabia had not chosen any after being widely applauded for including
women at the last Olympics.
"Saudi Arabia broke through the ice when they participated at the
London Olympics with a female," he told Reuters in an exclusive
interview.
"It showed they are ready, they are capable to have women
participate.
"I don't know why they are not participating here, maybe for
technical reasons."
Saudi team officials said they recently discussed the matter with
the International Olympic Council (IOC) and had promised to include
women in their team for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
But Human Rights Watch, which campaigned heavily for Saudi Arabia to
include women in London in 2012, said the decision to exclude
females from the Asian Games raised doubts about whether the
ultra-conservative state was serious about change.
“Two years after the London Olympics, the time for excuses is over –
Saudi Arabia needs to end its discrimination against women and
ensure women’s right to participate in sport on an equal basis with
men,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director
at Human Rights Watch.
“Refusing to send women to the Asian Games casts doubts on Saudi
Arabia’s commitment to end discrimination and allow Saudi women to
participate in future competitions."
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SMALL STEPS
Despite their criticism over Saudi Arabia's stance at the Asian
Games, Human Rights Watch said the world's top oil exporter had made
some small but positive steps in recent years.
A year ago King Abdullah appointed 30 women to the 150-member Shoura
Council. Last year, Saudi Arabia officially lifted a ban on sports
in private girls' schools - a groundbreaking rule for a state where
women are banned from driving and need formal permission from male
relatives to leave the country, start a job or open a bank account.
Saudi Arabia's appointed Shoura Council, which advises the
government on policy, also asked the education ministry to look into
including sports for girls in state-run schools with the proviso
they should conform to sharia rules on dress and gender segregation.
But the country's cautious social reforms to improve women's rights
have also been met with resistance from religious conservatives, who
fear the kingdom is losing its Islamic values in favor of Western
ideas.
“Women’s sports have a long way to go in Saudi Arabia,” Whitson
said.
“Now is the time for Saudi Arabia’s sports officials to lay down
concrete plans for female sports in girls’ schools, women’s sports
clubs, and competitive tournaments, both at home and abroad.”
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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