The BBC reports that Muslim extremists in Kuwait are slamming a proposed women’s football tournament being organized by Kuwait University.
Abdullah al-Mutawa, head of Kuwait’s Muslim Brotherhood, said that the tournament would represent disobedience to God.
Conservative Member of Parliament Walid al-Tabtabai agreed, adding that allowing women to play such sports would “abuse the chastity and dignity of women and imitate western society.” During last summer’s Olympic games in Sydney, Australia, Al-Tabtabai had called for a ban on televised broadcasts of women’s sporting events because they showed women’s bodies in an indecent manner.
One of Kuwait’s leading women’s activists, Rola al-Dashdi, urged the government not to accede to the demands of the Islamists.
Source:
Whistle blown on women footballers. Caroline Hawley, The BBC, April 8, 2001.