A necessary push for more women in sport

A power exercise practice session for Emirati girls rugby, with club team Dubai Sharks and Arabian Knights. Victor Besa / The National

At the start of the year, a British teacher in the UAE became the first female football commentator at a major sporting event in the Emirates. Amy Gillingham, 29, told The National: "I have played since I was a kid, so I had lots to say.”

In that summation, Gillingham, who spent 90 minutes giving real-time commentary in the Super Cup final on January 7, managed to highlight the important issue of women in sport and what is possible if girls have equal opportunity, encouragement and access to sporting facilities.

“If I can inspire more girls to take up the sport in the process, I will be a happy lady because that really is my motivation,” Gillingham said. She is not alone in that quest.

Emirati women in sport have over the years been role models for girls to take up a sport. In 2016, Nada Al Bedwawi became the first Emirati woman swimmer to represent the country at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

And welcomingly, much before the pandemic isolated and shunted indoors not just athletes, the number of Emirati women footballers rose from 800 players in 2014 to 2,300 players in 2017. Former goalkeeper for the UAE women's national team Houriya Al Taheri even made history as the first Arab female Fifa coach. But internationally, there is a long way to go. The International Olympic Committee says just 10 per cent of accredited coaches at the Olympic Summer and Winter Games over the past decade have been female.

The bigger picture notwithstanding, there are several examples from the Middle East that can encourage and inspire young girls who want to, even if not competitively, participate in local marathons or pick up a tennis racquet as a matter of habit.

Last year, Emirati Shahad Budebs was part of the first Arab team to make it to the world CrossFit games in the US. Another female trailblazer is the Emirati champion, UAE's "ice hockey queen" Fatima Al Ali. And Saudi Arabia sprinter Yasmeen Al Dabbagh, her nation’s flagbearer at the Olympic opening ceremony in Tokyo last year, spoke of inspiring others in the way she was inspired by past Saudi Olympians.

But despite the progress, not enough girls play sport, for a host of cultural and socio-economic reasons, of which a large part is education.

“There are still more than 127 million girls who are deprived of education," Malala Yousafazi told Expo 2020 Dubai visitors this weekend. The 24-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner and activist, who the Taliban shot in the head when she was 15, for advocating for women's rights and education, spoke of how gender should never be the deterrent for any role boys or girls aspire to.

When girls are in school, they can avail of the school badminton court or running track, sporting facilities that are an invaluable platform to stay the course and not give up sport – as is too often the case in at least developing countries – due to factors such as family pressure. Parents too, world over, need to understand why daughters should be encouraged to play a sport, beyond finishing their homework. The benefits are many.

Nor is this merely about fitness or health, which, although undeniably important, can be maintained at a gym. Taking up sport has a positive effect on women's lives and professions. The World Economic Forum cited an Ernst and Young study that saw a connection between women, sport and leadership; attributing the top three leadership skills developed by sport: the ability to see projects through, team work and motivation.

The Middle East, especially, has the advantage of a predominantly young demographic, with the World Bank saying, two thirds of the Mena population is under the age of 35. Considering the region's "youth bulge", there are plenty of girls who can have a shot at turning pro, given the equal opportunity.

Research also shows that investment in girls and sport contributes to economic growth overall and national development. To achieve this, role models, male and female, can start with urging parents to nudge their girls to pick up a racquet or join a local team. The pay-offs are too significant to ignore – for girls, for parents, for champions of women's rights, for organisations, and those who believe we must live in a world where, for both boys and girls, there must exist a level playing field.