Blog 5: Gender Inequality within the Olympics

On Thursday, February 17, 2012, the chairman of the London 2012 Olympics, Sebastian Coe, asserted the fact of gender inequalities within the Olympics. These inequalities were focused on certain countries, those being Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the small southeast Asian nation of Brunei. These countries were especially criticized by the Human Rights Watch. The Olympic charter has a pledge to equality, which many are saying is broken specifically by Saudi Arabia. In these three countries mentioned, women and girls who want to play sports are not allowed to train, nor participate in any part of the Olympics and have never been able to. The nation of Qatar has mentioned their intention of sending women to the London 2012 summer Olympics this year, but it has not been confirmed.
The Human Rights Watch has reported a case of systematic discrimination against women in Saudi Arabia, specifically in sports and other activities. Gender discrimination is very prominent in Saudi Arabia, including women being banned from driving and requiring permission of a male relative to be able to work and travel. Brunei and Qatar have recently supported the right of women to participate in athletic competitions but have still never sent a female athlete to the Olympic games. Sebastian Coe stated "I think you can use sport in a way to encourage social change at a sensible rate. The world is diverse, it's very complex, there are sometimes barriers that are not going to be broken down overnight," also mentioning that the International Olympic Committee will be confronting the core Olympic value of equality.
I think that this social problem of inequality can be solved, like Coe stated, but that it will take some time and will not happen overnight. To know that only these three places around the world are the main problem causing gender inequality within the Olympic games shows us how far that we've come in history of gender inequalities. These three areas, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Brunei, are all very conservative places, having very strict views on what women should be able to participate in. Qatar and Brunei have shows their acceptance of women being able to participate in the Olympic games, which is a good start, but considering neither have ever sent a women to the games shows that soon enough they will have to stand up to their word on gender equality. Saudi Arabia, being the main issue, is a very tough country to challenge considering their nation's problem with gender inequality. We can hope that these countries will soon learn to accept women's rights and let them participate in whatever they please, especially the Olympic games. I hope to see women from these areas participating in London's 2012 games. At least we are seeing some type of forward movement with gender equality in sports, but we've still got some work to do.


Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/nationworld/wire/sns-rt-us-olympics-chairman-womentre81g0dd-20120216,0,4349993.story