Who Run The World?

The face of women’s sport in the Middle East is changing, and these regional athletes are leading the charge

For too long we have seen the sporting landscape as male dominated with little coverage given to female sporting events. The lack of media exposure does not only slow down the progress of banishing misconceptions of women in sport, but it can also discourage young girls from viewing sport as a career.

However, over the past few years we have seen the publicity grow and a lot of that is down to the Muslim athletes like figure skater Zahra Lari, marathon runner Manal Rostom and footballer Houriya Al Tahri. They are transforming the conversation and challenging stereotypes to the point where global brands like Nike feel the necessity to cater to Arab women in sport with the release of the Nike Pro Hijab in 2017.

“Women are strong achievers and it’s just beautiful to see the narrative completely change to support diversity, gender equality and inclusivity,” says Manal. “I am bit biased as I have always fought for the presence of Muslim, Hijabi women in sports just to demolish the negative image of Muslim women worldwide being too lazy, boring or uncool. I think Nike took the plunge and just did it by coming out with a performance Hijab in 2017 and saying ‘look these women exist, they have a talent and they need to perform well in their relative sports’. So many brands are following into the lead of this.”

“Also – it’s not just about the hijab but rather giving women a greater platform to be whoever they want, dream crazy and not be called crazy. Just passionate about life and their calling,” she adds.