Well, there's a couple of things to note. First, here's an article about the fact that Qatar will be starting up a national team. They will start by having courses for women to become coaches no doubt for societal reasons as well as football reasons. But anything is progress. Here's the article: http://footballasia.com/mrel/news_52135_E.html Also a National team for Algeria played Lyon of the French first division and were beaten 6-0. The only article that I found was in French so I will summarize. The team was a makeshift team of players from the various divisions of French women's soccer. The top 3 divisions, in fact. It was sponsored by an organization that deals with Algerian athletes in Europe. The match was part of the "Year of Algeria" festivities in France right now. The coach said that the goal of the game was to observe the team and to prepare for the African Nations Cup in Egypt. It was to see what they needed work and the like. A good idea. But anyway, here's hoping that women's soccer will finally break through in the Arab World.
so the players will be wearing short or the taliban traditional dress, what do you call it? you know the one that cover all the body except the hole to see, you know what i mean?
You're thinking of the burqua, but those aren't worn outside of Afghanistan and parts of Iran and Pakistan, to my knowledge. Qatar is a considerable distance from Afghanistan, both geographically and culturally.
burqua ! thats it, well, there're some women in some areas out the countries you mentioned still wearing this kind of traditional dress, it's part of moslem tradition. Its just unfortunate that they have to ware this kind of dress, they're actualy beautiful women.
I read a really interesting article about half a year ago about the Iraqi women's national soccer team. I thought it was in the NY Times, but now can't find it. As I recall, the team captain said something about wishing they could play the USWNT. While looking for the article, I did find a NY Times piece about the status of women in Iraq, which includes the following quote: "Girls compete in after-school sports almost as often as boys, and Iraqi television broadcasts women's sports as well as men's. "No one thinks that sports are just for men," said Nadia Yasser, the captain of the Iraqi national women's soccer team. "It's true that my mother was a bit concerned at first when I took up soccer, but I insisted, and so she accepted it and just started praying for me." [...] A glance around any Baghdad street also demonstrates that Iraq doesn't have hang-ups about the female body that neighboring countries do. A man can travel widely in the Arab world and know about women's legs only by hearsay, but careful reporting in Iraq confirms that Arab women do have knees: In Baghdad I saw women volleyball players who felt uninhibited enough to roll up their sweats." Here is the full article: Iraq's Little Secret
No matter what the whole world does..... SOCCER still NOT a women sport. But anyways good job for Qatar!! From what i know there's alot of arab countries that have women soccer teams (Lebanon,Egypt,Morroco).
Actually, veiling is a sunnah (loosely, tradition) rather than a hadith (a specific word of Muhammed as transcribed in the Quran. Muhammad instructed that his wives should be approached from behind a curtain. The surah in the Quran that deals with women (only one out of 114) mentions only the requirement for modesty. And the burqua which you see in Afghanistan is not actually worn outside of Central Asia. More common is the chador which can be worn leaving the eyes uncovered or the entire face. At the very least, a devout Muslim woman should cover her hair as a sign of her modesty. An interesting phenominon in the Muslim world is a number of young women, primarily either professionals or college students, are voluntarily taking the chador as a sign to western busybodies that they embrace their religion and really don't care what our opinion of "women's issues" is.
i was under the impression that some arab countries do not have woman's professional or national soccer teams because they are strict islamic states. it was just a bad joke... hence the light-hearted apology at the end.
Several things. I wish that this thread wouldn't turn into a political discussion. However, if it must be then we can hopefully have 50% soccer and 50% cultural understanding. First of all, while the chador is considered to be a part of Muslim tradition, its usage began a long time before 1,400 years ago certainly in Iran. Second of all, let's not bring up again Iran, Afganistan or Pakistan because they are not Arab countries. "Actually, veiling is a sunnah (loosely, tradition) rather than a hadith (a specific word of Muhammed as transcribed in the Quran. Muhammad instructed that his wives should be approached from behind a curtain. The surah in the Quran that deals with women (only one out of 114) mentions only the requirement for modesty." This is largely true but the problem is that in many countries which have a theocracy(or close enough) they have gone beyond Koranic and Hadithic teachings on women and have reverted to pre-Islam tribal rules and societal norms and laws for women. Islam largely made women's lives better(no more female infanticide for example. Or FGM which you, of course, you still have in parts of Africa but it's related to pre-Islam rituals and not from Islam itself) but the application of the teachings have been in the extreme. Hence, the veiling issue which like Bill Archer says is only dealt with one time and it just calls for modesty. I mean "modesty" is an extrememly vague word. Also I believe that a Hadith is not only just word of Mohammed in the Koran itself but there's another book(really books, different editions) called "Hadiths" that includes sayings of Mohammed that are passed down from generation to generation and are not just things he says in the Koran. Yes, wearing the chador is becoming a sign of female strength from France to Turkey which is very controversial not only within these societies for legal, social and political reasons but is also a point of contention between Western Feminists and Muslim feminists. I am not surprised about the article about women in Iraq. First of all, Iraq does not have a religion leaning leadership. In fact, it is largely a socialist government. And while we Americans may disagree with Socialist economic theory, it is also the basis for Medicare, low-income housing and I would argue public libraries. So Iraq, despite its dictator, is in its roots icloser to a government founded on socialist thought than religious thought. We know this to be true which makes the possibility of Osama and Saddam working together ridiculous. That being said, Islamic law in its modern application has been radicalized. But Iran for example, has a female vice-president. And that is an devotedly religious country. And it has many female scientists, doctors, and engineers. Less engineers than doctors but so does the United States! From the article: Iraqi women who work typically get six months' maternity leave at full pay and another six months at half pay. Subsidized day care is usually available at the workplace. Female circumcision, still common in American allies like Egypt and Nigeria, is absent in Iraq. To be sure, aside from brutal political repression that is gender-blind, Iraqi women also endure groping on crowded buses and an occasional honor killing, in which a man kills a daughter or sister for being unchaste. Honor killings typically result in a six-month prison sentence in Iraq; they sometimes go completely unpunished in other countries" The first part is just like in China and in most European countries. Female circumcision, I talked about before. Brute policial repression is largely gender-blind everywhere. I mean the Taliban killed tons of women and men. The reasons for killing the women is an another matter. And honor killings happen in many countries including India. So anyway, discredit stereotypes and misinformation. Okay, now as I step down from my soapbox, let's see what we can figure out what nations have national teams and what nations have had representative squads like this Algerian team that played Lyon.
Fran Hilton-Smith is the only Woman National coach in Africa and ranks amongst the most qualified, male or female. She possesses the CAF High Level Diploma, FIFA Futuro 1 and 2 and SAFA Level 2, amongst others. Last year Hilton-Smith was appointed to serve on the FIFA Technical Committee for the first ever U19 Women’s World Cup in Canada. She was awarded the State Presidents Award in 2002 for her contribution to the development of the sport at Natinonal and International level. Her first assignment is to conduct a course in Iran in August for Women Footballers. Iran is not an Arab country but I don't expect everybody to know that. This is another example of how women's soccer is coming to more and more parts of the world. The future is now!
It would be nice if Qatar, Iraq and other islamic countries joined their more moderate Muslim sisters in Uzbekistan and participate in the AFC Women's championships in 2005.
WAIT! But George W. Bush told us that Iraqi women were being mistreated and that's why he had to go in. He also said that Iraqi women are happier now that American forces have liberated them from Saddam.
Iraqi women have never had to face the same "restrictions" that Islamic women in other countries have had to face. "It would be nice if Qatar, Iraq and other islamic countries joined their more moderate Muslim sisters in Uzbekistan and participate in the AFC Women's championships in 2005" I imagine that the Gulf States would be among the first to have their own teams. Iraq would have in the near future if they weren't in the situation they are now.(a lack of money for one. I'm sure there was a lack of money before as well as some visa issues.) Iran will probably play in 2007.