By Kairene Khan
We all follow men’s sports, cricket in particular, with baited breath and some of us lie awake at night in mourning when our favourite team of lads loses a match or two. Men’s sports are exciting, and we all enjoy watching athletes perform in peak condition; it’s entertainment, and it is also vicarious living. Through them, we can see and almost feel what life is like as a sportsman in his top level of fitness, performing tasks we mere mortals could never do in our regular, everyday lives. However, whenever women’s sports are mentioned, with cricket in particular, the response, devastatingly, is usually a sneer.
Why do we do this to our female athletes who deserve to be celebrated rather than mocked, or worse, ignored? One can suspect that even though we in modern times like to think of ourselves as being egalitarian, we still harbour shameful 19th century prejudices about women. Because of this thinking, most of us do not take women or women’s sports seriously. Many of us think that women only play sports for a bit of fun and are not professional in their attitude; that women are physically weaker and not athletic therefore not entertaining. Some of us even think that women do not belong in sport at all, as exercise goes against some religious ideals and that women have more important work to do around the home, such as raising children and keeping house and should not focus on physical fitness in any way.
When one claims that women only play sports for a bit of fun and don’t take their sports seriously, it is simply insulting to the women of the Pakistan women’s cricket team and the women of the Afghanistan women’s cricket team. These incredible women risk their lives every day to play the sport they love, and especially in the Afghan women’s case, they must practice in secret, in a basketball court at a girl’s college. These sportswomen are so dedicated to their cricket that they sacrifice their own personal safety to improve their batting and bowling skills. Death threats, and even obstacles made by their own national governments, are an everyday occurrence for these athletes. Their attitude goes beyond the professional; they practice no matter what and continue to strive to be able to qualify, and in the case of the Pakistan women’s team, win tournaments. While male athletes are professional, how many can we say would risk their lives for their sport? Not to bash the men, but I think very few of them would have the emotional or physical strength to go through what these women go through on a daily basis. To say the ladies don’t take sport seriously and just play to have a bit of fun is irresponsible and cruel. Going to the movies and having a coffee with friends is a bit of fun. Risking life and limb for the love of a sport and the right to play it? Professionalism in its finest hour. The women deserve to be celebrated just for that.
A lot of us also have this very old-fashioned thinking that women are the weaker gender, are not athletic, and are therefore not entertaining. The three points are simply untrue. Women are born with strength and strong we are to endure the pain and the absolute trauma of childbirth. Women’s muscles are naturally made for endurance, while men’s muscles are naturally made for strength. Women need to exercise to get stronger muscles, while men need to exercise to build up endurance. A case in point is that a woman, who may not have exercised in her life, may find jogging or brisk walking to be much easier than weight lifting. Men who have never exercised will prefer the weight lifting to a morning jog or afternoon walk. Women are not weaker, women have different strengths and can develop brute strength if they so wish; one only needs to look at the Canadian women’s ice hockey team. Nobody would dare tell one of those tremendously athletic and strong women that they were “the weaker sex!” One of those ladies could simply pound someone foolish enough to say that into the middle of home ice.
Furthermore, to say women’s sports are not entertaining or athletic is ridiculous. If a person watches the women’s matches, they will see they are heart-stoppingly exciting – cricket, tennis, ice hockey, you name it, it’s going to be great. One only needs to remember the sporting greats of yore – Billy Jean King and Martina Navratilova in tennis, Silken Laumann in rowing, Nawal el Moutawakel for hurdles, and Mary-Lou Retton for gymnastics along with countless more – to realize that women’s sports are incredibly riveting to watch.
Finally, some say that women don’t belong in sport and shouldn’t exercise at all due to religious reasons and that they should be at home concentrating on child-rearing. From my previous anthropological studies, along with my religious studies (I studied Islam and Catholicism at university in the 90’s and I read and write Arabic), I see that no religion bans women from exercising. Most religions, even the most conservative ones, all agree on one thing: your body is a temple and it must be respected. A fit body, made healthy with proper eating and exercise, is a compliment to the Creator and a show of respect that you are taking care of something He gave you – your life. Therefore, to say that women shouldn’t exercise because it goes against some religion is erroneous.
Related to the idea that religion prohibits exercise is the idea that women shouldn’t play sports or exercise because they have other things to do, such as keep house and rear children. I agree that raising children is an incredibly difficult job as is keeping house. However, raising children requires a strong and flexible body, and keeping house requires a high degree of athleticism. Without exercise or sport to keep her body fit, a woman can easily get injured lifting a child, or tear a muscle by leaning awkwardly to get some cleaning done. To say a woman should only focus on child-rearing or house-keeping is dooming her to injury. Exercise and sport are necessary for women’s well-being and happiness. To say otherwise is nonsense, and again, misogynistic.
In summary, we are all guilty, in some degree, of misogynistic and archaic thinking when it comes to women in sport. Some of us think the women are less professional, some of us think women are weak, some think women’s sports are boring, and worst of all, some of us even think women don’t belong in sport at all. We only need to have a look at the wonderful women on the Afghan women’s cricket team and the Pakistan women’s cricket team to realize that women in sport are demonstrating professionalism at its absolute finest, athleticism at its finest, entertainment at its finest and most noble, and are doing an incredible job of fighting our prejudices about women.
Women in sport need to be respected and celebrated for everything they do. We here at Khelopakistan firmly believe in gender equality and we also find women’s cricket to be as exciting to watch as the men’s cricket. Therefore, we will be covering women’s cricket with a special focus on the incredible women from Afghanistan and the Pakistan women’s team. Please join us for match coverage, interviews and regular articles, and you will not be disappointed!
GeoSuper