Fighting for the right to play: women’s football and regime-loyal resistance in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This paper seeks to contribute to the scholarship on women and social change in Saudi Arabia through the case of female football players in Riyadh. Officially, there has been no women's football in the Kingdom, but under the surface women have been playing for more than a decade. The women are actively promoting and engaging in change and women's opportunities to practice sport by building organization, creating awareness and negotiating norms and regulations. They are not in opposition to the regime, but supportive of reforms in favour of increased rights for women, while seeing conservative elements in the society as their opponents and the royal family as their allies. They are thus engaging in what O'Brian and Li has termed "rightful resistance" by deploying the language of the rulers to express their perspectives and aims, and are engaged in a three party game with the rulers and conservatives, where divisions within the state and elite allies matter greatly.

Female elite sports achievements in Iran. The Case of the First Olympic Medalist

“…The necessity of adhering to the Islamic hijab in playing football was mentioned by the female footballers as a symbol of their identification (ibid.). A similar point was made by Lysa (2020) who scrutinised the situation of female footballers in Saudi Arabia. She argued that although women in Saudi Arabia see the existence of conservative elements as an obstacle against the development of women's sports, they are trying to redefine the cultural codes and regulations within and by the support of the system to facilitate their participation and progress in football.…”

Exploring Female University Students' Participation in Physical Activity in Saudi Arabia: A Mixed-Methods Study

“…Also, women did not receive physical education or participate in sports in schools or universities until 2019 and they were not taught about the importance of physical activity for health. This has contributed to community expectations and norms that restrict women from engaging in physical activity in public (20,21). Moreover, women's physical activity and sports receive substantially less funding and support than men's facilities and teams (22) which perpetuates the existing cultural norms and adds a further structural barrier for women's physical activity.…”

The Politics and Ethics of Resistance, Feminism and Gender Equality in Saudi Arabian Organizations

“…While highly valuable, this research could be complemented by parallel research on the ethico-politics of Muslim feminisms situated in Middle Eastern contexts, such as campaigns for women to drive and play sports (e.g. Karam and Jamali, 2013;Lysa, 2020). Closer ethico-political investigations into the conformity and resistance involved in these struggles may shed more light on how Muslim feminisms are mobilized and enacted, through coalitions and collective cultural codes, blurring the private and the public, the individual and the collective, in ongoing ethico-political work (Alakavuklar and Alamgir, 2018;Pullen and Rhodes, 2014).…”

“…In conclusion, it bears noting that the current study only looked at the perspectives of a sample of working Saudi women, albeit a relatively large and diverse sample whose experiences it is important to give voice to. Nevertheless, the current study could therefore be complemented by Middle Eastern business ethics research that complements the lived ethico-political experiences of working women by sampling against a broader range of institutional and stakeholder perspectives -legislators, ruling elites, activists, suppliers, business leaders, entrepreneurs and other actors (Karam and Jamali, 2013;Lysa, 2020). Broader conflicts and alliances that intersect progressive and conservative, secular and religious, local and international, feminist and patriarchal, managerial and emancipatory elements in Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern contexts will all further shape the ethico-political tensions of conformity and resistance in organizations (Al-Rasheed, 2013Badran, 2005).…”

“…Women's attitudes can therefore vary in how openly critical they are of government and employers or eager to work within the system to support reforms that address gender inequality (Alhareth et al 2015). In women's rights to play football, for example, it has been possible for some Saudi women to build organizations, raise awareness and negotiate norms and regulations through 'rightful resistance', challenging conservative elements of the society while remaining otherwise loyal to the reforms of the regime and royal family (Lysa, 2020). The overall heterogeneity among Saudi women, due mainly to differences within region, tribe, and family, mean that gender developments are more problematic and contested (Doumato, 2000), rendering them an important subject for research.…”