No PE for girls in Saudi Arabia

Arab News:

A few public girls’ schools in Jeddah submitted requests to have gymnasiums built, but their hopes for introducing physical education classes were dashed after the Ministry of Education announced that physical education for girls would not be allowed. Speculation in the media and among the public had circulated in the past year that the ministry would allow physical education in girls’ schools by this year, but the ministry refuted this “rumor” as baseless.

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Arab News contacted a girls’ high school that had submitted a request two months ago and had already set up a gymnasium with exercise machines for the girls to use in their spare time and was waiting for the approval. The school’s principal said that she was not allowed to speak to the media about this but she did not deny setting up the gym and submitting a request. “Religious men have a great influence on our education and the ministry listens only to those with certain views about women and their role and place in society,” said a source at the Education Administration of Makkah region.

This strange treatment of women reflects an attitude that says there is no telling what would happen if men see women in gym shorts. In Muslim society the idea of personal responsibility does not exist when a man sees a women. This is the reason many European women have been raped by Muslim men who see their western attire as an invitation to forced sex. It is a real failing in many Muslim societies.