14/03/2021
Designed by Ahmed Bika, Infotimes
Aya Said, had to wait nearly 13 years until she had the opportunity
to fulfil her childhood dream of doing Karate. The first obstacle
was the unavailability of a women’s only gym where she could
practice. In 2019, after she turned 25, this opportunity
materialized in Al-Khatara Youth Center, which is about 3 km away
from her residence.
Initially, her family opposed the idea because she has become a
young woman, and that the center was far, as she might have to
return late at night from training. Aya managed to convince them
that the center provided female trainers and had adequate privacy
for female sportspersons.
Aya was born in the village of Sheikh Ali, which is under the
jurisdiction of the Dishna Center in the Qena Governorate. From a
young age Aya dreamt of learning Karate, but her city of Naqada
lacked proper sports facilities that catered for her privacy needs.
Aya’s case is not an exception among Egyptian girls.
Youth centers are sports facilities established by the Egyptian
government since the 1940’s. They aim to provide citizens with a
space where they can be active in their spare time for a small fee
compared to the cost of joining private sports clubs. Since 2017,
these centers have been subject to the Law of Youth Organizations
No. (218) of 2017, which regulated their work and made them subject
to administrative bodies affiliated with the Ministry of Youth and
Sports. The law also officially prohibits their use for any
politically motivated activities.
Designed by Ahmed Bika, Infotimes
Such youth centers represent 85% of all sports facilities in the country, and they are geared for young people use in different stages of their life. However, data collected and analyzed by the investigator shows negligence and failure in most centers to cater for girls and females above eighteen years of age as in the case of Aya.
Women in those youth centers are under represented. In 2009, only 5% of all members were female, this percentage translates into one in every twenty members. In 2018, this percentage dropped to 4% even.
The data for the period under analysis reflect a narrowing in the
gap between male and female athletes, but that is due to a drop in
male memberships. This is because 50% of youth centers need
refurbishment, according to former Minister of Youth and Sports
Khalid Abdel-Aziz. The current minister, Ashraf Sobhi says that the
ministry is working on supporting youth centers and upgrading them.
Data show that female athletes are under represented at youth
centers across Egypt. In 2018, no female membership was visible in
50% of youth facilities. This also cover urban governorates such as
Alexandria where 8 female memberships are recorded for every 10,000
women and girls. Similar figures are recorded in the Delta region,
such as Gharbia, and in Upper Egypt, such as Beni Suef.
In the Qena Governorate where Aya lives, the rate drops to two
athletes out of every 10,000 female in the same year.
Designed by Ahmed Bika, Infotimes
The poor infrastructure at these centers and the lack of privacy
contribute to female reluctance to enrol, parents also are reluctant
to allow their daughters to frequent these centers. For Hajar who
graduated from the Faculty of Physical Education in 2018, becoming a
trainer at Al-Khatara Youth Center was her first job opportunity.
She herself was advised by her mother not to advertise her new job
in the (conservative) village where she lives.
However, Hajar’s presence as a trainer at the center was crucial to
women’s and girls’ interested in joining the training despite the
customs that govern their conservative society, as confirmed by data
from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics on
sports activities.
The increase in the number of female registering at sports centers
and taking part in team activities is a result of the increase in
the number of female trainers available. This is revealed when
analysing data that highlights the connection between the
availability of female coaches and the increase of female
participation in sports in the period from 2009 to 2018.
Several studies by governmental and non-governmental agencies,
including a Master’s thesis prepared by researcher Yasmine
Al-Ghazali at the American University in Cairo expose this
correlation. Al-Ghazali recommends that localities cooperate with
educational institutions to create means to empower young trainers
to work and meet women’s needs to encourage them to practice sports
specially amongst Egyptian women from lower and middle classes.
Sonya Dunia, Executive Director of the Supreme Committee for Women’s
Sports at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, says that the boards of
directors of youth centers appoint female trainers based on the
turnout they already have, so that their budgets do not have to bear
additional burdens.
Data indicates that the privacy component at youth facilities is a
priority for women, especially when it comes to changing rooms or
bathrooms available for women only. Analyzing the relationship
between the number of female athletes and the condition of the
facility at youth centers over the years shows that the availability
of changing rooms has a positive, albeit slight effect on overall
joining ratio. Many youth centers use staff offices or bathrooms as
alternatives for changing rooms. Hajar says that she and her team
would use a room assigned to the center’s activities to change their
clothes. On the other hand, Nada Kamil, who is currently a member of
the Board of Directors at the South Cairo Governorate Youth Center,
would ask the trainees to wear their sports clothes in advance.
In 2014, the Population Council conducted a field study in
cooperation with the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and
Statistics. The study recommends allocating hours for girls in these
facilities in order to encourage them to practice physical activity,
and this applies to both members and trainers.
Hajar, for example, succeeded in persuading her family to allow her
to participate in Karate training in the Brahmins Club and then
earned herself a black belt. If she had not succeeded in doing this,
she would have been destined to stay at home.
Hajar got her chance to start her career as a trainer on conditions
that satisfy her family, her uncle personally vetted the privacy
standards at the training hall where male members had no access. The
parents then agreed for their daughter to take up the rare
opportunity to start a career at the youth center.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics published
gender data on participation in sports activities between 2009-2018,
and this has shown that beginning from 2012, most Egyptian
governorates witnessed a doubling in the number of female coaches
and technical assistants.
Despite this increase, the number of female trainers is still too
low to cover all or most youth centers in Egyptian governorates.
Only seven governorates have one or more female trainers for each
center, and these are governorates with fewer than 200 youth
centers. The scarcity of female trainers means there are fewer women
members compared to men. This is a reality that both Aya and Hajar
deal with today. For veteran professional female coaches, Nada Kamil
and Fayza Haidar, the situation was far worse in the 1990s.
At that time, the two girls (Nada and Fayza) were no more than seven
years old. They tried to persuade the administrations of a number of
clubs and youth centers in the Helwan region in Cairo to allow them
to play soccer, and they were rejected because there were no female
teams at these facilities.
In a telephone interview, Nada Kamil says that she played in the
East Helwan Youth Center without an official membership. This is the
same center that witnessed the beginning of Fayza's football playing
career. The two women played the game and moved to several clubs,
while facing a lot of bullying and rejection. Today, Fayza is a
soccer coach certified by the English Premier League and coaches in
several clubs and youth centers while Nada is a member of the board
of directors at the East Helwan Youth Center.
Fayza Haidar was part of several projects implemented in cooperation
with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to increase the number of
female football players. One of these projects, "A Thousand Girls, A
Thousand Dreams,” supported by the Ministry, and the British Council
aims to teach football to women, convinced Fayza that having female
coaches encourages girls and women to take part in sports
activities.
Fayza says, “We go to areas that lack female athletes, and help
provide a female trainer who then start training girls with the help
of a male coach. When parents see a woman with their daughters, they
are reassured.” Fayza explains that her case, having been brought up
modestly among eight brothers, and have made it despite the
challenges encourage otherwise apprehensive parents.
“Parents see role models like me or perhaps better ones. They
realize that we as female have succeeded and have at the same time
upheld our customs and traditions, so they decide that they want
their daughter to be like me,” she adds.
Fayza is optimistic about the future of women’s soccer in Egypt
thanks to the efforts made by her and others to open the door for
more women in the game, however, data show that there is still a
long way to go.
In present day Egypt things are not better, Data collected from a
random sample of 54 youth centers across 14 provinces demonstrate a
failure to provide opportunities for potential female sports women
to participate in activities.
The investigator called these centers to check the possibility for
adult women to participate in one of their sports activities. Half
of these centers replied that they did not provide sports activities
for women over 18 years.
Some were even surprised at our request and categorically denied
such availability because the question is considered “strange” for
their villages or regions. Others said that they were considering
forming women’s sports teams in the future, or that they would form
women’s teams if a group of women should take the initiative to
announce their desire to practice one type of sport or another.
Muhammad Bayoumi, an expert on sports regulations, explains that
youth centers have complete freedom to organize their sporting
activities tailor it to meet the gender and numbers of their
members. He says, “It is possible to set aside a center for girls
and women only, and the center could participates in sports
activities for women only; they are free to do this.”
Sonya Dunia is the head of the Central Administration for Sports
Development at the Ministry of Youth and Sports as well as the
Executive Director of the Supreme Committee for Women’s Sports. She
admits that youth centers fail to focus on women in their sporting
activities; however, she blames it on (conservative) customs and
traditions dominant in such regions. Sonya says, “Customs in some
regions prevent girls from going out after the age of 14.” She adds,
“If these centers allocate activities for women, they will not
come.” However, the centers that informed the investigator that no
activities were available for women included youth centers in
Egyptian cities, and one of them was in the Cairo Governorate (an
area that is less conservative).
In 2019, Hajar and Aya’s experience had spanned a whole year
already. They decided to leave Al-Khatara Youth Center to search for
places closer to their residences. Hajar decided to train a team of
young girls and women in the village of Al-Toud, which is closer to
her village than Al-Khatara is, while Aya began training with
another female coach at Naqada Sports Club.
The experiences of Hajar and Aya in Qena Governorate, and the
experiences of Fayza and Nada in Cairo Governorate reveal the
importance of privacy for Egyptian women. This issue defines their
interest in sports or their reluctance to practice it. Customs and
traditions are not the only handicap, male objections and bullying
that women experience during training play a big part too.
“As we hang out after a match, the men loitering there would say,
‘Your place is in the kitchen,’ meaning we should not play soccer.
Why? We are just like you: We have female doctors, ministers and
engineers. We are all women, so what is the problem?” Nada describes
these situations as “silly”, though she notes that they contributed
to putting an end to her football career. Her shyness about
continuing to play in front of men, the constant bullying and lack
of support for women’s football in general prompted her to stop
playing and switch to training when she turned 19.
Her current workplace at the East Helwan Youth Center does not
provide special women only space. However, a girl who experienced
training in such a hostile environment was able to secure special
hours dedicated to training a female only team of young girls in the
center’s soccer field. She says she managed to win over parents with
some simple ideas, and she is seeing a positive turnout.
In a telephone interview, Nada explained how she arranged for the
protection wardens on the field to provide extra space for parents
who bring their daughters and sons to work out near the field. They
would walk or run instead of sitting and waiting for their offspring
to complete their training. “Most of the female trainees are
familiar with us, hence they feel reassured.” Governorates such as
Asyut and Beni Suef allocate at least one football pitch per youth
center. In Luxor and Suez each is sport facility has 2 fields, in
Cairo governorates centers are allowed five pitches each. In Kafr
El-Shaikh, Giza and Gharbia, sports facilities pool their training
grounds.
Facilities and infrastructure at those youth centers are not uniform
across provinces and regions. Some lack swimming pools and changing
rooms. This obviously affects memberships in general, specially
women’s membership.
As an example, if all the players in youth centers should need to
train daily and change clothes, and assuming that changing rooms are
available equally to everyone during the day, out of every 100
players, the men’s share of the hours of using the changing room
will be seven times more than that available for women in one
dressing room.
In Nada’s opinion, poor facilities and lack of female-only sections,
put off female athletes in general, specially when other youth clubs
were available and women could join. In the case of governorates
such as Qena where Hajar lives, the turnout at the center remained
relatively good even if the infrastructure is not optimal.
Hajar even trained the girls at Al-Khatara Youth Center on a tiled
floor on the roof of one of the center’s buildings. This is not
perfect compared to the gym floor where she trained at the Brahmins
Sports Club, she says. Hajar explains about her previous experience,
“The coach used to remove some stones from under our feet so that we
do not trip over them as we played barefoot and the dirt was still
better for our movement (than tiled floor).”
Designed by Ahmed Bika, Infotimes
In this way, Hajar trained the girls at Al-Khatara Youth Center on a tiled floor on the roof of one of the center’s buildings. This is naturally imperfect compared to the gym floor where she trained at the Brahmins Sports Club. “This was a school playground with a dirt floor.” Hajar explains, “The coach would pick up bricks from under our feet so that we do not trip over them because we used to play barefoot as dirt still is better for movement.”
Nada believes that well equipped centers were crucial factors in
attracting women, however, she says that there were not enough
centers across the country to meet the population needs. Between
2009 and 2018, only 95 new youth centers were opened across Egypt.
Provisions for youth centers could also change due to demographic
changes across the country. Between 2009 and 2018, youth centers in
Cairo declined by 14%, despite a population increase by 17%. In Qena
province where Hajar and Aya live; 3 youth centers were shut down
while the population increased by around 90000. This comparison must
not link youth centers numbers (rigidly) to population growth,
rather, it is an indication of how often such new centers come
online to service the communities as the authorities try to keep
pace or fail in its endeavour to meeting citizens right to access
sports facilities as Article (34) of the Law on managing Youth
Organizations, states that the Egyptian government is responsible
for providing the spaces necessary to establish youth clubs
according to the state’s plan and its needs, whether in local
regions or elsewhere.
It is also clear that the increase in public expenditures on sports
activities is not significant. State expenditures in this field have
increased by about a third during the last five fiscal years from
July 2015 to June 2020 for youth, cultural, and religious affairs
sectors and youth facilities fall under this budget.
Though, this is considered a big increase, in real terms this did not reflect improvement of services offered by youth facilities. Economic hardship such as the floating of the Egyptian pound and its loss of value rendered budgetary increases redundant, failing to provide sufficient funds for salaries, grants and new projects. But according to Sonya Dunia, Executive Director of the Supreme Committee for Women’s Sports, the Ministry is working on solving these problem by involving the private sector to help refurbish youth centers and modernizing them where possible.