03 March 2012

Saudi culture to blame

The Times again, and Janice Turner (£) takes up the issue of female athletes in Saudi Arabia, which I posted about a couple of weeks back:

It seems that when the green flag of Saudi Arabia is paraded at the London Olympic Games opening ceremony, it will be followed by men alone. The number of nations that have never sent a woman competitor has declined over the years: from 35 in Barcelona to 10 in Sydney to a handful in Beijing. In London it seems that there will be just one. What is to be done about Saudi Arabia?

Clearly the more publicity this gets the better. But, oddly, she insists that this Saudi obsession with keeping women in their place and denying them access to sports - denying them any aspect of an independent life - is not religious, but cultural: [Mick Hartley] Read more