Members of the Shoura (Consultative) Council at a recently held session asked the General Presidency for Youth Welfare to expedite the process of establishing all-female sports centers. Amer Al-Lowehiq, a member of the Shoura's external affairs committee, urged the General Presidency for Youth Welfare to hasten the process of allocation for women clubs. Dr. Abdullah Al-Faifi, head of culture and media affairs at the Shoura, highlighted the role of women in social reformation. He said that they also had the right to such recreational facilities in conformity with Saudi culture and traditions. He also called on the private sector to extend cooperation to the General Presidency of Youth Welfare by financing both men's and women's sports clubs. Nadia Abo Al-Saud, head of the classification tissue and cancer cells department at the Military Hospital and a member of Astec and ABJ tennis group in Jeddah, said that sports was very important as it helped improve the health and quality of one's life. Lina Al-Maeena, founder of the Jeddah United Club, said that sports helped instill leadership qualities that ultimately led to a better society. She said that such recreational facilities helped eliminate various psychological, health and social problems. Quoting findings of a recent study, she said that the crime rate in the south of the Kingdom had declined substantially mainly due to the promotion of sports activities in that part of the country. The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs recently closed two unlicensed female gyms in Jeddah and one in the city of Dammam. “The idea of female fitness is non-existent within our government,” said Fouziah Alouni, a prominent women's rights campaigner. “Depriving women of this is yet another way of marginalizing them. Give us a justifiable reason or leave women alone. This is unbearable.” The result has been high rates of diabetes and even bone frailty among women, which the Ministry of Health says it wants to combat. Women's gyms can only exist inside hospitals as “health centers” supervised by the Ministry of Health but prices are so high, at least SR1,000 ($266) a month, that only the affluent can afford membership. Cheaper versions have sprung up under the name of “beauty salon” or “studio” but now their future is in doubt. Madawi Al-Hassoun of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce said the chamber has been trying for three years to find a government body prepared to take on board licensing female gyms.
