In Iran, women’s sports are a controversial subject. Strict regulations have been enforced since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Women have only been allowed to participate in athletic competitions and the Olympics since 1990. Even today, women are not allowed to participate in sports such as swimming or wrestling on the international level. This is due to the Islamic religious belief that women’s bodies should be covered, and sports show women’s bodies too much for the events to be televised. This does not have an impact just on professional athletes. In Iran, women are not even allowed to ride a bike in public, leading to the establishment of ‘women-only’ parks and stadiums. Despite the controversy, female Iranian athletes are gaining more attention through social media coverage by sports journalists, referees and even the athletes themselves. None of these individuals are paid to cover women’s sports. However, their job is very difficult since many competitions prohibit photography or videos to be taken of the Iranian female athletes, and media sources risk being shut down by posting any photos where women’s bodies are too visible. Still, social media platforms have allowed these athletes to gain national attention and demands have been made to the state media to allow for more coverage of these events.
I was shocked by the lengths the Iranian government will go to to prevent women from participating in sports- especially through the development of women-only parks. It clearly shows both the government control over the media and the extreme gender discrimination found in parts of the world like Iran. As a female athlete myself I would be furious to be told that I could not participate in certain competitions or get any recognition for playing a sport at an international level. Even if the basis for the rules is religion, I think there should be more gender equality in sports. However, I think it’s really positive to see social media being used as a force for change and that female athletes are slowly gaining more recognition.