Is playing football a women’s right?

The Iranian Female Football Star can’t take part in the next international tournament due to the travel ban imposed by her husband. Niloufar Ardalan (alias Lady Goal) is one of Iran's best female players and the captain of the national team. She was meant to kick the ball at the Asian Football Confederation's championship in futsal, held at the end of September in Malaysia.

(Source: www.dailymail.co.uk)

As Ms Ardalan said, her husband has refused to grant her permission to travel abroad. Allegedly, the reason: her husband wants her to be at home on the first day of school for their 7-year-old son.

In Iran, married women need the consent of their spouses to leave the country. They can be banned from travelling abroad if their husbands refuse to sign the papers needed to get or renew a passport.

This is not the first discriminatory measure that favours men, related to sports. We have learnt from the story of Ghoncheh Ghavami that women aren’t allowed to enter stadiums and watch men playing sports. But due to the international outcry, we also learnt that this might change: a limited number of women could attend male sporting events. This was reported by the several media outlets back in June. However, watching football, wrestling or swimming will still be an entertainment preserved for men only. This is in spite the fact that football is the most popular sport in the Islamic Republic.

Since the 1979 revolution, women were also virtually banned of doing sports. This had changed in the early 2000’s, when futsal clubs had become popular and the government allowed women to play indoors, with their heads covered. In 2005, the Iranian national women’s team was re-founded and since then, it has obtained good results.

(Source: www.bbc.co.uk)

Last year, several newspapers wrote about Iran's soccer federation rules randomly to check the gender of the players at training sessions, following revelations of men secretly playing in the league. According to the authorities this is needed, due to the sex change operations having been legal in Iran since 1979.

These happenings show that considerable changes are needed to end discrimination against women.

As Niloufar Ardalan said: "I wish [the] authorities would create [measures] that would allow female athletes to defend their rights in such situations".

>>TAKE ACTION! for a women's rights defender, Narges Mohammadi by signing this petition.

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