{"id":178936,"date":"2016-09-17T15:32:02","date_gmt":"2016-09-17T15:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/article\/why-have-girls-been-sidelined-from-azerbaijani-sport\/"},"modified":"2021-10-29T13:25:31","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T09:25:31","slug":"why-have-girls-been-sidelined-from-azerbaijani-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/why-have-girls-been-sidelined-from-azerbaijani-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"Why have girls been sidelined from Azerbaijani sport?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Women on the Azerbaijani Olympic team in Rio were vastly under-represented, and made for less than 25% of the Azerbaijani delegation. Moreover, of the team\u2019s 14 female members, only 3 were native Azerbaijanis. In Soviet times, women were better represented in sport, and their participation was encouraged. But 25 years after independence, the representation of women in Azerbaijani sport has vastly decreased. What has contributed to this gender disbalance?\n<\/p>\n

\n A Meydan TV correspondent looked into this question to learn more.\n<\/p>\n

\n According to the State Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, in a report titled,
\n
\n Distribution of persons engaged in separate types of sport
\n <\/a>
\n , women make up for less than 25% of those who reported regularly practicing or engaging in sporting activities.\n<\/p>\n

\n Partially responsible for the gender disbalance in sport is the resurgence of Islam after the fall of the Soviet Union and families\u2019 fears that revealing clothing associated with sport is shameful and indecent.\n<\/p>\n

\n Gymnastics coach Melahet Rahimova says that nowadays, families are willing to have their daughters practice gymnastics only up to a certain age. \u201cThey tell us: \u2018She\u2019s young now, and doesn\u2019t wear a hijab, so she can practice. But once she\u2019s 12, well, she\u2019ll have to have her head covered, you see. . .\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Rahimova said that in Soviet times, girls were encouraged to participate in sport, but in the 1990s, the situation radically changed:\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cRefugee families from Karabakh coming to the capital were loathe to give their children to gymnastics. They complained about the \u201crevealing and bold\u201d nature of the clothing, which they wanted to be longer and more closed – up. We tried explaining to them that this is sport, and that they shouldn\u2019t look at it as a question of conservatism or decency. But they wouldn\u2019t listen. Moreover, girls\u2019 participation in sport decreased because of massive emigration from the country occurred in the country\u2019s Russian and Jewish populations, who had formerly been very involved in the sport.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The divide runs tangentially to language, as well. Rahimova said that the majority of her students speak Russian at home – as much as 80% of them: \u201cOnly 20 – 30% of my students don\u2019t speak Russian at home. That is, in their families, they have no influence from Russia, whatsoever.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n \"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n According to a former Azerbaijani volleyball champion who preferred to remain anonymous, gender stereotypes about work roles have also been a factor in the diminishing of women\u2019s presence in sport.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cParents wonder, \u2019What will other parents say? What about the neighbors? Girls must be doctors, teachers – not athletes!\u2019 Azerbaijani families are so concerned with their children\u2019s financial futures that they forget to consider \u2018other\u2019 futures. My family knew that the discipline and attention given to me while practicing sport was impossible to find anywhere else at the time. Volleyball developed my character, my will, my ability to succeed and my taste for victory. But some Azerbaijani parents don\u2019t understand the formative role that sport can play in the formation of personality and character.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n There\u2019s one other factor that has played a role in the decreased participation of women in Azerbaijani sport.\n<\/p>\n

\n Metanet Azizova, head of the Women\u2019s Crisis Center in Baku, says that in the first decade following Azerbaijan\u2019s independence, interest in martial arts surged among women. Karate, for example, had been formerly a forbidden sport under the Soviet Union, but it became massively popular upon independence.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cFighting sports massively attracted the attention of women, who felt a sort of, \u2019wind of freedom.\u2019 They wanted to send a message to society: \u2018We\u2019re free, strong, and can defend ourselves.\u2019 They rode the wave of articles, television shows and films that came out about female sportswomen. Famous judoka, Zulfiyye Huseynova, inspired many women to get interested in the sport.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n But according to Azizova, the interest drawn to questions of women\u2019s place in society ultimately worked against them
\n
\n .
\n <\/b>
\n As the image of women became increasingly one of strength, ability and empowerment, society lashed out against this development.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWomen\u2019s rights became a taboo topic, and this affected sport, too. Society lashed out against women\u2019s upward movement, and this situation has continued through tto today. Even in schools, teachers are pressured not to let boys and girls mix during physical education classes. Some forbid their girls from even attending these classes. Unfortunately, schools allow for this. And now girls sit in class while boys play football. Girls have been totally sidelined from physicality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women on the Azerbaijani Olympic team in Rio were vastly underrepresented, and made for less than 25% of the Azerbaijani delegation. Moreover, of the team\u2019s 14 female members, only 3 were native Azerbaijanis. In Soviet times, women were better represented in sport, and their participation was encouraged. But 25 years after independence, the representation of women in Azerbaijani sport has vastly decreased. What has contributed to this gender disbalance?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":67883,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-178936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy have girls been sidelined from Azerbaijani sport? - MEYDAN.TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/why-have-girls-been-sidelined-from-azerbaijani-sport\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why have girls been sidelined from Azerbaijani sport? - MEYDAN.TV\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Women on the Azerbaijani Olympic team in Rio were vastly underrepresented, and made for less than 25% of the Azerbaijani delegation. 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