No land for (sports)women

The struggle for women's right to public space, for simple freedoms, appears to be never ending in our country. And yet, the more our socio-political order shrinks women's access to public space, the more ways women find to resist the patriarchal order.

The Lyari Girl Cafe (LGC), a prominent non-profit organisation, made waves when it was first founded. The LGC focuses primarily on women's access to public space and battling all odds it has managed to create space for itself in sporting activities for women.

Despite doing plenty to improve Lyari's image in the public eye and opening new avenues for cycling and other sports in the city, especially for females, a new wave of obstacles has hit them.

Even as Karachi Administrator Iftikhar Shalwani and other prominent officials of the city government advocate for the benefits of sports and healthy physical activities for citizens, members of the LGC are being denied access to football and boxing grounds in some government schools located in the area.

"We have been practicing in schools since 2017," shares Zulekha Dawood, a senior member of the LGC. "[But] on Thursday evening when they went for their regular practice, the school door was shut for our girls."

When the LGC contacted the school management in Bihar Colony, they were told to get permission from the office of Lyari zone's deputy director education.

When they reached the office they were told to collect cancellation orders by Monday. "The permission has been cancelled without any solid reasons given," said LGC head Sultan Adam.

"This is not the first time our girls have been denied access to the grounds," informed Adam, adding that the education department officials were under pressure from certain groups who have objected to girls cycling in the past.

"People object over dress and even shoes," commented a young footballer, Ayesha. "I bring my dress and shoes in a bag and change at the club." This was her way of avoiding further comments and objections from disapproving and/or leering eyes.

Ayesha draws courage from her family's support. "My family supports me and that's why I don't care about the [disapproving] people."

Her coach, Javed Arab, laments that people have begun commenting and objecting to the girls playing sports. "They say their girls will be ruined seeing your [LGC's] players." Given the objections he had restricted the girls' practice sessions within a boundary. "The propaganda continues [but] so does our practice."

Arab allowed in female players in his club in 2016. But the barriers to women's participation are set up in several ways. "People come on bikes to disturb us. Some even make videos of practicing girls," he says giving an example of the kind of tactics employed to harass the sportswomen.

The bodies of women are sexualised in our society at an early age. They way they speak, dress, move, or occupy space in any manner - whether in the public or private sphere - is heavily scrutinised. It is no wonder then that we rank abysmally on any index of gender equality or gender safety for many in our society cannot get past policing women's bodies for the mindset that emerges subsequently, is one that centres its efforts on controlling and policing women's bodies. There is enough data and research, locally and globally, which connects these attitudes to violence against women and children - crimes which are devastatingly frequent in our society.

"I do not comment on the issue of cancellation of the permission," said Lyari Zone Deputy Director Asma Ayaz initially. "But I received complaints against the girls. I am not responsible for allocating an alternate place," she added.

Meanwhile, South Deputy Commissioner and Administrator Irshad Ahmed Sodhar maintained that his office has always encouraged all kinds of sports, especially for girls. "We support females coming out and participating in healthy activities. I will probe the matter."

Another girls' football coach, Zubair Baloch, from Singo Lane said there was one objection that he did agree with. Referring to the football kit, he said, "I think that's a right objection because it is against our religion."

Commenting on the situation, sociologist Dr Nida Kirmani opined that this was the natural response of right-wing parties.

Kirmani, who has been researching on Lyari for years now, said that young girls have come out in larger numbers since the 2013 general elections. And since the 2018 polls, she added, the mobilisation of religious parties has increased. "Both trends [of the youngsters and the right-based parties] are growing [in Lyari]," she observed.

Social and political activists believe that most people who object to girls' participation in different activities use various social media platforms to target and pressurise proponents of women's participation in the public sphere, she elaborated.

"I have been under pressure after I participated in a few protests," shared a girl from Lyari, B*. "I have limited myself to my home as my family cannot afford social pressure."

"[Efforts to resist restrictive norms] are unaffordable if your family is not with you," elaborated Dawood, who knows many young girls who participated in bicycle races a couple of years ago but were forced to quit after social media campaigns were launched against them. "There is a kind of competition between these narrow minded people and young girls."

Despite the obstacles, the young women remain undeterred. The irony is that it is these very women who when they succeed, do wonders for the soft image of our country that we so desperately wish to see improving.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2020.