DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A proposal to establish sports education colleges for Saudi women failed to win enough votes in the kingdom’s top advisory body, a council member who drafted the plan said Wednesday.
The proposal needed 76 out of 150 votes in the Shura Council, but fell three votes short. It called for the establishment of colleges that would train Saudi women in how to teach fitness and well-being.
Lina Almaeena, who is one of three council members that submitted the proposal, said 57 members voted against the measure, with the rest abstaining.
Some of the kingdom’s ultraconservatives shun the concept of women’s exercise as “immodest” and say it blurs gender lines.
“Obviously there are people who have different schools of thoughts. I don’t know what the rationale exactly is,” Almaeena told The Associated Press a day after the proposal failed to pass.
She has long been an advocate for women’s access to sports and founded Jeddah United in 2006, the first sports club in Saudi Arabia to include women.
Physical education is still not on the curriculum for Saudi girls in public schools, though some private schools offer physical education classes and sports to female students. There are also plans to license dozens of female-only gyms.
