In the latest move from Iraq’s burgeoning feminist movement, activists have defiantly entered the usually all-male football sphere to attend a match at Baghdad’s Al-Shaab International Stadium.
Rejecting suggestions that the stadium is not suitable for them, a group of young women attended an Iraqi Premier League match between Talaba and Al-Jowiya clubs on Wednesday.
Indicating their desire to promote football attendance as a family activity, the activists launched the hashtags “stadiums are open to families” and “break stereotypes” online.
In an mark of just how rare their attendance was, pictures of the female fans were shared widely by local news pages on social media.
The photographs sparked debate on Facebook over the appropriateness of the women’s attendance, with most offering their support.
This will give a beautiful face to the stadiums of Iraq. All being well, the Iraqi supporters are cultured and above harassment.
I don't see that there is anything shameful. On the contrary, in the 70s and the 80s there were loads of women in the crowds. After the blockade, everything changed. Hopefully awareness, culture and advancement will return to our ancient nation, and we will forget all of the hostility, sectarianism and bloody conflict.
God, there are pictures and videos of Iraq's stadiums from the eighties, and nearly half the crowd is women. But when we entered the period of the blockade, people got caught up with surviving and abandoned matters of entertainment. After that came the fall [of Saddam Hussein] and we got into Islamic wars, may God save us from their evil, and they forbade us from what is legitimate and allowed us what is forbidden according to what suited them. They destroyed the country, so all that is left to say is that God's help suffices...
How full Baghdad’s stadiums are for matches tends to be a guage of the security situation, with years of war and instability forcing a decline in turnout. Still, the ongoing Daesh threat did not stop more than 70,000 Iraqis packing out the national stadium during a recent ‘derby’ match.
This latest push to encourage female sports spectators comes at a time when a brave group of Baghdadi women are calling for change within their conservative society. Last year, a young Iraqi woman, Marina Rada, launched a successful campaign to get women cycling, in defiance of backwards gender norms.
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