Women usually bear more physical burden than men do because they have to take care of their home and children. A Saudi woman gives birth to 5 or 6 children — a high number going by international standards.
Medically, it’s known that a woman’s body is exhausted and drained every time she gets pregnant. But she can avoid the apparent physical changes by taking care of herself physically and emotionally. This care doesn’t just mean hiding under layers of make up; it must also include exercising that strengthens the muscles and makes the body more flexible. There’s also the intimate pampering of the soul and looking after the body’s biological needs through eating, sleeping and controlling the negative feelings a mother is subjected to such as anger, tension and depression.
These instructions are available in all medical websites and brochures in some hospitals, and perhaps some new mothers hear all of these from friends and relatives. Are there any available facilities for them to indulge their senses and bodies?
We covered the part that concerns married woman and their needs. What about unmarried girls who are in desperate need to take care of themselves? It’s known that there is a large percentage of Saudi girls/women who are suffering problems connected with their appearance and looks. Obesity is giving rise to so many side effects among young girls. They sometimes damage a girl’s hormonal system and sometimes they deprive her of self-confidence and crush her spirit. Some women suffer from flabbiness regardless of their weight, some others suffer from depression, some from too much spare time, and some want to take care of themselves just to stay fit and in tune with their bodies. I believe that these goals aren’t any different from what men aim at when they exercise regularly.
A healthy, balanced body boosts a person’s self-esteem and increases his social acceptance. In fact, people who believe they are good looking tend to act on this basis and others accept him even if he’s not any good by intellectual standards. When a body is afflicted with problems it will affect or altogether destroy an individual’s productivity. Sometimes these problems might be related to one’s health such as blood pressure, diabetes or problems related to one’s looks such as lack of self-confidence, depression, tension and laziness.
I’m positive that the General Presidency of Youth Welfare’s initiative in building sports facilities and health clubs for women will definitely be praised and accepted by society. The community may wonder why it took this long for the presidency to initiate this step.
Even though this is a great project, I am inclined to believe that the idea of building sports facilities for women came about only to serve the interests of men, and not for the benefit of the Saudi woman. The Al-Arabiya reported last month that some sports supervisors and authorities are calling for setting up women’s health clubs in the Kingdom. Some stated that women’s sports facilities are going to be built according to religious standards, and even though I don’t understand what this means, I wish that it’s not an excuse to limit the activities of these facilities.
I knew a girl who used to exercise daily on the roof of her house. She was trying to imitate what she saw on television, but she would always end up in pain.
She always hoped that one day she’d be able to exercise in a sports club under proper guidance. Apart from meeting the needs of such girls, sports facilities and health clubs for women could be sports training centers and cultural as well as entertaining places for the entire family. Girls’ schools also could benefit from them.
— Dr. Maha Al-Hujailan is a medical researcher at King Khaled University Hospital in Riyadh. ([email protected])
