By Haider Rizvi
WASHINGTON, Jul 24 1996 (IPS)

Women’s rights groups are demanding that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) take action against countries that exclude female athletes from their delegations for the Games.

“There is a gender apartheid going on in the Olympics,” says Parvin Darabi of the Paris-based Atlanta Plus, a coalition of European and North African women’s groups campaigning for equal rights and opportunities for sportswomen.

Countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Sudan, where Muslim clergy heavily influence the official policy on gender relations, argue that Islam forbids women to display their bodies and play sports before a male audience.

But women’s groups contend that there is no justification for governments to stop women from playing sports. They say the exclusion of women amount to stark violations of the Olympic Charter that almost all the Muslim nations have endorsed.

The Charter states that “any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, sex, or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic movement.”

Since the opening of the Olympic Games last week, Atlanta Plus has staged several demonstrations near Olympic stadiums in Atlanta, urging the officials to restrict the participation of countries that discriminate against their female athletes.

“This is neither a cultural issue nor a women-only issue,” says Linda Weil-Curiel, one of the founders of Atlanta Plus. “Our purpose is to ensure that women of all countries are allowed to compete in the Games.”

“If the Olympic Committee could ban South Africa for 28 years on the basis of racial discrimination, why can’t it do the same on the basis of gender?” asked Darabi.

But despite pressure from human rights groups and Atlanta Plus, organisers remain unmoved.

“They have told us that, it’s not an issue for them…that it needs to be discussed at the international level,” said Darabi. In a voice filled with frustration, she declared, “This is disgusting.”

Some three years ago, Darabi’s sister Dr. Homa Darabi set herself on fire in public after a 16-year-old girl was shot to death in Tehran for wearing lipstick.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, and dozens of human rights and women’s groups have endorsed an Atlanta Plus resolution.

The resolution demands that the IOC “exclude those countries which either practice institutionalised segregation or forbid female participation in the Olympics for ideological reasons.

Expressing its concern in a separate resolution in May, the Council of Europe said that “even if there are cultural differences, this should be no argument for accepting any policy of discrimination against women in sports.”

The Council said it fully supported the Atlanta Plus actions against the situations in which women athletes are discriminated.

Women’s rights groups campaigning in Atlanta said last week they had been seeking a meeting with IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch to explain their point of view, but that he turned down their request.

Legislators from Europe also participated in the Atlanta Plus demonstrations.

Critical of the lack of attention to the issue by the U.S. media, women’s groups noted that when they held a press conference in Atlanta some two days before the opening of Olympic Games, no major U.S. newspaper or TV channel showed up.

“They didnt bother to ask us why we protested while millions of others were about to have fun in Atlanta,” Darabi complained.

Since the opening of the Olympic events, major U.S. newspapers and television networks have ignored the discrimination issue while giving the good news that there are more women athletes at these Olympics than at Barcelona in 1992.

“They are paying lip service,” complained Marie-Jose Rajab of the U.S. National Organisation for Women, a member of the Atlanta Plus.

“They are telling us there are thousands of women athletes this time. But we are not talking about numbers. We are talking about discrimination which has been institutionalised.”

Those who have demonstrated in Atlanta say French and Canadian television crews are among those who have reported on the protests.

The demonstrations helped put pressure on the U.S. representative to the IOC to speak with Atlanta Plus.

“Being the host nation, the U.S. had the responsibility to suppport us on this issue, but they have totally disappointed us,” said one Atlanta Plus member

.

The 11-member IOC includes only one woman. Activists say this is one reason the Committee is not sensitive enough about the issue of gender discrimination at the Olympic Games.

At the Barcelona Games, 35 countries had no women athletes on their teams, and one of those teams, Iran, refused to walk behind a Spanish woman athlete at the opening ceremony. This year, Iran did include a woman — as a pistol shooter.

“They sent a woman with a pistol which is a symbol of terrorism!” exclaimed an Iranian Muslim woman.

Darabi refutes allegations that the protests are part of a Western anti-Muslim campaign. She argues that hundreds of Muslim women are active in Atlanta Plus, and that, in any event, only one- third of the “male-only teams” are majority Muslim.

Some countries have failed to send their women athletes because of scarcity of funds. “This is understandable, but again it’s no excuse to send male-only teams.” says Jose Rajab.

Iran organised women-only games in Tehran in 1993 and invited sportswomen from Muslim countries to participate. No men — no photographers, no reporters — were allowed to enter the stadium.

The second ‘women-only’ games for Islamic countries will take place in Pakistan next year.

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