Human Rights Watch: Iran should allow women to watch football in stadiums even after the World Cup
Just as they allowed women to sit next to men in the stadium to watch the Iranian national football team’s last two games, Iranian authorities should ensure that women and girls can watch all future men’s sports matches in the country, Human Rights Watch says.
According to Sarah Lee Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch
Recent experience shows how superficial many of the justifications for keeping women out of stadiums have been.
Human Rights Watch has previously held talks with the heads of the international soccer and volleyball federations to pressure the Islamic Republic of Iran to allow women into stadiums.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has banned women from watching matches such as football since the beginning of the revolution.
In the last two decades, officials from the reformist government to the Ahmadinejad government have repeatedly promised to allow women to attend the stadium, but opposition from religious authorities and the Leader of the Islamic Republic has prevented this from happening.
In the last few months, when even Saudi Arabia has allowed women to attend the stadium, Iranian girls have been asking why we are not allowed to attend the stadium.
Government officials say that stadiums are still not equipped for women, a claim that is denied by others.
Source: Voice of America
