Chapter Fourteen: To Watch or Not to Watch? The Battle for Middle Eastern Women’s Sporting Rights
This article was first published in The International Sports Law Review.
The struggle for women’s rights to engage in sports and attend sporting events in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia has commanded increased attention as a result of several events: a rejection of an Iranian bid to host an Under-19 men’s volleyball world championship by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) because of the barring of women from stadia; the charging of a British-Iranian woman for attempting to enter a stadium to watch a volleyball game; the presence of Australian women among fans who travelled in November to Saudi Arabia for the Asian Champions League final; and the rare appearance of Saudi women in an all-male stadium in Abu Dhabi…
