BEIRUT, September 10, 2019 - Everything started in 2014. I obtained my journalist card, ready to conquer the desert with the first steps towards my dream. In fact, there were two dreams; covering a championship as a journalist and watching my favorite football team closely - Real Madrid were playing in the Club World Cup that year.
What happened when I started, happens to most girls who enter the field of football. Many girls in my situation would have surrendered. But I am not accustomed to surrender. It is true that our society and its traditions prevented me from playing the game I like, but I was able to face the world with a strong will and defiance.
This article is intended to shed some light on the masculine perspective towards the field of football and men’s attitudes towards women dealing with sports as players or as journalists covering sports news. Attitudes which are indeed a natural extension of their historical and cultural, perhaps even psychological attitude, towards women in Arab Society.
It has been said that a woman’s field is her house; her kitchen in particular. However, every time women go into the football field or carry a pen to write and analyze football, they excelled and leave a mark. The best proof of this is the French woman Referee Stéphanie Frappart, who managed the European Super Cup without making mistakes.
I am writing this article today from my position as the Regional Manager of the largest Arab newspaper specialized in football and as head of the biggest fan club for Real Madrid in the world, which is bolstered by women's representation in the form of more than 5000 passionate female affiliates.
The work to overcome the male perspective towards female athletes in the Arab world is a battle that concerns not only the woman herself, but it is also a “historical duty for both men and women”.
When I covered the Women’s World Cup recently, what distressed me the most was the absence of Arab women representation due to the lack of attention given to women’s football in our countries.
Whenever there is a willingness for renovation and democratization, there will be bigger chances for women’s liberation and success in all major areas, including sports as players, or as fans.
A quote stuck with me from Ibrahimovic’s autobiography when he said: “You can bring the child out of the neighborhood where he lives, but you can not remove the mentality of the neighborhood from that child.” This relates to every girl.
Here I perpetuate the dream that would not have come true without the persistence to overcome the difficulties. So even if I am told to “go back to the kitchen", football would be my tasteful cuisine.
