With the world eagerly awaiting FIFA 34, conversation is well underway as to where this coveted tournament should take place. In recent years, Saudi Arabia, a country with a long history of gender inequality and blatant human rights abuses, has expressed an interest in hosting major sporting events. Although the timing of the World Cup is still a few years away, FIFA and the international sports associations must celebrate the sport while also addressing the inequality before the tournament takes place. Due to the issues of gender equality, human rights, and social justice, holding such a prestigious event could send out a wrong message.
Saudi Arabia’s Disastrous Record on Women’s Rights
One of the most convincing arguments for why FIFA 34 should not be held in Saudi Arabia is the country’s shocking record on women’s rights. Despite cosmetic reforms in recent years, Saudi Arabia is still one of the world’s most misogynistic and patriarchal regimes. Women’s rights activists have been imprisoned, women are legally discriminated against in their personal lives and at work.
- Personal Status Law (2022): A law embedding male guardianship, which made it mandatory for women to obtain the consent of a male guardian to undertake basic activities, including travel, marriage, and medical treatment.
- Global Gender Gap Report (2022): Saudi Arabia places 146th out of 156 countries for gender equality, emphasizing its long-standing repression.
Persecution of Women’s Rights Activists
The authoritarian nature of the Saudi regime has resulted in the pervasive oppression of women’s rights activists who dare to raise their voices.
- In 2023, for example, Salma al-Shehab, an academic and women’s rights activist, received a 27-year prison term and travel ban for posting about women’s rights on social media. This came amid a wider crackdown on activists that has escalated in recent years.
- One of them, Nourah al-Qahtani, is a human rights defender who was sentenced to 45 years in prison for posting criticism of the government. Her case, along with that of others, underscores the government’s continued repression of women’s rights.
- Manahel al-Otaibi, a fitness instructor who was jailed for five months for campaigning against the male guardianship system.
These high-profile cases draw attention to the government’s continued repression of women’s rights activists and reflect the severe human rights situation in the country.
Contradictions of Saudi Arabia’s Leadership in Global Women’s Rights Forums
This year, Saudi Arabia chaired the 69th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which has raised serious concerns. This is one of the most important global forums for advancing gender equality and women’s rights. But Saudi Arabia’s selection for chair provides a perverse retrogression behind the objectives of the commission itself. As Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch, correctly said, entrusting a country that is infamous for its use of legal and social means to persecute women to head such a body is the same as “putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank.”
- UN Commission on the Status of Women: The UN’s largest and most influential body exclusively focused on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
- Saudi Arabia’s Chairmanship: Selecting a nation with institutional repression of women runs counter to the commission’s purpose.
The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, founded in 1946, is the world’s premier intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. But despite being in a position to influence global discussions on women’s rights, the Saudi government maintains a legal and social infrastructure that sharply restricts women’s freedoms.
Women in Saudi Arabia continue to be constrained by restrictions on their ability to travel without male permission, accept certain types of jobs, or make independent decisions about their lives. (Human Rights Watch)
Sports and Human Rights: A Delicate Balance
Hosting a high-profile event in a country with such systemic human rights abuses can be seen as tacit acceptance, and ultimately normalization, of such practices. FIFA needs to put the tournament’s moral ramifications at the forefront of this conversation, especially when taking place in a country where women are still struggling for basic freedoms.
- FIFA’s Global Outreach: The reach of the World Cup is a platform to highlight social issues as over 3.5 billion people around the globe are expected to watch the tournament.
- Moral Responsibility: FIFA Should Remember Its Moral Responsibility to the World
The FIFA World Cup is an event that attracts audiences worldwide, with 3.5 billion people watching the 2022 tournament in Qatar alone. It can shape global perceptions and shine a light on what matters. To hold the tournament in Saudi Arabia would be to risk sending the wrong message to the world.
The Global Backlash Against Saudi Arabia’s Gender Apartheid
The global community is already experiencing a troubling spike in misogyny and gender-based violence, as stated by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres at the opening of the 69th session of the CSW. As he correctly put it, “The poison of patriarchy is back with a vengeance.” The resurgence of gender-based violence and discrimination globally — including in places such as Taliban-held Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia — poses an acute threat to international gender equality efforts.
- International Gender Backlash: Increased misogyny and gender based violence, with countries like Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia leading the way.
- Saudi Arabia’s gender apartheid: The country keeps on denying women’s rights in an era of international pressure.
Saudi Arabia’s treatment of women has long been a flashpoint, and any international event hosted by the kingdom could lend legitimacy to its gender apartheid. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2022 notes that despite the advances in the kingdom, it still has a significant gender gap in economic participation, educational attainment, and political empowerment. The data reveals a continuity of a systematic problem, which should not be overlooked in the discourse surrounding where global events are held.
A Step Backwards for Progress
FIFA 34 must not take place in Saudi Arabia due to the country’s treatment of women and its persistent human rights abuses. There is an increase in gender inequality around the world, and FIFA has to be aware of this. Hosting the World Cup in Saudi Arabia would be a regressive step in the fight for gender equality and human rights and would send the wrong message to millions of fans worldwide.
As we envision a future that is defined by equality and justice in all areas of our society, FIFA must choose a path that is in line with a global commitment to human rights and dignity. Doing so, its host country must champion these values: not merely an option, but a prerogative.