What does Taekwondo and Volleyball have in Common? And How does that Relate to Iran?

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Iran's Sara Khosh Jamal wore her headscarf at the Beijing Games last year [GALLO/GETTY

Both taekwondo and volleyball associations have announced that they will allow women wearing hijab to compete.  There is a definite tendency in the West to vilify hijab.  And while I am against women being forced to wear hijab, I am also against women being denied equal rights due to the fact that their head is covered.  Plus sometimes controversies regarding hijab seem more like a ploy to grab attention or score political points among the Islamophobes, then to address real issues of gender discrimination.  Banning women who wear hijab from competing only exacerbate gender discrimination, not diminish it.  I am glad to see that taekwondo and volleyball have ended this discrimination.  These moves allow Iranian women to be able to compete in both these sports.  Iran already has one renowned taekwondo player.  Sara Khosh Jamal reached the quarterfinals of the under 108-pound weight category in the 2007 Olympics.

FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball) president Jizhong Wei announced  on Tuesday that Muslim women are able to participate in the competitions wearing hijab. Speaking in the news conference, Jizhong said, “So many Asian countries have Islamic culture and we respect them.  No woman will be enforced to wear a dress which is discordant with their culture for competitions.” Similarly the WTF (World Taekwondo Federation), which had banned the hijab days before the 2007 Olympics in Beijing after being asked for guidance by the Canadian federation after two Muslim girls were banned from a competition in Quebec, said that it would allow hijab in the competitions.

Picture taken from Al Jazeera.