Saudi stadiums open for first women spectators

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP):

Saudi women were allowed into a sports stadium for the first time yesterday to watch a football match between two local teams though they were segregated in the stands from the male-only crowd with designated seating in the so-called 'family section'.

The move was the first of Saudi Arabia's social reforms planned for this year to ease restrictions on women, spearheaded by the kingdom's 32-year-old crown prince. The kingdom has also announced that starting in June women will be allowed to drive, lifting the world's only ban on female drivers.

More than just an incremental step toward greater rights, the presence of women in the sports stadium underscored a wider effort to integrate women into society and grant them more public visibility in a country where gender segregation is widely enforced and where most women cover their faces and hair with black veils and don loose-flowing black robes, known as abayas.

The first stadium to open its doors to women was in the Red Sea city of Jiddah. The stadium in the capital, Riyadh, will open to women today, followed by the western city of Dammam on Thursday.

At the Jiddah stadium yesterday, young Saudi women wearing bright orange vests over their abayas were deployed to help with the female crowds. "Welcome to Saudi families," read a sign in Arabic erected across the section of the stadium reserved for women.

"It's very festive and very well organised. A lot of people are just really happy to be here. I think there's a lot of excitement when you walk in, especially among the children," said Sarah Swick of the match between Saudi football teams Al-Ahli and Al-Batin.

To prepare for the change, the kingdom designated so-called 'family sections' in the stands for women, separated by barriers from the male-only crowds. The stadiums were also fitted with female prayer areas and restrooms, as well as separate entrances and parking lots for female spectators. Local media said that women would also have their own designated smoking areas.

'Family sections' are ubiquitous across the kingdom, allowing married couples, direct relatives and sometimes groups of friends to sit together, isolated from male-only tables at restaurants and in waiting areas at banks and hospitals. The sections also include women out on their own or in groups with other women.

Although only 20 riyals (US$5) a ticket, the family section for yesterday's match was still less than

half full.