Syria Today | Women Lead the Exercise Revolution

Women Lead the Exercise Revolution

Words Annette Mullaney

People laughed at the idea of women’s football,” Hala Janoud, 28, recalls cheerfully. That was six years ago when Janoud was a founding member of the Damascus women’s football team. In the last year alone her team has competed in tournaments in Dubai, Lebanon and Jordan. No one is laughing now.

Sports, both competitive and non-competitive, are becoming increasingly popular among women of all ages and fitness levels in Syria. While football is still generally considered a ‘boys’ sport’, basketball, volleyball, karate, kickboxing, dance and aerobics are all part of the mainstream.

“It’s more open now, there’s more awareness of sports in the country,” Lama al-Mourtada, an aerobics instructor in Damascus, said. She remembers the raised eyebrows she used to get playing basketball as a child. These days, however, attitudes have changed, as more and more women are turned on to the benefits of exercise.

Wassim Hatahet, general manager of the upscale Barada Club in Damascus, agrees. “Three or four years ago you could say most women didn’t exercise, but not today,” he said.

When Barada opened in 2005, most members were men. Today, 70 to 80 percent are women, thanks to a concerted effort to target them. According to Hatahet, it’s simply better business. “Women care more about exercise, they’re more committed,” he said.

Barada is a mixed gym – outside of women’s only hours, men and women exercise together. Mixed gyms are relatively new and found exclusively in more upmarket areas in the country. The vast majority of gyms in Syria have women’s hours during the morning and men’s after the workday.

“We have to work within the traditions,” Rawan Halabi, 19, said after a women’s aerobics class. And like women all over the world, many female gym goers also prefer to complete their workout in an all women’s environment.

This, however, can make going to the gym difficult for working women. Lena Mesry tapped into this market six years ago by opening Venus, a women’s only gym in the Damascus suburb of Jeramana. Though Mesry’s was the first women’s only gym she knows of in Syria, today there are at least four in Jeramana alone and others scattered around Damascus.

Most women cite weight, whether gaining or losing, as their reason for exercising, with relieving stress a close second.

“A woman in the Arab world has a lot of stress,” al-Mourtada said. “She works, she takes care of the house and raises the children.”

Whatever the purpose, no one can deny the benefits. Suhar Qasim, 49, started aerobics in November to lose weight.

“I used to feel tired after walking a little, but not anymore: I feel lighter, relaxed, more energetic,” she said, face glowing after a session at Venus. “Something inside of me has changed.”