Woman’s football pioneer
Sahar El-Hawary is the woman's football pionner in the Arab World.
Member of the EFA executive board & Member of the FIFA committee for women's football
First female member of the Egyptian Football Federation
Holder of the 2001 IOC Women and Sport trophy
Introduction : Women's Soccer Egypt
Women’s football in Egypt started in 1993 when Dr Sahar El-Hawary set up her own team. The daughter of a prominent referee, she fought against conservative values which dictated that women should not play. She said “I always dreamt of being a referee. I had patience and guts, and I accepted all sorts of sacrifices to do this.” Now head of the Egyptian Women’s Football Federation and a member of the FIFA Committee for Women’s Football, she takes a hands-on approach with the national team, attending training sessions and supporting players on a personal and professional level.
Initially Dr El-Hawary sourced local talent and young players. At first she used her own money to do this. Gradually the sport developed and grew, and by the late 1990s Dr El-Hawary’s hard work came to fruition when the women’s national team qualified for the Women’s African Cup of Nations.
Now there are three leagues and nearly 20 teams and there are 42 women referees in Egypt, more than in any other country in Africa.
Dr.Sahar El Hawary became the first female member of the Egyptian Football Federation, the first women's referee in Africa, and a member of FIFA .
El-Hawary not only brought women's football to Egypt, but also put Egyptian women's football in the international football arena.
Background : A woman in a male-oriented society
Sahar grew up in a soccer-mad family. Her father was a well-known referee, her brothers were good players and she refused to sit on the sidelines. Patiently, audaciously, one by one, she opened the doors of a world reserved for men.
She said :"My dad was a famed referee in the 1970s and he was the one who inspired me. I was the only girl. I grew up in a soccer family, amongst boys, but I used to stick to my father to imitate him and everything. At that time, there was no women's football when I was in school in eighties. So of course my dad said it's not possible, but he couldn't say impossible because he believed in me and my potentials, and I was the favorite girl for him, so anything I wanted to do or say, he gave me the personality and the power. I think the time will come when women will be football stars just like the men ."
Professional & Personal :Empowerment through football
Dr .Sahar El-Hawary Founder of the women's soccer team in Egypt believes that playing sport is far better for the girls than doing nothing .
"In the early 1990's, I built my own women's football team. I opened up doors for women in my country and beyond its borders, but I faced many barriers; in the beginning, I trained the female players secretly in my parent's villa in Cairo , and I kept going for five years in my house. No one accepted us, no club, nothing. I sponsored the whole thing alone because no one believed in us. Everyone said It's a crazy idea. when I started to show my girls in festivals, every city has a national feast, with my father's good contacts. He was well known all over the country and in the Arab region, so I took this reputation, and I worked with it."
One of the girl’s players said : “ I get lots of teasing from my male friends but I think they will accept it soon.” Just the vision of girls in shorts chasing a ball seemed unimaginable only a short time ago. Sahar’s revolution is built on compromise. She asks her players to wear tights under their shorts, she asks girls who wear the veil to cover only their hair.
El-Hawary is best known for helping create public awareness of women's football. In 1997, she founded the first women's football league in Egypt; organised the first Arab women's football tournament in Egypt with six participating countries.
El-Hawary was instrumental in having girl's football played at schools starting from primary level. And abroad, she helped Jordan organise a women's football tournament in Amman under the auspices of Queen Rania.
Armed with a doctorate from London whose thesis tackled the role of the mass media in promoting women's football in Egypt, she published a report on the problems besetting women's football in developing countries.
As chairwoman of the Arab Women's Football Committee, she has the task of finding ways and means to promote and strengthen women's football organisations in Arab and Islamic countries.
El-Hawary's achievements in the field in which she was honored are many, Sahar's a pioneer, a battler and a survivor .
"I think it's a revolution in the country, in the social strategy, what I did in the start. Forget about the political revolution. What I did was a revolution in the country itself. I faced a lot of challenges in the past 13, 14 years to introduce, to make a national team. We have a national league, we have eight groups now. Lately, my last challenge is the schools. So, once it's in the schools, I won't worry. It's in the system."
Sahar’s crusade has become a family affair. Her son has joined the team.
The Future of Women's soccer in Egypt after the Arab Spring’s Revolution
EL-Hawary knows there's a lot of work to be done. She hopes to strengthen women's rights and women's soccer in the emerging Egypt. She said :"The new stage of the constitution we are confirming, we are working on now, to have an article for sports, a right for everyone- man or woman, abled (sic), or disabled. So, this will be the turning point. We are now clinching to maintaining the activity. Not even to develop it, just maintaining it in this transitional period. We are not yet structured politically. And in a couple of months, we are aiming to make this thing go faster. That's our challenge now. So everything is in the right order. The women in Egypt now won't let anything go back.”
http://www.whoswhoarabwomen.com/profiles.asp?a=164&aa=0
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/23/153512361/soccer-pioneer-builds-her-own-revolution-in-egypt
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/3576573.stm