Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Women in Saudi Arabia have watched football in a stadium in the Kingdom for the first time.

Saudi Arabia has for the first time allowed women to spectate at a football match, part of an easing of strict rules on gender separation by the ultra-conservative Muslim country.

Women fans filed into a stadium in the city of Jeddah on Friday, through family gates into family seating.

But even segregated as they were, their presence in the stadium marked a significant moment for the Kingdom.

It follows a series of reforms intended to modernise the country.

Earlier on Friday, ahead of the football game, there was another small sign of change: the country's first car showroom dedicated to female customers was opened.

For the first time, women will this June be allowed to get behind the wheel, after it was announced in September that a ban on women drivers would be lifted.

Women at the car showroom milled around inspecting vehicles that they will be allowed to take out on the road when the ban ends.

At the stadium in Jeddah, female ushers were employed to greet the women fans and their families, who loudly cheered on the local team. Both ushers and fans wore the traditional black abaya robe.

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A hashtag, translated as "the people welcome the entry of women into stadiums", was used tens of thousands of times in two hours as the match took place.

Lamya Khaled Nasser, a 32-year-old football fan from Jeddah, told AFP she was proud and looking forward to the match.

"This event proves that we are heading for a prosperous future. I am very proud to be a witness of this massive change," she told the AFP news agency.

Ruwayda Ali Qassem, another Jeddah resident, said it was a "historic day in the kingdom which culminates (in) ongoing fundamental changes".

"I am proud and extremely happy for this development and for the kingdom's moves to catch up with civilised measures adopted by many countries," she said.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Supporters arrive at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah for Friday's game

The Saudi government said last week women would be allowed to attend a second match on Saturday and a third next Thursday.

Ahead of the game on Friday, clubs took to Twitter to encourage women to attend, with some even offering the traditional abaya robe in team colours.

Saudi Arabia's royal family and religious establishment adhere to an austere form of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, and Islamic codes of behaviour and dress are strictly enforced.

Under Saudi Arabia's guardianship system, women must be accompanied by a male family member to travel, and work. Most restaurants and cafes have two sections, one for just men and one for families, which are for women and their husbands and families.

There are many things that Saudi women are still unable to do without permission from the men in their lives, including:

Apply for passports

Travel abroad

Get married

Open a bank account

Start certain businesses

Get elective surgery

Leave prison

The recent reforms are part of a gradual process of modernisation under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is attempting to make the Kingdom more moderate.

A decades long ban on cinemas was lifted in December as part of the crown prince's vision to boost the country's entertainment industry. The move followed the country's first Comic Con convention in Jeddah in February.

However there has been some opposition to the reforms by Saudi clerics and conservative members of society. They believe the morals of Saudi citizens will be corrupted and they have challenged perceptions of Islamic and national identity.</s>Saudi Arabia allows women at football game for first time

Saudi Arabia has for the first time allowed women to spectate at a football match, part of an easing of strict rules on gender separation by the ultra-conservative Muslim country, BBC reports.

Women fans filed into a stadium in the city of Jeddah on Friday, through family gates into family seating.

But even segregated as they were, their presence in the stadium marked a significant moment for the Kingdom.

It follows a series of reforms intended to modernise the country.

Earlier on Friday, ahead of the football game, there was another small sign of change: the country's first car showroom dedicated to female customers was opened.

For the first time, women will this June be allowed to get behind the wheel, after it was announced in September that a ban on women drivers would be lifted.

Women at the car showroom milled around inspecting vehicles that they will be allowed to take out on the road when the ban ends.

At the stadium in Jeddah, female ushers were employed to greet the women fans and their families, who loudly cheered on the local team. Both ushers and fans wore the traditional black abaya robe.

A hashtag, translated as "the people welcome the entry of women into stadiums", was used tens of thousands of times in two hours as the match took place.

Lamya Khaled Nasser, a 32-year-old football fan from Jeddah, told AFP she was proud and looking forward to the match.

"This event proves that we are heading for a prosperous future. I am very proud to be a witness of this massive change," she told the AFP news agency.

Ruwayda Ali Qassem, another Jeddah resident, said it was a "historic day in the kingdom which culminates (in) ongoing fundamental changes".</s>Saudi Arabia has allowed women to enter stadiums to watch men’s football matches for the first time in the kingdom’s history as the ultra-conservative kingdom eases the strict rules separating the sexes.

Saudi women were in the stands to watch Al-Ahli versus Al-Batin face each other in the city of Jeddah on Friday, just months before the national team kick off the FIFA 2018 World Cup against host Russia, in the opening match of the tournament on June 14 at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

Until then, women had been prohibited from watching men’s football matches, even those in which their spouses, sons or relatives played. Women will now be allowed to attend the matches, but will have to sit in segregated areas away from men, and must wear loose-fitting, full-length robes known as ‘abayas,’ as well as a headscarf, if they are Muslim.

The Kingdom’s General Sports Authority announced in October that stadiums in Jeddah, Dammam, and Riyadh will be set up to accommodate families starting in 2018. The move comes as part of a wave of additional rights being granted to women in response to intense pressure from activists. The notorious driving ban on women was lifted in September 2017, and this week Saudi Arabia will host its first ever women’s squash tournament.

The initiative to allow women into stadiums is part of the government’s Vision 2030 program, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and aimed at giving more freedom to women.

READ MORE: Iranian women excluded as Syrian women watch World Cup qualifier in stadium

Under his guidance, some aspects of the kingdom’s guardianship system – which has aligned the country with a strict form of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, and under which a woman must have a male companion with her in public at all times – have become more relaxed.

Despite the breakthrough, there are still a host of basic human rights denied to women without the permission of a man, including applying for a passport, travelling abroad, and getting married.</s>Women attend Football Matches in Saudi Arabia for the First Time

Female football fans entered a stadium in Saudi Arabia’s western city of Jeddah on Friday, becoming the first women to attend a football match in the conservative kingdom. Women wearing green and white scarves to represent their team colours lined up to enter the stadium, images posted by Saudi newspaper Okaz on Twitter showed. Some […]

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This post was syndicated from BellaNaija. Click here to read the full text on the original website.</s>Female football fans entered a stadium in Saudi Arabia’s western city of Jeddah on Friday, becoming the first women to attend a football match in the conservative kingdom.

 Women wearing green and white scarves to represent their team colours lined up to enter the stadium, images posted by Saudi newspaper Okaz on Twitter showed.

 Some pictures showed women with children entering the stadium, where signs were posted to indicate an entrance for families.

 Some 10,000 seats have been allocated for women and families in King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah for the domestic league match between al-Ahly and al-Baten – one of three games that Saudi authorities said women would be allowed to attend this month.

 Women will also be allowed to attend a match on Saturday in the capital Riyadh and on January 18 in the eastern city of Dammam.

 At least 1,200 tickets have been bought by women and families for Friday’s game, Saudi newspaper Okaz reported, citing a sales official.

 “We expect the sales to rise in the hours ahead of the match,” said Adel Kabli, the operating manager of e-ticket vendor Makani.

 Both teams sold female shirts at discount prices to attract women supporters, Saudi media reported.

 Football is the number one sport in Saudi Arabia, where the national team qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

 In October, the Saudi General Sports Authority, a state agency, announced that three stadiums, up to now male-only facilities, would be prepared to be ready for families, including the allocation of special places for seating and entrances.

 In September, Saudi King Salman bin Abdelaziz announced that women would be allowed to drive starting from June, a move that ended a long ban.

 Powerful Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is believed to have championed lifting the ban as he is seeking to open up the country and revamp its international image.</s>For the first time in Saudi Arabia’s history, women will be allowed to enter a sports stadium on Friday to watch a football match, AP reported. However, they will be segregated by barriers from the male crowd, and allowed to sit in the “family section”.

The kingdom’s General Sports Authority had made the announcement in October 2017. Women spectators will enter the King Fahd stadium in Riyadh to watch the football match between Al-Ahli and Al-Batin as part of the Saudi Professional League. The stadiums in Jeddah and Dammam will follow suit on Saturday and on January 18.

The stadiums have been equipped with female prayer rooms, restrooms and separate entrances and parking lots for women spectators, according to AP. The women are expected to wear loose-fitting, full-length robes as well as headscarf if they are Muslim, BBC reported.

Saudi Arabia is infamous for its rules against women. The World Economic Forum in 2016 had ranked the kingdom 141st out of 144 on gender parity, The Guardian reported.

In October 2017, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had vowed to focus on eradicating extremism within his kingdom and a return to “moderate Islam”. He said the country was “not like this in the past”. “We will eradicate the remnants of extremism very soon,” he had said. “We represent the moderate teachings and principles of Islam.”

Ever since, he has been easing restrictions on Saudi women. In September 2017, it was announced that women will be allowed to drive from June 2018 for the first time in the kingdom. In December, the kingdom had said that the ban on movie theatres will be lifted in 2018.</s>Female fans are expected at a stadium in the western Saudi city of Jeddah later on Friday, marking the first time women have been allowed to attend football matches in the conservative kingdom.

Some 10,000 seats have been allocated for women and families in King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah for the domestic league match between al-Ahly and al- Baten.

It is one of three games that Saudi authorities said women would be allowed to attend this month.

The two others will be held on Saturday and January 18 in the capital Riyadh and the eastern city of Dammam respectively.

At least 1200 tickets have been bought by women and families for Friday's game, Saudi newspaper Okaz reported, citing a sales official.

"We expect the sales to rise in the hours ahead of the match," Adel Kabli, the operating manager of Makani, an e-ticket site, said.

Both teams have put on sale female shirts with their distinct colours at discount prices to attract women supporters, Saudi media reported.

Football is the No.1 sport in Saudi Arabia, who have also qualified for the World Cup in Russia.

In October, the Saudi General Sports Authority, a state agency, announced that three stadiums, up to now male-only facilities, would be prepared to be ready for families, including the allocation of special places for seating and entrances.

In September, Saudi King Salman bin Abdelaziz announced that women would be allowed to drive starting from next June, a move that ended a long ban.

Powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is believed to have championed lifting the ban as he is seeking to open up the country and revamp its international image.</s>For the first time in Saudi Arabia, women were allowed to attend a men’s football match at King Abdullah Stadium on Friday.

The women showed up in the stadium with their spouses and children to support al-Ahli and al-Batin football clubs.

The General Sports Authority announced in October that stadiums in Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh will be set up to accommodate families starting in 2018.

"Today the percentage of those who participate in exercise and sports is only 13 percent. We aim god willing to raise it to 40 percent by 2030, through several events, and today's is one of these events, the first event that the federation is doing," head of a sports organization, Yayfaa al-Sabban, said as quoted by Reuters.

Those who attended the event called it a positive step in their lives.

“This step is a positive step for the Kingdom, led by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. When you give women the chance to share attending game with men, this first of all reinforces allowing women to participate in matches, and secondly gives support to the team and the players, so that everyone, the whole community, shares the games with them," said Faisal bin Sibhan, an attendee.

"Honestly this decision should have happened a long time ago. But thank god that it came at the right time, and hopefully what's to come is even more beautiful for women," said Muneera al-Ghamdi, a resident of Jeddah city.

The two citizens were quoted in a report by Reuters.

The decision to allow women to attend a mixed public sporting event is one of many changes the country has undergone in recent months, hailed as proof of a new progressive trend in the deeply conservative Muslim Kingdom, Reuters said in a report.</s>JEDDAH - Women flocked to Le Mall in Jeddah on Thursday (Jan 11) to check out the kingdom's first car exhibition aimed at women, a few months after Saudi Arabia granted them the right to drive.

Pink, orange and yellow balloons hung in the mall's showroom as women posed for photos and selfies in front of the cars. One woman in the driver's seat fixed her face cover. Another wrapped her turquoise-painted fingernails around the steering wheel, feeling it out.

In a decree issued in September, King Salman ordered by June an end to the ban on women drivers, a conservative tradition that has limited women's mobility and been seen by rights activists as an emblem of their suppression.

Saudi Arabia is the only country that bans women drivers. The landmark royal decree has been hailed as proof of a new progressive trend in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 32, is the face of that change.

Many young Saudis regard his recent ascent to power as proof their generation is taking a central place in running a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the old and blocked women's progress.

"I've always been interested in cars, but we didn't have the ability to drive," said Ghada al-Ali, a customer. "And now I'm very interested in buying a car but I would like the payments and prices to not be very high."

Saudi Arabia's cost of living has risen after the government hiked domestic gas prices and introduced value-added tax (VAT) in January.

The exhibition focused on fuel-efficient cars and provided a team of saleswomen to help their new customer base.

The showroom carried signs emblazoned with the slogan "Drive and Shop", a play on words in Arabic, using the female form of the verbs.

"It is known that women are the largest section who shop in malls," said Sharifa Mohammad, the heads the exhibition's saleswomen."This whole mall is run by women anyway. All the cashiers are women. Everyone in the restaurants are women."</s>The easing of the strict gender segregation was announced in October 2017 as part of the ambitious reforms by Mohammed bin Salman, the 32-year-old crown prince.

On Friday, the women entered Pearl stadium, in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, through a special gate, while male supporters filed in through a separate entrance.

Saudi Arabia, which has some of the world's tightest restrictions on women, has long barred them - among other things - from sports arenas through strict rules that keep the sexes apart in public.

Glass panels were set up to separate men supporters from the women and family section of the stadium on Friday.

Under Saudi Arabia's existing guardianship system, a male family member - normally the father, husband or brother - must grant permission for a woman to study, travel and take part in a host of other activities.

Friday's match was the first in a series that will be open to women: a second is due to take place on Saturday and a third on 18 January.

And in June authorities are lifting a ban on Saudi women driving.
For the first time, Saudi Arabia allows women to spectate at football matches, part of an easing of strict rules on gender separation by the ultra-conservative Muslim country.