Through Rose-Tinted Glasses

Abstract

‘Modern sport’ has been held to be one of the derivative of the Modernity agenda (Hargreaves, 2001), a tidal wave of intellectual and political change that swept most of the Western Europe in the 17 th century. Few societies had resisted the transition to Modernity as the Muslim. Modern sport poses challenges to Muslim athletes, in that it conflicts with Muslim practices (Haji Omar & Gilbert, 2000). Women issues on the other hand took shape amidst the typically patriarchal policy development processes, whether it is within the religious, socio-legal, cultural, economic or political context (Abdullah, 2003; Omar & Hamzah, 2003). In the study of women, few would draw much controversy than the study of Muslim women. The image of a ‘burka’-clad individual isolated from the rest of the world is perhaps the most common association made of a Muslim female. This paper would focus on ascertaining the role of Malaysian Muslim women through evaluation of the experiences of Muslim women as sport managers within the structure of the local sport governance. The discourse would also draw on the literatures of the women and sport in the West as comparison (Radzi 2006; Riphenburg, 1998; Roded, 1999; Sfeir, 1985; Stowasser, 1998; Walseth & Fasting, 2003)