Jordan's Women Weigh In
The least-expected story out of the Mideast today comes from the BBC, which has discovered "the first women boxers in the Arab Middle East." There's a team training in an Amman gym "with the blessing of the progressive Jordanian Royal Family, which is doing its best to make the country a Middle Eastern beacon of gender equality."
"I am not a bad girl," 17-year-old boxer Sarah Alamiah told the Beeb, "and I don't want people to think I am a bad girl. I just like the sport. I don't care what men think, I will do what I like. And what I want to do most of all is to take the guys on and beat them."
Earlier this year, the BBC reported on boxing Muslim women in Calcutta. The Indians as well as the Jordanians cite Leila Ali (daughter of Mohammed Ali) as their role model.