Born: Unknown (circa 1990), Afghanistan
Died: NA
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
For some, modesty is also a religious or cultural expectation, and being forced to show skin will keep women from participating. Recent years have seen rule changes that enable Muslim women to play, such as allowing full-length sportswear and head coverings in table tennis, basketball, and judo. In 2018, the Afghan women’s football team came under fire for supposed immodesty after some players did not fully cover themselves (i.e. knees were visible between shorts and socks) in a game against Jordan. Leading their critics was a Senior Advisor to Afghanistan’s National Cricket Board who declared anyone who supported women’s rights to participate in sports “damned.” In response, former captain Shamila Kohestani wrote:
When I first began to challenge male dominance in Afghan society by playing football, I faced many acts of discrimination and sexual harassment from many people. When I was the captain of the Afghan Women’s National Football Team, I was slut-shamed and called a prostitute for simply participating in a game that I love. I was humiliated and harassed, not only because I was playing football, but because as a woman I was in a man’s world and that made me a threat.
I always felt that no matter what I did I was failing in being the “good woman”. If I covered my face, people would say that I must be a whore because I’m hiding my face. If I didn’t cover my face and wore a chadar people say I must be looking for a husband. If I didn’t cover my head, many men thought they had the right to insult me because I must be promiscuous. After living in Afghanistan and the United States, I have learned that no matter what women wear, society polices our clothing and judges us constantly.