Women Get Fit in Kabul

From the outside, there’s no hint that what lies beyond the glass door is anything other than what the red sign out front indicates: a beauty salon.

But inside, there is not only a modern salon for haircuts, makeup and nails, used most often by brides and their attendants, but also Afghanistan's first fitness club for women of all ages, single and married, to get in shape.

Six heavyset women, wearing jackets, trousers and sneakers, are huffing and puffing on machines as soft western-style instrumental music plays in the background. The 20 square-metre club has 13 machines - stationary bikes, treadmills, thigh and abdominal exercise machines - and free weights.

Since the fall of the Taleban, young women in Afghanistan have been gaining opportunities to get involved in sports. Since mid 2003, 62 clubs, representing 14 different types of sport, have opened across the country –11 in the provinces of Balkh, Herat, Kandahar, Kunduz, Baghlan and Parwan and the rest in Kabul.

But the sport clubs, which include karate, judo, track, football, handball, tennis, volleyball, basketball, ping-pong, kick-boxing, and tennis, have been attended largely by single girls interested in joining a local team or evening making sports their career.

Now, at this new fitness club in Kabul - the only one of its kind in the country - married women with no interest and no real opportunity to join a sports team have a chance to exercise for health and beauty reasons.

The capital may be the most progressive place in the country for women, but Nima Sooratgar, the 20-something owner of the facility, believes society still isn’t ready for this kind of a fitness club. That’s why she keeps the name and location of the facility a secret. Also, she said she’s able to save money that way by renting space from a beauty salon for 800 US dollars a month.

Sooratgar, a teacher trainer at the Kabul Pedagogy institute, invested 1,500 dollars of her own and her family’s money to establish the club in December and said her husband supported her business endeavour. She said that while most of her clients are like herself, married women with children who want to be fit and beautiful, unmarried women who are interested in getting in shape to join sports teams also use the facility.

She charges 50 dollars a month, 2,500 afghanis, for club membership, although she often accepts less from those unable to afford the steep fee. Because of this she can’t always meet her monthly expenses. She said she currently has about 15 regular customers, and would like to expand to other locations when she can afford it.

"We don't dare to name our club, because people would think negative things, and our fitness club could be bombed and all of us killed,” said Shakila, 35, who works for a non-governmental organisation, and was exercising at the club.

She said that in the late Eighties, she maintained a weight of about 40 kilogrammes by playing volleyball and basketball. Since then, however, with no opportunities to exercise, her weight has dramatically increased.

"After the mujahedin took over [in 1992], I got married,” she said. “I didn't have anything else to do except to eat and sleep, and have a baby, and eventually my weight reached 84 kilogrammes.

Since joining the fitness club in December, she said he had already lost 10 kilogrammes, and her aches and pains from lack of exercise are gone.

Another club member, Nahid Sediqi, 31, head of the United Afghan Trading Company, also fears for her life, but is glad it’s inconspicuous. "Not many people can see us going in and out of the club,” she said.

When ask by a reporter what they thought about a women’s fitness club being located in their neighbourhood, several shopkeepers expressed concern.

Abdul Ghani, 45, who runs a convenience store nearby, said he wouldn’t allow female family members attend such a club, explaining that the time isn’t right for women to exercise in a public place.

“People will not agree with it,” he said.

Wahid, a neighbouring flower-shop owner, explained, “We feel endangered by those who may be against women going to this club. Our city isn’t absolutely safe."

Jawed, another flower-seller, cautioned, "If the club is used merely for fitness purposes it is a good thing, but if something negative comes out of the club, we will see ourselves in danger as well."

A local mullah also expressed his disapproval of such a fitness centre.

"If a women or girl gets a chance to spend time outside for sport or entertainment, she may make immoral bonds," said Mullah Mohammad Shoaib of Kabul, referring to the potential for out-of-wedlock sexual relations between women and men.

Shamsulhayat Alam, head of the women's branch of National Olympic Committee of Afghanistan, said she had been unaware that such a fitness centre existed but said she believed such a facility “will provide opportunities among the married wives that have less freedom of movement, and we will support them”.

Robina Muqimyar, the 100-metre distance runner who made headlines when she participated in the 2004 Athens Olympics, told IWPR she's very happy the new club exists.

"How long should we women sit at home and not exercise? Women, too need exercise," she said. "Athletic women can play a vital role in the happiness of a family.”

Najiba, 45, a club member who is a teacher at the Kabul Pedagogy Institute agreed with Muqimyar.

"Today's girls are tomorrow's mothers; tomorrow’s healthy sons need healthy mothers," she said. She wants more girls and women to exercise and wants the ministry of education to pay serious attention to fitness issues.

Hashmatullah, a schoolteacher who was walking by the club, said that - put that way - he could accept the existence of such clubs.

“If we want to have healthy society, we should have healthy mothers,” he said. “If we want to have healthy mothers, we should allow sport into our homes and encourage them to exercise so we'll have a healthy generation in the future.”

Mohammad Jawad Sharifzada is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul. Suhaila Muhseni, an IWPR reporter in Kabul, also contributed to this report.