۹ فروردین ۱۴۰۳ |۱۸ رمضان ۱۴۴۵ | Mar 28, 2024
This Muslim teen started her own gym classes for women who wear hijabs

The 19-year-old wanted to remove her hijab so she could work out, but she chooses to wear the headscarf in front of men who aren’t her relatives .

Hawzah News Agency - (Southampton - UK) - Hafsah Sharif loves working out – but when she first started on her fitness journey she found it challenging because of her hijab.

The 19-year-old wanted to remove her hijab so she could work out, but she chooses to wear the headscarf in front of men who aren’t her relatives – so gyms and fitness classes were tricky.

She knew that this problem was affecting other women in her community and she wanted to do something about it, so last year she set up women-only classes to provide a safe space for Muslim women to get fit comfortably.

‘My relationship with fitness and exercise began during a stressful period in my life,’ Hafsah tells us. ‘The pressure of exams was getting the better of me, causing a myriad of health problems.

Last year, Hafsah approached Southampton Council’s Youth Forum with a desire to find a space for Muslim women to exercise, but she has since found that female-only spaces in fitness have a much wider appeal.

‘It began when I wanted to start taking exercising seriously myself but realised there was not a lot available to me that accommodated my hijab. However, I quickly realised that this problem wasn’t exclusive to just Muslim women,’ explains Hafsah.

‘During puberty, there is a sharp decrease in the number of girls participating in sport, as they feel uncomfortable in their bodies, but these kinds of insecurities can occur at any age and I believe that having a safe, positive environment to work out in, where women can encourage one another, is the most effective way to motivate yourself to exercise.

‘We decided to do a “This Girl Can Southampton” campaign during the month of September, to not only provided a whole range of women’s-only classes from Pilates to kickboxing, but to also connect women like me throughout the city, so that they could form their own support networks to encourage each other on their fitness journeys.’

Women often report that gyms can be quite hostile spaces, and that they don’t always feel safe and confident. So it is no wonder that the women’s-only classes were an instant hit.

‘The reaction was so positive,’ says Hafsah. ‘Throughout the month of September, we recorded the responses towards the campaign through questionnaires, and the information we collected confirmed my belief that if women’s-only classes were available, the majority would prefer to attend those, regardless of their religion or culture.’

So beyond the practicalities of wearing a hijab, there definitely seems to be a much larger demand for women’s-only classes.

According to Sport England, 40% of women say that they are put off from exercise altogether because of a fear of judgement, and black and Asian women are the groups least likely to get enough physical activity every week.

Hafsah wants to change this, and she thinks that creating accessible spaces for women to exercise without these external pressures and the presence of men could be a huge step forwards.

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