Egyptian women challenging social norms by practicing Parkour
In Cairo, a group of Egyptian women gather every week at an abandoned park in the city and practice parkour, a sport which involves running, climbing and jumping acrobatically. These women are standing up to the conservative societal norms.
The sport of Parkour
Founded in France in the 1980s by Raymond Belle, and later taking its name from the French word “parcours” (course or route), Parkour is a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training. It involves running, climbing and jumping acrobatically, often around buildings and over terrain.
Parkour in Egypt
Parkour is mostly practiced by men in Egypt, however since the creation of Parkour Egypt in 2007, the first organized Parkour team in Egypt, women have also started practicing the sport, guided by their coach Mohamed Omran.
It is normally uncommon for women to play such sports on the streets in Egypt. But thanks to parkour, things are changing. During the trainings, women train hard on climbing obstacles, landing correctly after jumps and seeing opportunities in buildings around them.
/arc-anglerfish-tgam-prod-tgam.s3.amazonaws.com/public/2ILHXFN35NPDPLIHLKDCSAQTCE.JPG?ssl=1 "An Egyptian woman from Parkour Egypt \"PKE\" practices her parkour skills")
According to coach Omran “things are already starting to look up as the number of women participating has increased. “Women are now training and more women are starting to come (…) “As the sport spreads the acceptance of women training increases and it is not unusual for women to have a team and train,” he added.
Parkour in Cairo
Outside Africa, Parkour is only starting to get recognition. Indeed, last year, Britain became the first country to officially recognize parkour as a sport. While Egypt doesn’t yet recognize parkour as a sport, women are training very hard every week, with the eventual aim of forming the first professional Parkour team in Egypt.
Source: Reuters
