AMMAN — “You shoot like a girl,” — a common phrase that most
have heard while playing sports, as an insult to their skills, technique or
abilities.
اضافة اعلان
And while many, whether men or even women, may take offense
to such words, to national basketball player, Zara Najjar; the comparison is
nothing short of praise.
“It is a privilege to be like a girl, to shoot like a girl,
to run like a girl,” the athlete, who also plays for Jordan’s Orthodox club,
told Jordan News.
She recalled several games where her team’s performance was
described as “masculine” or “manly” as commentators would attempt to compliment
their more impressive plays.
“What’s wrong with
saying this performance is feminine? What’s wrong with shooting like a girl?”,
the athlete questioned.
To change the narrative about what it means to play sports
“like a girl”, Najjar and her long-time friend Ayah Saeed, founded “She Shoots
like a Girl,” a movement and brand that in 2020 set out to shift perceptions of
such sexist phrases.
The movement spreads its message of empowerment through
social media and branded hoodies, and jerseys; calling on women and girls to
“take pride” in who they are.
For Najjar, the most rewarding part of the initiative has
been receiving messages from mothers of young girls who support the movement
and want to wear the jerseys.
“That’s the best part, because that’s the most important
thing for me. I want to make sure that young girls do not feel like they are
any less of an athlete or less of a player just because they are girls,” the
basketballer said.
The “She Shoots like a Girl” Instagram page showcases men
and women of all ages donning the movement’s clothing in a stand against the
misogynistic undertones of those words, which they hope to reclaim and turn
into “a source of confidence, strength, and determination for girls.”
“We need to keep that confidence to keep them in sports,”
Najjar highlighted.
But the pro athlete explained that obstacles standing in the
way of Jordanian and international female athletes go beyond backhanded
compliments.
“There is a massive pay gap between male athletes and female
athletes. With male athletes, their sport is treated as a job, as their
profession and so they get paid as such,” Najjar said, adding that in
comparison, women athletes often have to get second jobs to provide for
themselves.
In the same vein, Najjar noted that funding to women’s teams
is also an issue.
“We have a lack of funding. You find that men are being sent
to camps to train abroad, to (play) in different tournaments, and we just don’t
get that opportunity. The Jordanian national team had even stopped (playing)
for 10 years, up until 2019,” Najjar recounted.
Yet, Najjar has nothing but admiration for female athletes
in Jordan who continue to march forward against all odds.
“For you to be a
female athlete in Jordan means that you are incredibly hard working. It means
you are incredibly determined, you have grit that is unfathomable. For you to
be a female athlete in Jordan, that means you have to push through every single
obstacle that usually tells you to sit down, to not work out, to not be an
athlete.”
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