Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet appointed a prominent princess to head a new department for women under the Kingdom’s General Authority for Sports in a move that could signal greater female access to sports.
The announcement, made after the weekly Cabinet session Monday evening, offered no details about Princess Reema bin Bandar’s role.
“I am honored to serve my nation,” SPA quoted Princess Reema as saying.
The Kingdom is sending four female athletes to the Olympic Games in Rio, marking the second time that Saudi women will participate in the Olympics.
These sportswomen include marathon runner Sarah Al-Attar, judoka Wujud Fahmi, fencer Lubna Al-Omair and 100m runner Cariman Abu Al-Jadail.
Both Attar and Fahmi were returning to the Games after they became the country’s first female Olympians in London four years ago.
In a first in 2014, a Saudi state school introduced sports for girls, after a call for lifting a ban on women in sports.
The General Authority for Sports’ website lists no details about its activities or mission. A separate government portal shows the agency is responsible for issuing licenses to establish new sports centers and handles youth registration in sports.
In a decree in May, King Salman ordered the General Presidency for Youth Welfare to be renamed the General Authority for Sports. The former body had sponsored cultural and sports activities for youth.
In April last year, the king sacked the most senior woman in government, Nora Al-Fayez, from her post as deputy education minister for girls. She was strongly pushing to try to get physical education on the curriculum for girls in public schools.
Princess Reema, whose father Prince Bandar bin Sultan served as Saudi ambassador to Washington for more than two decades until 2005, is a graduate of George Washington University with a degree specializing in museum studies, Islamic art and architecture. In the Kingdom, she is widely known for having served as chief executive officer of the upscale Harvey Nichols department store in the capital, Riyadh, which was among the first retailers to hire women as sales clerks.

Source: Arab News