“Iranians on one side, immigrants on the other!”: socio-cultural constraints to sport participation amongst Afghan women migrants and refugees

ABSTRACT

In this article, we consider the sport experiences (as a form of active leisure) of Afghan women migrants and refugees who reside in Iran. In line with previous leisure constraint models, we theorised that constraints may impact current ‘leisure participants’; therefore, in this study, nine second-generation women were interviewed who were active in sport at the time of the data collection. The interviews aimed to explore the extent to which socio-cultural constraints to sport participation exist, with a particular focus on gender norms and how these may be constrictive to full access and enjoyment of sport spaces. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to create themes from the data set and three findings are presented here. Firstly, gender-based constraints largely deriving from family and culture are explored. Next, resource-based constraints of time and finances are outlined from a gendered perspective. Finally, racist and discriminatory behaviours from others demonstrate the intersectionality of gender and ‘race’, impacting women migrants’ and refugees’ sporting experiences. While sport has the potential to facilitate greater feelings of belonging amongst migrants and refugees, we argue that more needs to be done to consider the complex constraints impacting women, to ensure greater inclusion in sport spaces.

KEYWORDS:

• Refugees
• migrants
• sport
• leisure constraints
• Iran
• Afghanistan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Catherine Phipps

Dr Catherine Phipps is a Senior Lecturer in Education and Sociology at Solent University in Southampton. She completed her PhD at the University of Greenwich in 2019, which explored LGBT+ inclusion in the university sport context. She has since published in the areas of gender, sexuality, and gender identity in the sport and physical education contexts, and has been involved in work aiming to tackle sexual harm in educational settings. At Solent, she teaches on a range of sociology of education and research methods modules.

Ali Afrouzeh

Ali Afrouzeh (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sport Management at Shahid Beheshti University. He obtained his PhD in Sport Management from the University of Tehran. His research interests center around social issues in sport.

Mohammad Pourkiani

Mohammad Pourkiani (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sport Management at Shahid Beheshti University. His research interests include the strategic management practices of sport organizations and various aspects of university sport.

Shakiba Oftadeh-Moghadam

Dr Shakiba Oftadeh-Moghadam is a chartered psychologist and a psychology lecturer with a specific focus on community psychology, as well as sport and exercise psychology. Her research predominantly focuses on mental health literacy and athlete mental health, experiences of women athletes in male dominated sports, human rights violations in sports, and the experiences of marginalised communities, such as refugees and asylum seekers, in their host countries.

Nasrollah Sajjadi

Nasrollah Sajjadi (PhD) is an emeritus professor in sport management at the University of Tehran. His research focus is Olympic studies. He has also served as the team Iran Chef de Mission in five Olympic Games and currently serves as a senior advisor at the Iran National Olympic Committee.