In an effort to slowly increase women's rights and participation in the extremely conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia, girls in private schools are now allowed to play sports for the first time.

This was announced by the official press agency of Saudi Arabia, SPA, in a decision released Saturday permitting Saudi Arabian private girls' schools to conduct sports activities provided they conform to the rules of Shariah or the Islamic law. Among other rules, girls are required to strictly adhere to the dress code for women, while first priority will be given to Saudi women teachers in supervising the sports activities.

The breakthrough decision comes after almost a year of seeing two female athletes from Saudi Arabia appear in a historic first time in the Olympics. Many believe that this only reinforces something that is already obvious, that sports makes for an influential stage to promote and improve lives particularly women's rights.

Aziza Youssef, a professor at King Saud University, says "It's about time." "Everything is being held back in Saudi Arabia as far as women's rights." She hastens to add that the health and well-being of their women will be adversely affected if restrictions are continually placed on sports.

Youssef believes that the decision to allow girls to play sports is just a chunk of a bigger package and one of the many reforms that the women of Saudi Arabia can still expect. She considers it a monumental leap that will affect not just private schools but also the universities and public schools which are likewise gender-segregated.

The decision comes after the Human Rights Watch, through a 52-page report tackling the state of women sports in Saudi Arabia, urged the government to review and benchmark its physical education program for women. The organisation asked the government to formulate and implement a public awareness campaign educating girls' about their right to physical education.

"Although religious views opposing prohibition on women's participation in sport are less frequently pronounced than those in favour, government policy is only inching toward realising women's right to sport rather than taking bold steps to realise it," the report said.

According to Mohammed Al-Dakhini, spokesperson of Education Ministry in Saudi Arabia, the decision "stems from the teachings of our religion, which allow women such activities in accordance with Shariah."

In the past, some private schools had been quietly allowed by the government to conduct physical education even without a set curriculum.

In Saudi, the government has a role and influence in private schools by providing them text books and representation in the school's board of directors.

Sports for women

For a long time now, only the elite women who could afford extravagant health club memberships could play and engage in sports in Saudi Arabia. It was largely a pastime for these moneyed belles who frequented women's gyms until 2010. Now, these health clubs are often attached to hospitals after the gyms were closed three years ago on the account that they were operating without licenses.

Women's sports have remained almost a hush-hush activity in the kingdom which is deemed as the Mecca's holiest site.

Women athletes are not allowed to sign up for league competitions or even sports clubs. They are also forbidden to enter national trials, making it fully impossible to qualify and participate in international competitions.

That was until 2012 when Saudi Arabia acted upon the intense pressure from the International Olympic Committee and allowed two women athletes to compete in the London Olympics. This ended the kingdom's age-long practice of sending only a male contingent to the games. Still, the women's participation in the games was not aired on local TV stations.

Monarch's contributions

To the credit of the monarch, it is the reigning King Abdullah who is seen advancing these reforms for Saudi Arabia's women population. His predecessors likewise made efforts in the past into modernizing the country. In fact, in the 1950s, it was King Faisal's wife who put up the very first school for girls in Saudi.

But the endeavour seems to come not without some difficulty. Today, the monarch is faced with orders from dominant and influential senior Saudi ministers who strongly disagree with women being allowed to engage in any kind of sports activity. For them, women should turn away from public roles and participation to remain safe from harassment.

Interestingly, though, the number of women professionals in Saudi Arabia is increasing, with thousands of females now working as doctors and professors. In fact, in 2015, women will also be allowed to run for public office for the first time in the municipal elections.