The warning “Girls Only” - formerly a sign reserved for tree houses and Girl Scout meetings - is now catching on at university gyms.
After six Muslim students at Harvard petitioned to the administration early this semester, the university began holding female-only gym hours in order to accommodate religious beliefs that prevent women from exercising in the presence of men.
At Harvard, the new program has been implemented in an experimental stage, during which its least popular gym is closed for six hours per week.
For Muslim women who must cover their hair, arms and legs in the presence of men, it is uncomfortable to work out while wearing faith-appropriate clothing. Shareda Hosein, Tufts’ Muslim chaplain, said that the women-only gym hours allow Muslim women to wear standard workout attire.
“The body positions while using [exercise] equipment bring emphasis to the body that women adhering to the Muslim faith don’t want,” Hosein said. “With an all-female environment, [Muslim women] can go into the gym without their headdress and do the exercises in normal gym wear. It gives them the ability to have a good and normal workout.”
But at Tufts, officials say that a lack of facilities would prevent the university from offering women private gym time.
Assistant Director of Athletics Branwen Smith-King said that the issue has not been raised by students at Tufts yet and that Harvard’s multiple gym facilities work well to accommodate such a policy.
“We haven’t had any requests here,” Smith-King said. “Our biggest problem is that we don’t have the same facilities.”
For Muslim women at Tufts, female-only gym hours would present a welcome opportunity to increase physical activity.
“It makes me uncomfortable for men to be around,” said Samina Hossain, a Muslim sophomore. “I would be [going to the gym] more often if they were not there.”
Hossain, who currently wears pants, long sleeves and a bandana when she works out at Cousens Gym, said that the Tufts community might initially be hesitant to accept such a policy.
“Some people might find it hard to adjust to at first, so the reaction would be negative initially,” she said. “But in the long run, it will be very inclusive and a positive idea.”
According to Hosein, the concept of female-only gym hours has been popular at public gyms for years, but it wasn’t until recently that universities began to recognize the need to follow suit.
“It’s a new phenomenon at the university level,” Hosein said. “Previously, Muslim women found comfort in the Jewish community and at the YMCA, where women have been able to contract special hours for swimming.”
Hosein cited the health-conscious nature of today’s college students as one reason for such a trend.
“There is a higher demand for exercise in this generation,” Hosein said. “We are starting to see [gyms recognize this demand] because Muslim women are pushing the envelope. Muslim women are part of society and society is changing.”
While Tufts has not implemented all-female gym hours, the school has begun to offer exercise classes such as “Strength Training for Women” in order to make females feel more comfortable in classes that have traditionally been dominated by men.
“We noticed the weight-training class here is mostly male,” Smith-King said. “Since we try to make classes more diverse, this semester we tried out a new class by the field hockey coach [Tina McDavitt] ... So maybe they won’t feel as intimidated by it.”
Smith-King also said that Tufts works to include men in similar ways; since some view yoga as a feminine activity, Tufts hired a male instructor to teach power yoga classes. Since then, Smith-King said, yoga classes have seen an increase in male enrollment.