RIYADH: Pounding on a cross-trainer in a Riyadh gym, Heelah Abdulaziz is one of many Saudi women hoping the licensing of female-only gyms from next month is another step toward further improving the lives of women in the Kingdom.
Gyms for women are being encouraged for the first time due to licensing of female-only gyms by the General Authority of Sports last year.
The licensing, which was anounced last month, opens the doors for girls to live a healthy lifestyle and sidesteps the sensitive women’s rights debate.
A spokeswoman for the sports authority told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that licenses would be granted from April to boost the sports economy, which does not just impact physical activity but also employment and business opportunities.
For Abdulaziz, 39, allowing gyms for women — although they are still banned from competitive sports — made sense, with around 44 percent of women classified as obese in Saudi Arabia, which has some of the world’s highest rates of obesity and diabetes.
“We’ll get a lot more gyms. They’ll compete and get cheaper so more women can come,” she said at a NuYu fitness center, dressed in colorful workout gear rather than the head-to-toe black garment women, including foreigners, must wear in public.
“I didn’t have sport at school, but I got interested after having children and wanting to lose weight. I tried to exercise at home,” said Abdulaziz, who lost 15kg (33 pounds) in a year due to exercising.
Until now, the only gyms accessible to women were found in women’s centers, which would only get licenses if their main purpose was not exercise but as a spa or retail operation. Any centers found breaching that rule were closed down.
This left commercially run gyms catering to privately run women’s sports teams or middle-class women able to pay $200 monthly membership operating in legal limbo for years.
Susan Turner, chief executive of the NuYu chain set up by Princess Sara Mohammad Al-Saud in 2012 as the Kingdom’s first chain of female fitness centers, said licensing will lower costs, fuel expansion and improve standards. NuYu now has five centers, and is set to expand to eight this year.
But Turner said a major drawback was the ability to get staff locally, as sport is not mandatory in girls’ schools and physical education is not a career choice for Saudi women.
“At the moment we have to bring Western trainers to Saudi, but if we can train local women this will bring costs down and help staff more gyms,” Turner told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that NuYu planned to set up an academy for this.
“It is amazing that we get women coming in here in their 30s who have never moved their bodies on purpose... This is a culture that is very fast-food driven.”
This is in line with the government’s Vision 2030 released last year, which argues the need for a healthier society and an economy more inclusive of women.
In a break from lifting weights, Rahaf Naasani, 27, said women needed gyms in Saudi Arabia to be healthy and fit.
“There’s nowhere to work out outside, and the main activity otherwise revolves around food,” said Naasani, a mother of 6-year-old twins, who moved to Riyadh from Syria seven years ago.
Saudi women hope green light to hit the gym will improve lives
Saudi women hope green light to hit the gym will improve lives
How Saudi Arabia’s five Founding Day symbols tell a 299-year story
- The flag, the palm, the Arabian horse, the souq and the falcon are symbols that connect Saudi Arabia to its roots
- Researcher Ismail Abdullah Hejles explains how the Kingdom’s symbols anchor identity, heritage and continuity
RIYADH: As Saudi Arabia prepares to mark its 299th anniversary this Founding Day — commemorating the establishment of the First Saudi State by Imam Muhammed bin Saud in 1727 CE — the moment invites reflection not only on history, but on the symbols that distill that history into enduring meaning.
Beyond ceremony and celebration, the Kingdom’s official Founding Day emblems tell a deeper story: of survival in a harsh landscape, of state-building against the odds, and of values carried forward across nearly three centuries. Together, they form a visual language that binds past to present and projects confidence into the future.
The five Founding Day symbols — the green flag, the palm tree, the Arabian horse, the souq, and the falcon — do not serve a purely celebratory function, Ismail Abdullah Hejles, a Saudi researcher in traditional architecture, told Arab News. Rather, they carry an intellectual and cultural role that connects society to its roots.
“Nations that understand their symbols and identity understand themselves and are better equipped to continue their journey with confidence and balance,” he said.
The Saudi flag, a representation of unity and sovereignty, embodies the values upon which the state was founded and reflects the continuity of the nation, linking its past to its present. The current design was adopted in 1937, refining historical banners from the first and second Saudi states.
The Shahada, the Islamic declaration of faith, symbolizes the Kingdom’s foundation on Islamic values, while justice and safety are echoed through the sword, which represents the unification of the Kingdom during the reign of the late King Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
The flag’s green color is traditionally associated with Islam, reflecting continuity and faith as central pillars of the Saudi state.
Additionally, the palm tree and the crossed swords — now synonymous with Saudi Arabia — officially appeared in the Kingdom’s emblem around 1950 following unification. Together, they express strength, justice, and the protection of unity.
“The choice was not arbitrary,” Hejles said. “It brought together strength (the sword) and life and sustainability (the palm). It reflects a careful balance of firmness and generosity.”
The palm tree’s symbolic presence, however, predates the modern state, stretching back to the ancient civilizations of the Arabian Peninsula.
“In the simple oases, the palm tree was life, and the swords were dignity. The palm offered shade and sustenance, the swords protected the land and the name. Between the shade of the palm and the edge of the sword, the story of a nation takes place.”
The palm tree served numerous functions essential to the sustainability of civilizations. Its dates were a nutritious food; its fronds were used for roofing; its trunk built walls; its fiber made ropes; and it provided fuel and shade for communities.
In places such as Qatif and Al-Ahsa, the palm formed a complete life system with almost no waste. It was not merely an agricultural symbol, but a genuine model of sustainability long before the term itself was coined, Hejles said.
Mentioned in the Qur’an more than 20 times, always associated with generosity and abundance, the palm formed the backbone of the agricultural economy in eastern Arabia.
“The souq (traditional market) was not merely a place of trade but a space for social interaction, knowledge exchange, and solidarity,” Hejles said. Through it, economic activity flourished and relationships between communities were strengthened.
“Nomads and desert dwellers possessed surplus goods and sought what they lacked through barter.”
A civilizational concept that emerged centuries before Islam, the souq arose from a simple human need: exchange. That exchange generated social mobility and fostered a culture of openness, which later contributed to the rise of cities.
In the pre-Islamic era, seasonal markets such as Souq ‘Ukaz, Souq Majanna, and Souq Dhu Al-Majaz were not only commercial hubs, but also literary forums, political arenas, and spaces for reconciliation and arbitration.
Once Islam was adopted, Souq Al-Madinah was established on principles prohibiting monopoly, forbidding fraud, and ensuring justice.
In the Saudi state, the souq evolved from traditional mud-and-wood covered bazaars into modern shopping centers and large commercial complexes. “Yet, the concept remained the same: a place of encounter before it is a place of sale,” Hejles said.
The Arabian horse, another Founding Day symbol, is associated with authenticity and courage. It accompanied the early stages of state-building, travel, and defense, becoming a symbol of strength and pride in Arab heritage.
The Arabs’ oldest companion, the Arabian horse is one of the oldest and purest breeds in the world. It was bred on the Arabian Peninsula for extreme endurance, speed, and agility.
Thanks to their lung capacity, endurance, and strong feet and bones, these horses could cover long distances in harsh desert conditions and survive on minimal resources, sometimes fed only dates and camel’s milk.
To protect them against theft and harsh weather, they were sometimes brought inside family tents, which led to the development of intense bonds with their owners. Arabian horses are known to be fearless and loyal, capable of protecting their masters in battle.
They also possessed a “war-sense,” allowing them to act intelligently in combat, known as well to have a high spirit in battle.
In Saudi Arabia, Arabian horses were vital in travel, trade, and warfare. Today, they symbolize nobility, pride, courage, and honor — reflecting and continuing the Kingdom’s equestrian legacy.
And finally, vigilance, insight, and high ambition are represented by the falcon. “It is tied to the practice of falconry, which requires patience and skill, and today symbolizes the continuity of heritage and elevated aspirations,” Hejles said.
Falconry was not merely a hobby, but a hunting tool in a harsh desert environment — a companion to the Bedouin and a symbol of strength, precision, and patience. The long training required to master falconry fostered discipline and strong leadership in its practitioners.
Over time, the falcon became associated with prestige and courage, linked to Bedouin identity and nobility, and embedded in poetry and storytelling.
A heritage passed through generations, falconry is now inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, with Saudi Arabia and other participating countries, reinforcing its global cultural significance.
“These symbols were not chosen for their visual appeal,” Hejles said. “They were chosen because they were tested across centuries of lived experience.”
Representing more than their individual images, they are collectively an expression of the Saudi citizen’s relationship with land, environment, dignity, and continuity.
