section_path: Controversies/Sex discrimination
section_name: Sex discrimination
paragraph_text: Sex discrimination
  
  Women were first allowed to compete at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, but at the 1992 Summer Olympics 35 countries were still only fielding all-male delegations. This number dropped rapidly over the following years. In 2000, Bahrain sent two women competitors for the first time: Fatema Hameed Gerashi and Mariam Mohamed Hadi Al Hilli. In 2004, Robina Muqimyar and Fariba Rezayee became the first women to compete for Afghanistan at the Olympics. In 2008, the United Arab Emirates sent female athletes for the first time; Maitha Al Maktoum competed in taekwondo, and Latifa Al Maktoum in equestrian. Both athletes were from Dubai's ruling family.
  
  By 2010, only three countries had never sent female athletes to the Games: Brunei, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Brunei had taken part in only three celebrations of the Games, sending a single athlete on each occasion, but Saudi Arabia and Qatar had been competing regularly with all-male teams. In 2010, the International Olympic Committee announced it would "press" these countries to enable and facilitate the participation of women for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Anita DeFrantz, chair of the IOC's Women and Sports Commission, suggested that countries be barred if they prevented women from competing. Shortly thereafter, the Qatar Olympic Committee announced that it "hoped to send up to four female athletes in shooting and fencing " to the 2012 Summer Games.
  
  In 2008, Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, likewise called for Saudi Arabia to be barred from the Games, describing its ban on women athletes as a violation of the International Olympic Committee charter. He noted: "For the last 15 years, many international nongovernmental organisations worldwide have been trying to lobby the IOC for better enforcement of its own laws banning gender discrimination. While their efforts did result in increasing numbers of women Olympians, the IOC has been reluctant to take a strong position and threaten the discriminating countries with suspension or expulsion." In July 2010, The Independent reported: "Pressure is growing on the International Olympic Committee to kick out Saudi Arabia, who are likely to be the only major nation not to include women in their Olympic team for 2012.... Should Saudi Arabia... send a male-only team to London, we understand they will face protests from equal rights and women's groups which threaten to disrupt the Games".
  
  At the 2012 Summer Olympics, every participating nation included female athletes for the first time in Olympic history. Saudi Arabia included two female athletes in its delegation; Qatar, four; and Brunei, one (Maziah Mahusin, in the 400 m hurdles). Qatar made one of its first female Olympians, Bahiya al-Hamad (shooting), its flagbearer at the 2012 Games, and runner Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain became the first Persian Gulf female athlete to win a medal when she won a bronze for her showing in the 1500 m race.
  
  The only sports on the Olympic programme that features men and women individually competing against one another are the equestrian disciplines, as there is no "Women's Eventing", or "Men's Dressage". As of 2008, there were still more medal events for men than women. With the addition of women's boxing to the programme in the 2012 Summer Olympics, however, women athletes were able to compete in all the sports open to men. In the winter Olympics, women are still unable to compete in the Nordic combined. After men were included in artistic swimming at the Paris 2024 games, the only remaining Olympic event in which male athletes may not compete is rhythmic gymnastics. Despite being eligible to qualify for the 2024 Paris games, no men were included on any artistic swimming team.
  
  A recent addition to the games has been the inclusion of mixed events, whereby men and women of the same nation compete together against other teams. Beginning in 2018, the sport of Curling introduced a mixed event where teams of one man and one women competed in their own tournament for a medal. As of the 2024 Paris games, there are now 13 mixed medal events across 11 disciplines at the summer games.