As part of the activities of the 16-day campaign to combat violence against women, the Women’s Affairs Division, in cooperation with the Center for Continuing Education at the University of Information Technology and Communications, organized an awareness seminar entitled “Sports and its Role in Reducing Violent Behaviors Towards Women”, presented by the teacher in the Student Activities Unit at the College of Business Informatics, T.A. Nour Shamsi, in the presence of the head of the Women’s Affairs Division at the university, Dr. Asmaa Abdel Hussein.

The seminar focused on the importance of sports activities and their role in enhancing women’s mental and physical health, in addition to their contribution to reducing aggressive behaviors and reducing stress. The lecture also addressed various types of violence, including physical, psychological, verbal, and economic violence, in addition to digital violence, harassment, and extortion.

The lecturer explained that exercising contributes to reducing violent behaviors and enhances survivor’s ability to recover from trauma, by supporting mental health, alleviating post-traumatic stress disorder, and increasing feelings of inner peace.

The seminar also pointed to a number of challenges that obstruct the role of sports in combating violence against women, most notably the lack of family awareness of the importance of sports activities for women. The seminar came out with several recommendations to enhance the role of sports within universities, the most important of which are integrating the topic of sports and reducing violence into curricula and lectures, forming women’s sports teams, organizing media campaigns that link sports to respect for women, and providing designated places for practicing sports on campus.