Muslim women fight for women-only gym days

I don’t know, I actually prefer women only gyms too. These women in Dearborn, Michigan had joined Fitness USA because they promised certain days would be women-only (many of them don’t feel comfortable working out in their headscarves, but feel more uncomfortable working out without them in front of men, understandably). They have recently taken issue with the gym’s new policy that no longer provides gender segregated days to work out.

So far, about 200 Muslim women with Fitness USA memberships have signed a petition asking the chain to return to gender-specific days for the entire gym or to put up a divider so men and women can’t see each other while working out.
Though Islam is guiding their concerns, Saidi and other Muslims stress that people of other faiths, including Christians and Orthodox Jews, share similar concerns. Moreover, with the Islamic population growing, Muslims argue it makes good business sense for local companies to accommodate their faith.
Like other local Muslim women, Saidi said she joined Fitness USA last year because managers repeatedly made verbal promises that there would be gender-specific workout days at some of the facilities.

I would be pretty pissed if I was on contract based on an agreement that was not upheld, especially if it was a religous or cultural belief. I could just see the gym folks being like, “what’s the big deal?”
via Detroit Free Press.