Many media
articles state that women in Saudi Arabia are treated as perpetual children,
ignorant and removed from the world outside. If they would like to travel,
work, open a bank account, marry or divorce, they require written consent of a
male relative, who can be anyone from a father to a son. While we are fighting
for equal participation of women in organisations in many parts of the world,
it’s shocking to imagine places where there is no participation of women in few
of the most basic functions of life such as driving. Imagine having to take the
permission and company of a male member to do simple tasks, like going to the
market or a clinic, or worse having your son as your guardian if your father
and husband are not around.
Apparently
Saudi law is based on Sharia and tribal customs, where purdah (segregation of
women and men) and namus
(honour) are integral. This fusion of two ideologies creates a much tougher law
against women, ignoring the gender equality based elements in Islamic law as
well (Human Rights Watch Report, 2008)[1].
The male members of the family are supposed to protect the namus, and can even punish a woman to death if she causes harm to
it. In 2007, a woman was murdered by her father for just chatting with a boy on
Facebook. And even more shocking was the portrayal of the case by the Saudi
media, blaming Facebook for creating strife in the country (The Telegraph, 17th
January, 2013)[2].
Mostly,
women in such secluded societies are brought up with a mental block and limited
exposure. So, some of them don’t mind or realise discrimination in different
formats, accepting them as the way of life. Nevertheless, this set-up is
against international law (Human Rights Watch Report, 2008), and gradually, the
new better educated generation of Saudi women are starting to realise that.
Manal
al-Sharif, the face of Women2Drive
campaign, has become a beacon of hope to other women there. Being a women
activist, she drove in the streets of Khobar campaigning against the strict
driving law against women in that country. She was arrested the next day on the
charges of ‘incitement to public disorder’, and later released on bail with
conditions such as not driving ever in her life, returning for questioning when
summoned and not talking to the press about the incident. However, the
authorities have not been able to seal her lips. She has opened a feminist
pressure group, My Right to Dignity
that voices Saudi women’s urge to rise above the second class citizenship they
now maintain. Braving death threats and a job sack, she has been the toughest
women activist in Saudi Arabia the world has ever witnessed (The Independent,
23rd May, 2012[3]).
Most
recently, King Abdullah has granted women seats on Saudi Arabia’s top advisory
council, the Shura Council. Even though the council has no legislative powers,
this move gives hope to many women such as Wajeda al-Hawedar, who feels it will
at least make an impact on the image of women in the country. King Abdullah has
also inaugurated the first university in the country that doesn’t segregate the
two genders and granted women the right to vote in 2015 municipal elections
without the permission of a male guardian. (NY Daily News, 11th
January, 2013)[4].
Even
though chatting on Facebook with a man, or having coffee with a male friend in
a café (considered commonplace in many other parts of the world), remains a far
cry from the present Saudi Arabian culture, but such movements by the
government along with protests by women such as Manal al-Sharif are obviously
laudable and should be supported by the rest of the world, so that the Saudi
women can have the opportunity to exhibit their potentials beyond closed doors.
Protesting
in a country where women have legal rights is very different from protesting in
one which doesn’t. Hopefully, such
countries would continue to have brave women like Manal, who would fight to
uplift the status quo of a woman in accordance with international human rights
laws. Going by Mahatma Gandhi’s words, ‘First
they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win’,
I am sure Manal you are almost there and driving
towards your goal very fast. All the best!
By Parama Bal
[1] See http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/saudiarabia0408/2.htm
[2] See
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1583420/Saudi-woman-killed-for-chatting-on-Facebook.html
[3] See
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/manal-alsharif-they-just-messed-with-the-wrong-woman-7778800.html
[4] See http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/saudi-king-grants-women-seats-advisory-council-article-1.1238207
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