Thursday, Apr 25, 2002
Saudi women step out
By C. Raja Mohan
RIYADH April 24. It is not often that women in Saudi Arabia step out to demonstrate on political issues. But it has happened twice in recent weeks. In Dammam near the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia and Jeddah in the west, small groups of women have marched to protest against the Israeli offensive in Palestinian areas. These protests are part of a growing attempt by women in Saudi Arabia to expand their rights in a society that has so comprehensively restricted the social and political space for them in the name of religion. The women in Dammam and Jeddah could not have chosen a better issue to step out on to the streets. As anger boils over in the Arab world against Israel, and the United States which has refused to restrain it, the governments in the region have tried to mobilise popular sentiment against both. Expression of opposition to Tel Aviv and Washington is politically correct, as the Crown Prince Abdullah tries to get the United States to din some moderation into Israeli policies. But letting the women come out and protest? If they demonstrate against Israel today will they not do it tomorrow on some other issue which is controversial in the deeply conservative kingdom? That is the fine line the reform-minded Crown Prince is walking, as he tries to balance the imperative of change and the strong resistance to it. Women in Saudi Arabia seeking a little more freedom and identity have become a major constituency of support to the Crown Prince who is trying to introduce change at a measured pace. * * * Not since a small group of women drove out into the streets of Riyadh nearly a decade ago, have women come out on to the streets on any issue. In a country where women are prohibited from driving cars or moving about without being escorted by a husband or a male relative, that protest in the early 1990s was symbolic of the aspirations of women here. The right to drive remains one of the issues at the top of women's agenda in Saudi Arabia. In every home, there is an argument between men and women on the issue. As the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, Saud al Faisal, told an American journalist recently, he loses the argument. The religious mandate to wear the black veil, or the Abaya, is not the main issue before women in Saudi Arabia. Even if that restriction were lifted most Saudi women might continue to wear the Abaya. The real issues that agitate women in the country are the right to drive, the freedom to travel alone, and the realisation of their independent identity. As part of its cautious reform, the Government has started issuing separate identity cards for women in recent months. One needs an identity card whether to open a bank account or order a telephone connection. Until now, the women did not have separate identity cards. They were listed as part of a family headed by a man. That is a huge leap in a country where social conservatism and patriarchy denied any independent identity to women in the name of religion. * * * Equally important has been the demand for equal educational opportunities for the girl child. A big step towards that direction was taken recently when the separate department for girls' education was merged into the general Ministry for Education. But it needed a terrible tragedy to force that step on the Government. As girls from a school near the holy city of Mecca tried to escape a raging fire, the religious police called Muttawa outside prevented them from leaving the building because they were not wearing their Abayas. Fifteen girls died in the fire. An unusually critical media coverage of the event following the outrage forced the Government to bring about the important change in the administration of education. Women activists here see the tragedy as opening the door for offering the same curriculum and text books to the girls as that offered to boys in school. Activists also hope that a woman deputy minister will be appointed to administer girls' education. A woman minister will be a big first for the Saudi kingdom.
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