[lbo-talk] Saudi Women: Contradictions

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Fri Mar 17 08:48:48 PST 2006


Chris wrote:


> Given that it's such a sexually segregated society,
> how do they medically handle the birthing process? I
> thought women were denied education, which would
> preclude female doctors? Is there some clause in
> shariah that says a male doctor can facilitate a
> birth?

Saudi women appear well educated. What they are still denied is the right to vote and the right to drive.

<blockquote>

More than half the kingdom's university graduates are female and yet women account for only about 5% of the workforce.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Besides owning 60% of company shares in the kingdom, Saudi women collectively have $25bn in bank accounts - money that could be invested in new businesses.

Among the small numbers of women who do work, 70% are in education and medicine - the two main "suitable" fields for women. Less than 1% go into business.

(Brian Whitaker, "Veil Power," 21 Feb. 2006, <http:// www.guardian.co.uk/saudi/story/0,,1714292,00.html>)

</blockquote>

The entire article is quite interesting.

What is striking is that men are lagging behind women in higher education even in Saudi Arabia. This must be on the way to become a global trend.

Yoshie Furuhashi <http://montages.blogspot.com> <http://monthlyreview.org> <http://mrzine.org>



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