WOMEN IN SAUDI ARABIA

BY ZUBEIDA JAFFER

 

Dark robed women with their eyes peering through slits. My expectations are predetermined. An American woman is one who wears skimpy clothes with her breasts bulging out of her sweater. A Saudi Arabian woman hides behind a black cloak and scarf with a veil obscuring her face.

It is interesting how we base our assumptions on broad generalisations. On a recent visit to Saudi Arabia with a group of my colleagues, I met a variety of professional women who challenged my limited assumptions. They were indeed concerned about their status but their emphasis was very different to Western obsession. “I feel very hurt, very angry and frustrated about the way in which Saudi women are being portrayed abroad,” says Gihan Ramadan, online editor of the Arab News, an English daily newspaper. “I wish I can have a loudspeaker and shout out to the world so that they can hear my voice.” Ramadan is in her thirties and has grown up in New York as a child of diplomatic parents. “To categorise all Saudi women as having the same circumstances and living under the same conditions is very wrong,” she says. “It is not up to foreign media to decide that women here live an abused lifestyle. We have minds, respect that and we have a voice, permit us to express it - and most of all understand that we wish to choose our path for change, not have someone do it for us."

But serious change is necessary and adds pressure to a society already under severe social tension. The divide between old and new lifestyles presents a challenge for this enigmatic nation. Women see their counterparts in other Islamic countries such as Iran forging ahead confidently in a politics, in education and in sport. Through satellite television, access to this information cannot be stopped.

“There is a struggle for women to enter more fields, to make greater advances in education,”  says Ramadan.“ Females have expressed great interest in fields such as law and engineering that just have not been allowed to them, and they are therefore forced to study abroad if their families have the means and allow them to do so.” 

The greatest pressure for change is coming in the workplace where the separation of the sexes is also imposed. At the Arab News, offices are separated. At joint meetings with male colleagues, Ramadan is expected to cover herself.  “As long as it does not interfere with the job that I need to do, I do not mind.

The law does not enforce the covering of the face. This practice is entirely influenced by family, tribal affiliation and choice.

Ramadan is adamant that women should be able to travel without the permission of a male guardian in the interests of her work. The restrictions are untenable if women are to be integrated into the economy.

Policing of religious devotion also  provokes controversy.  Religious police, the mutawa, are notorious for their rough imposition of the law. Leading pharmacologist, Dr Amal Fatani explains that the creation of this special force represents a compromise between the government and right-wing religious forces. In the mid-seventies, when a number of countries such as Algeria, Syria and Iran faced civil strife, the Saudi government decided to bring disenchanted religious groupings into the mainstream giving them the authority for special policing. In this way they were kept busy, did not take up arms as in other countries, allowing Saudi Arabia to be developed and modernised. “Instead of fighting them, we joined them,” she says. “They have a role to play. We had to compromise somewhere.”

While the degrees of compliance to the dress code and segregation varies informally from city to city, it is unlikely that Saudis will easily forego their right to express their special identity. A possible attack against Iraq and further turmoil in the Middle East will further strengthen this resolve. “If it keeps a conservatism and a sense of comfort, we should keep it,” says Ramadan.

Change for her must come where it is logically needed  - in education and in the workplace. “This does not mean that we should just let go of our tradition and our culture.”

It does mean however that we need to move away from broad generalisations that make it impossible for us to grapple with the very real challenges facing women in that society.

ends