Women's rights in Saudi Arabia

[anajmi]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15055066

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz's announcement that women are theoretically to be given the same opportunities for political participation as men is potentially the most important advance for Saudi women's rights in decades, and underscores the king's reformist stature.

This is bad news for the farts. Their argument that the Saudi's have correctly interpreted Islam and its oppression of women is sanctioned by the prophet (saw), is about to take a big blow. No new revelation has reached the Saudi king. He was simply under the influence of his own group of farts!!

fart - Saudi Arabia, women with bras and no driver's license and 4:31!!

[feelgud]

email-

Salaam alaikum
The following is being forwarded, please participate:

Your Help is Needed for a Research Project

Please send replies to habiba@muslimahcompass.org

I am conducting research for a project regarding the condition of Muslim women in Muslim countries

and communities. I am seeking help with answers to the questions below, either as it relates to you or

to someone you know. I am looking for first hand personal experiences or direct knowledge of a friend

or relative's experience and/or conditions in any Muslim country or community. Please kindly note that

this is not, in any way, an attack on Islam. Rather it is an attempt to separate Islam from those cultural

practices for which Islam often takes the blame.

The project is entirely on a voluntary basis, and if you decide to join in, kindly answer each of the

questions in 15 sentences or less and send them to me at habiba@muslimahcompass.org. Also indicate

the Muslim country or community you are writing about in your responses. I assure all participants

100% confidentiality, so no participants’ names or specific countries will ever be disclosed. The result

will only be referenced in general statistical percentages. My deadline for gathering information is

Saturday, October 8, 2011.


1) Do Muslim women have rights in your country and community, if not, please explain; and if they

do, then please elaborate.

2) Are Muslim women oppressed in your country and community, if so, please explain.

3) Are Muslim women afraid of Muslim male authority?

4) Have you or some Muslim woman you know ever considered leaving Islam because of

oppression women suffer in Muslim countries and communities? Can you please specify the

areas of Islam that made you or her want to leave Islam.

5) Are Muslim women taught about their rights according to Islam, if so, what are those rights, if

not, what are women taught?

6) What, if any, do believe are oppressive cultural practices levied on women that are wrongly

being attributed to Islam?

7) What do you think is the solution to female oppression in Muslim countries and communities,

and more specifically in your own Muslim society?

Is there anything else you would like to add relating to the issue of the condition of women in
Muslim countries and communities?


Habiba Kavalec

Founder, Muslimah Compass

http://www.muslimahcompass.org/

[Fatwa Banker]

Saudi woman to get 10 lashes for driving a car

Uh oh, the poor girl probably ventured out seeking "same opportunities for political participation as men" !

"theoretically" of course !

[anajmi]

She was driving the car without a license.

[Fatwa Banker]

Here's her driver's license picture....it was a case of mistaken identity

[anajmi]

Oh! So you should be the one getting those 10 lashes eh.

[feelgud]

After years of Saudis campaigning and petitioning the king to lift the women driving ban and ease the restrictiveness of the guardianship system, King Abdullah decreed last week that women would be allowed as full members of the Saudi parliament and would be allowed to vote and run in future municipal elections. In bafflement, we celebrated the decree.


Then, within a couple of days of the decree, a Saudi woman was sentenced to 10 lashes for driving her own car. Although women are banned from driving, they have never been sentenced to physical punishment for it. The usual is signing a pledge and in extreme cases paid suspension from their jobs and prison sentences that are never more than a few days.


Local political analysts believe that this lashing was some sort of reaction from the judicial courts to the king's decree. A national and international outcry soon followed and the woman was later pardoned but the contradiction still stands. So in 18 months' time a Saudi woman can be a member of parliament providing that her male guardian allows her to and she finds a man to drive her there.


How do Saudis explain that? It depends on where they stand concerning women's rights issues. Those for women's rights commend the wisdom of empowering women at the highest levels of decision-making so that their voices will trickle down to create real change in the everyday life of the average Saudi woman.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... tradiction

[ghulam muhammed]

Saudi king overturns court verdict sentencing a female driver to 10 lashes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mid ... story.html

[anajmi]

bang...pssss...bang...pssss...

That is fart banging his head against the wall.

[ghulam muhammed]

bro anajmi,

This is for your future reference :-

Malawi row over whether new law bans farting

Two of Malawi's most senior judicial officials are arguing over whether a new bill includes a provision that outlaws breaking wind in public.

Justice Minister George Chaponda says the new bill would criminalise flatulence to promote "public decency".

"Just go to the toilet when you feel like farting," he told local radio.

However, he was directly contradicted by Solicitor General Anthony Kamanga, who says the reference to "fouling the air" means pollution

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12363852

[feelgud]

Change with speed limit

Suaad A Al-Mana , professor of literary criticism, department of Arabic language and literature at King Saud University, thinks everyone is missing the larger picture. "Is driving the only indicator of progress? We work side by side with men in various fields and are paid the same as them." She has been teaching in a women's college for 20 years and has benefited from her government's liberal policy in this sector. "I did my master's from Cairo University and was then sent by my government to Michigan to do my PhD way back in 1986. Isn't that progress?"

Incidentally, Saudi Arabia is probably the only country to have a Chamber of Commerce run totally by women , says Pant. "One can't evaluate this kingdom through the prism of western civilization. Many of the women go abroad to study and speak good English . But once they return, they don't rebel," he says.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... s-al-shura

[Fatwa Banker]

Is driving the only indicator of progress?

Ummmm....not entirely....other minor indicators also come to mind. How about...say.....showing your face in public ?

I did my master's from Cairo University and was then sent by my government to Michigan to do my PhD way back in 1986. Isn't that progress?

Not if your government sent you. they did it so that you can write this BS propaganda that Arab apologists can feelgud about.

[anajmi]

How about...say.....showing your face in public ?

Remember, farts in America want to see more than the face. They want women to feel good about running around in a bikini.

BS propaganda

Only farts in America are allowed to write BS propaganda for farts to feel good about like say for eg. spreading freedom and democracy in the middle east and renaming french fries to freedom fries so that farts can order a super sized pack.

It appears that fart's ignorance seems to be expanding every moment otherwise he wouldn't be living in America and talking about BS propaganda elsewhere. That is like living in the sewer and pointing fingers at someone living in a bathroom.

[Fatwa Banker]

Speaking of Arab apologists......Asian Wahabis are tops !

[anajmi]

Didn't you read my post fart? Sewer and bathroom? knock knock. Anybody home?

[ghulam muhammed]

Saudi Women Driven to Distraction

Personally, I think that King Abdullah’s decision to allow Saudi women to vote in four years’ time in local elections might not, on reflection, be cause for universal celebration. And not only because these ladies will—eventually—be privy to participating in an event so special that you could be forgiven for believing it doesn’t really exist at all. In the past 50 years, as the Daily Beast points out there have been only two municipal elections held in that country. Voting, therefore, is a kind of rarified exotic pastime, no matter what your gender.

Because what other prospective advantages, when you come right down to it, can Saudi women enjoy?

Well, here’s a list:

• The right to avoid traffic violations and parking fines. Saudi women may not drive

• The right to be divorced by a Saudi husband, furious that his wife woke him so that he could get to work on time. This happened last December and was reported by the Saudi newspaper Ajel. In fact, it happened more than once—the same husband continuously divorced and then remarried and then once again divorced his spouse for this reason.

• The right to avoid the tedium of death taxes, notaries, and lawyers that accompany inheritance issues—for the simple reason that Saudi women cannot inherit.

• The right to be reported to their husbands by the Saudi government should married women choose to leave the country. As the Jerusalem Post reported in July of last year, when women’s rights activist Wajiha Al-Huwaidar flew from Saudi Arabia to Italy, she quickly discovered that her husband had received a text message from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informing him of her departure. The ministry performed, unasked, the same service when she flew to Germany.

• The right to avoid the hassles of travel, period. As Nadya Khalife of Human Rights Watch has pointed out, “A woman cannot leave the country without permission of her guardian, who might be her youngest son.”

• The right to steer clear of the entire Saudi court system. A woman, again according to Khalife, cannot enter a courtroom without permission of her guardian—even (and probably especially) if she wishes “to complain about domestic violence.”

• The right to save a lot of money on child-rearing. In the event of a divorce, a Saudi mother must give up her children to her former husband.

• The right to avoid the anguish and shame of filing for divorce—because only men are allowed by law to dump a spouse, and they can do it at a moment’s notice.

• The right to enjoy the company of other women on a permanent fulltime basis in one’s own house: Saudi men are allowed multiple wives.

• The right to avoid exposure to jostling crowds, unprotected: No Saudi woman may appear in public unless accompanied by a male relative.

• And of course the right to revel in the immoderate folds of lots of flapping fabric, permanently safeguarded from the lechery of those jostling crowds.

You have to hand it to Saudi women. I cannot imagine why they would want the vote in four years’ time. Or ever. They already have so much.

Who could ask for more?

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog ... istraction

[ghulam muhammed]

Saudi women are registering to vote in elections across the country for the first time ever

Women are registering to vote in national elections for the first time in the history of Saudi Arabia.

In what the kingdom’s officials describe as a “significant milestone in progress towards a participation-based society”, municipal elections will be held across the country later this year.

And in a remarkable move for a country where women’s rights are severely limited, women have been allowed to both vote and stand for election themselves.

According to the Saudi Gazette, two women named Jamal Al-Saadi and Safinaz Abu Al-Shamat became the first to register as voters in their country’s history when they arrived at the opening of electoral offices in Madinah and Makkah respectively on Sunday.

Voter registration lasts for 21 days, but Ms Shamat told the newspaper she had been determined to be “the first woman to arrive at the center”. She described it as a national duty for women to participate in the elections.

King Abdullah announced that women would be allowed to take part in 2011, after their lack of involvement in elections that year sparked online outrage. Then, he said the government “refused to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia”.

Activists have hailed the move as progress – but say there is still a long way to go before women have equal rights to men in the kingdom.

“This long overdue move is welcome but it’s only a tiny fraction of what needs to be addressed over gender inequality in Saudi Arabia,” Amnesty International UK’s Karen Middleton told The Independent.

“Let’s not forget that Saudi Arabian women won’t actually be able to drive themselves to the voting booths as they’re still completely banned from driving.

“They are still unable to travel, engage in paid work or higher education, or marry without the permission of a male guardian.”

Speaking to AsiaNews in Riyadh, one of 21 female candidates at a workshop for the December elections said she would be campaigning on a message of “change”.

Haifa al-Hababi, 36, said: “Change the system. Change is life. The government has given us this tool and I intend to use it.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 61020.html

[ghulam muhammed]

Saudi Arabia elects its first female politicians

At least 18 women elected to municipal councils in Saudi Arabia's first poll open to female voters and candidates.

At least 18 women have won seats in Saudi Arabia's municipal polls, the country's first-ever elections open to female voters and candidates, local reports said.

The women who won hail from vastly different parts of the country, ranging from Saudi Arabia's largest city to a small village near Islam's holiest site.

Salma bint Hizab al-Oteibi was elected to the council of Madrakah, a region in Mecca, the official SPA news agency reported, citing election commission president Osama al-Bar.

Saturday's municipal poll, which was hailed by many as historic, saw a turnout of about 47 percent, according to Saudi officials.

More than 900 women ran for seats. They were up against nearly 6,000 men competing for places on 284 councils whose powers are restricted to local affairs including responsibility for streets, public gardens and rubbish collection.

Hatoon al-Fassi, a Saudi womens' rights activist and writer, said in a tweet: "This is a new day. The day of the Saudi woman."

"People here are hoping this is a significant step on the path towards having a more inclusive society, not only for women but also for youth because the voting age has been reduced from 21 to 18,"

A strict separation of the sexes in public facilities meant that female candidates could not directly meet the majority of voters - men - during their campaigns.

Women also said voter registration had been hindered by bureaucratic obstacles, a lack of awareness of the process and its significance, and the fact that women could not drive themselves to sign up.

"Women here are doctors and engineers - it's not like women aren't there," Lama al-Sulaiman, a candidate in Jeddah, told Al Jazeera.

"The international media sometimes has narrow views; they only report the bad stories. We have them, we have weaknesses and every citizen goes through challenges - those shouldn't be belittled.

"But to think that 50 percent of the population is going through those challenges is also ridiculous."

Mona Abu Suliman, a media personality and consultant in Riyadh, said that even if women don't win many seats, just going through this process is important.

"Recognising women's votes in decision-making is a step towards equality," she said.

"There are people who see women voting and running in the election as another step towards Westernisation. They dislike seeing women in public-facing roles. But I don't think they are in the majority. The majority is either neutral or accepting."

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/w ... 50832.html

[ghulam muhammed]

Saudi Arabia Is a Place Where Women Can't Drive — These Women Just Landed a Plane There

Feb. 23 marked a day of two big firsts — but chances are you entirely missed them both. For one, it marked the first time time a women-only flight deck for Royal Brunei Airlines flew a flight. And it was the first time women drove in Saudi Arabia without technically violating the ban — except they were driving a plane instead of a car.

Captain Sharifah Czarena Surainy, and Senior First Officers Dk Nadiah Pg Khashiem and Sariana Nordin operated the 10-and-a-half hour flight from Brunei to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Surainy is no stranger to making feminist history. In 2012 she became the first woman to pilot a flag carrier in Southeast Asia.

Feminism is an integral part of RBI's company culture, which encourages women to apply for its engineering apprenticeship via social media outreach.

"Who says engineering is a men's only profession?" Royal Brunei Airlines posted to its Instagram account next to a photo of its fleet of women engineers.

https://in.news.yahoo.com/saudi-arabia- ... 00256.html

[SBM]

LAHORE: An all-parties conference convened by Jamaat-i-Islami and attended by powerful religious groups asked the government on Tuesday to retract an “un-Islamic” law that gives unprecedented protection to female victims of violence.

The Women's Protection Act, passed by Punjab Assembly last month, gives legal protection to women from domestic, psychological and sexual violence.

It also calls for the creation of a toll-free abuse reporting hot line, women's shelters and district-level panels to investigate reports of abuse and mandates the use of GPS bracelets to keep track of offenders.

Domestic abuse, economic discrimination and acid attacks made Pakistan the world's third most dangerous country in the world for women, a 2011 Thomson Reuters Foundation expert poll showed.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1245835/religi ... un-islamic

[ghulam muhammed]

Saudi Arabia Moves to Curb Its Feared Religious Police

Saudi Arabia announced steps this week to rein in its religious police, which is responsible for ensuring morality, piety and adherence with Islamic law but has become the target of mounting criticism in recent years.

The most significant change states that members of the religious police are to work only during office hours, and that they do not have the right to pursue, arrest or detain members of the public. They are, instead, directed to report violations of Islamic law to the civil police.

In addition, the government directed the religious police to be “gentle and kind” in its conduct, following the example of the Prophet Muhammad — a repudiation of the heavy-handed (and, critics say, occasionally hypocritical) approach that the religious police, most of them young men, have often taken.

Though the steps have made headlines, experts cautioned that their significance might be more symbolic than practical, coming as the kingdom faces weightier problems, like the ideological threat posed by the Islamic State, rising frustration among the young, and the disappearance of cushy jobs that oil revenues once made possible.

“Let’s not forget that the hai’a is a government institution,” said Madawi al-Rasheed, an anthropologist at the London School of Economics who has written several books on Saudi Arabia, using an Arabic term for the religious police. “Its members are paid government salaries. They play an important role in controlling society, in spreading fear, in making people worry about their behavior all the time in public places, and sometimes even in the privacy of their homes.”

Professor Rasheed said the overhauls appeared to reflect a balancing act by King Salman. Abroad, he has not wavered from the kingdom’s support for the strict and austere Salafist and Wahhabist strands of Sunni Islam, which the Saudis have been financing and exporting for decades, and which bolster its professed role as the custodian of Islam’s two holiest mosques, in Mecca and Medina.

But at home, Professor Rasheed said, the king has tried to tolerate, and even respond to, domestic critics. The Saudi newspaper Al Watan, based in Jidda, and two Saudi-financed newspapers, Asharq Al Awsat and Al Hayat, both based in London, have been increasingly taking note of abuses by the religious police, she said.

On social media, videos of excesses by the religious police have proliferated. One, in 2012, showed a woman defying an order to leave a shopping mall, telling members of the religious police that it was none of their business that she was wearing nail polish. Another, in February, showed a woman cowering on the ground after getting hounded for wearing athletic wear and sneakers.

Some of the reforms announced this week were not new, Professor Rasheed said, noting that members of the religious police typically work in tandem with the security services, and usually “do not go roaming the streets” on their own.

Bernard Haykel, a professor of Near Eastern studies at Princeton, noted that most Saudis were under the age of 30 and concentrated in cities, and that many had expressed increasing irritation about the religious police.

“The social media videos have been quite embarrassing, and have mobilized people, especially young people, around these issues,” Professor Haykel said. “Young women are irritated to no end by the religious police. The government in Saudi Arabia is responsive to public sentiment, even though it’s an autocratic regime.”

He added: “Having said that, are these permanent changes? Unlikely. If the regime wants to boost its religious credentials, it could reverse course and unleash the religious police on society. It’s a lever that can be turned on or turned off.”

The religious police, founded in 1940, are formally called the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Even before the social media videos, the police had been criticized for excesses.

In 2002, 15 girls died in Mecca after the police prevented them from fleeing a burning building because they were not deemed to be appropriately covered.

In 2007, the religious police beat a man to death in Riyadh on suspicion of selling alcohol, leading to a rare lawsuit, filed by his aggrieved family.

And in 2013, two young men died when, pursued by the religious police, their car drove off a bridge in Riyadh. They had reportedly been singing patriotic songs to honor the kingdom’s national holiday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/world ... il0=y&_r=1

[Greatest I am]

This Saudi Queen seems to think that women have a long way to go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM_n6XNmGBw

Here are the captive Queens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNEJ2qECbxo

If the royal family males see their women as chattel/slaves, the general population will likely follow suit.

Regards
DL

[anajmi]

Ever wonder how these women held against their will all their lives turned out to have perfect English accent? If only the indians in the US and Canada learned from these women, they'd know how to speak proper English!!

[Greatest I am]

Ever wonder how these women held against their will all their lives turned out to have perfect English accent? If only the indians in the US and Canada learned from these women, they'd know how to speak proper English!!

I don't know and I don't care but it is well know that Saudi women are well educated.

Thanks for deflecting from the issue at hand for a cheap shot.

Regards
DL

[qutub_mamajiwala]

english is a language of infidel, why should a true muslim should learn it?
in fact why should a true practising muslim should visit zionist infected christian land for his livelihood?
is it for a fact that in a true practising muslim land, there is no chance for a true practising muslim to live and feed his family by halal means?

[anajmi]

but it is well know that Saudi women are well educated.

Good for them. Within one post they went from chattel/slaves to well educated.

The bottom line is that the woman in the video is a prop. You don't speak English the way she does without being raised in an English speaking nation. I was half waiting for the video to make the claim that "This is a dramatization since we were unable to locate the Saudi women under discussion, them being imprisoned and all....."!!

[Greatest I am]

english is a language of infidel, why should a true muslim should learn it?
in fact why should a true practising muslim should visit zionist infected christian land for his livelihood?
is it for a fact that in a true practising muslim land, there is no chance for a true practising muslim to live and feed his family by halal means?

Interesting that Allah can only be honored in one language.

Regards
DL

[ghulam muhammed]

‘I Live in a Lie’: Saudi Women Speak Up

“We’re not allowed to even go to the supermarket without permission or a companion, and that’s a simple thing on the huge, horrendous list of rules we have to follow.” — DOTOPS, 24

“The male guardianship makes my life like a hell!! We want to hang out with our friends, go and have lunch outside. I feel hopeless.” — JUJU19, 21

“I don’t mind taking my dad’s approval in things he should be a part of. These very strong social bonds you will never, ever understand.” — NOURA

These are three of the nearly 6,000 women from Saudi Arabia who wrote to The New York Times last week about their lives.

We had put a call-out on our website and on Twitter in conjunction with the publication of “Ladies First,” a Times documentary I directed about the first Saudi elections in which women were allowed to vote and run for local office.

Saudi Arabia is an incredibly private, patriarchal society. While I was making the film, many women were afraid to share their stories for fear of backlash from the male relatives who oversee all aspects of their lives as so-called guardians. We wanted to hear more about their fears, their frustrations, their ambitions.

Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s highest rates of Twitter use, and our posts rocketed around. We were overwhelmed by the outpouring.

Most of the responses focused on frustration over guardianship rules that force women to get permission from a male relative — a husband, father, brother or even son — to do things like attend college, travel abroad, marry the partner of their choice or seek medical attention. Some women talked about the pride they had in their culture and expressed great distrust of outsiders. But many of them shared a deep desire for change and echoed Juju19’s hopelessness.

There was an angry backlash under a Twitter hashtag using Arabic for “Don’t tell The New York Times.” And there was a backlash to the backlash: “#don’t_tell_theNewYork_times that if your father rapes you and you run away, then you will go to prison, and if they let you out, then they will send you back to him.”

Excerpts from the women’s responses are below, many translated from Arabic. In order to enable women to feel free to speak openly, we gave them the option of anonymity. Where possible, we verified the identity of the respondent or location of her email. In some cases, that proved impossible.

We want to keep the conversation going. Feel free to email us at saudiwomen@nytimes.com.

A Life Restricted

“I got into an accident once in a taxi, and the ambulance refused to take me to the hospital until my male guardian arrived. I had lost a lot of blood. If he didn’t arrive that minute, I would’ve been dead by now.” — RULAA, 19

Riyadh

“Every time I want to travel, I have to tell my teenage son to allow me.”

— SARAH, 42

a doctor in Riyadh

“My sister went to a bookstore without taking permission from her husband, and when she returned, he beat her up without restraint.”

— AL QAHTANIYA, 28

Riyadh

“The door of the school where I work is closed from early morning till noon. There is a man guarding the door. Even if a teacher is done with her classes, she cannot leave. Metal gates keep us as prisoners.” — MALAK, 44

Riyadh

“I left the home and sought refuge with a human rights organization in Saudi. I told them about my problems with my father, and they were not able to do anything, and they advised me to go to the police to demand protection from my father. When I went to the police, my father had already informed them that I fled his home. I told the police everything, and they said that I did something wrong/committed a horrible crime in leaving the home of my father, and they placed me in prison!

“The first three days I spent in solitary, then they transferred me to the general ward. There were women there who committed crimes like killing and stealing.” — TYPICAL SAUDI GIRL, 23

Riyadh

An Emotional Toll

“[My guardian] forbids visits to my female friends or going to shopping malls by myself. It is a complete and total isolation from all the joys in life.”

— MALAK, 28

Abha

“It’s like I’m in handcuffs, and the society, the law, the people [are] against us. That’s why most women choose to marry in their early 20s as a way to escape, and guess what? The man she marries is no different from her brother or father.” — BASHAYR, 19

Al-Hasa

“He won’t allow me to work, even though I need the money. He also doesn’t provide all my needs. I can’t recall the last time he cared about what I needed or wanted. He is married to four women and completely preoccupied with them, and he doesn’t allow me to travel with my mother. I suffer a lot, even in my social life. He controls it completely and doesn’t allow me to have friends over or go to them. He forces me to live according to his beliefs and his religion. I can’t show my true self. I live in a lie just so that I wouldn’t end up getting killed.” — DINA, 21

Riyadh

“It’s suffocating. I’d rather kill myself than live with it. I hold on to the smallest hope I have that someday this will change.” — H41, 19

Riyadh

The System Works for Some

“Saudi women have accomplished so much but do not advertise it. There is a long history of women that have worked tirelessly to help the society and build up the country.” — HAIFA, 28

New York and Riyadh

“I need my father’s or my husband’s permission to travel outside the kingdom, and this is O.K. for me, as I need them to know where I am, especially with the current status of events in the world.” — DUJANAH MOUSA, 56

a doctor in Riyadh

“I have lived for a while in the West, and I found that the life of a woman is very difficult, for she has to bear heavy burdens that only a man can undertake. Whereas in our country, the man provides all forms of comfort for the woman.” — AFNAN, 30

Riyadh

“When will the international media stop interfering in the affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and of its women and men and children?”

— MIMI, 29

Jidda

A Future in Guardians’ Hands

“I’ve had to give up on a number of educational opportunities because he (my guardian) didn’t think a doctor needed a cultural exchange program or a symposium he didn’t understand. I’ve been trying to have him let me marry the man I love for the past two years.

“I’m in charge of people’s lives every day, but I can’t have my own life the way I want.” — A. M., 30

a doctor in Jidda

“I had finally gotten a scholarship to get my master’s abroad. And it was my dream, which I waited and worked hard for, for many years, and I got the necessary grades. But because I would have no man — a so-called guardian — with me, my scholarship and travel were rejected. My guardian also forces me to cover my face, even though it should be a personal and religious freedom.”

— GHADAH, 27

Riyadh

“I’m currently struggling with my father and trying to make him approve that I go to medical school. It’s my last year of high school, and I have no idea if he’s going to approve that or not. I have no idea what my future holds. My future is in this ignorant/sexist man’s hands, and I can’t do anything about it.”

— ANONYMOUS, 18

Al-Qassim

A Supportive Guardian

“I am one of the lucky women who had an amazing and enlightened father and wonderful brothers, who do not interfere in my choices and support me all the way.

“Having said that, I get angry every time I travel and get asked by the passport official about my permit to travel. It just feels wrong that a middle-aged woman gets questioned every time to travel, while teenage boys are allowed to move in and out without question.”

— ABEER ABDUL HAMID, 50

London

“The guardianship thing hasn’t affected my life because I’m not facing any problems with it due to my dad is a very cooperative man and he’s open-minded.” — LATIFAH, 22

Riyadh

“I have the best father in the whole world. He understands what Islamic rules are, and he applies them correctly. For example, I have a goal of building my own early-intervention center for children with disabilities. My dad encouraged me to follow that dream and sent me to study here in the U.S. I know how much hard it’s been on him and my family to let me go, but he came with me first and helped me find an apartment and all the stuff I needed. Then, when everything was going smoothly, he returned to Saudi. Therefore, I need a guardianship in my life.” — D. A., 26

New York

“I like that I have a guardian who looks out for me and cares for my well-being and defends me and takes on what I can’t handle, and if I make a mistake, he will bear the punishment.”

— OUM ABDULRAHMAN, 36

Riyadh

Change Happens Slowly

“Women now are doctors, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, working with men and having a value, and this is all in the past seven years or so. We are advancing. We are moving forward. We just need patience and a chance.”

— L, 18

Riyadh

“I have never felt in any way that there was something I wasn’t allowed to do. When you grow up in a society like Saudi Arabia, you get used to the rules and you work around them.

“Well, years ago, I had to take my father downtown with me to get my national ID issued. In the past few years, I have had to have that renewed, and I did not need to take my father with me this time.

“Things are changing. It’s subtle, but it’s there and it’s tangible.”

— REEM SERAJ, 42

Riyadh

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/world ... nyt-region

[Greatest I am]

The lower one keeps his mate, the lower one must put himself when he wants to be with her.

I elevate my mate so that I can be brought up instead of down to be with her.

Regards
DL

[qutub_mamajiwala]

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/c ... rabad.html

90-yr-old Saudi man sends 31st wife home to Hyd, holds daughter captive


http://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/c ... rabad.html