In honor of the UN's Human Rights day, December 10th, Saudi woman driver Manal Alsharif made a YouTube video in Boston. Link to the video below. She invites supporters to make their own videos and e-mail the YouTube link to: honkforsaudiwomen@gmail. Once you watch the video, click on the many related links to see other peoples' videos. There is also a facebook page you can follow, http://www.facebook.com/honkforsaudiwomen This campaign has been going since last summer, but it's fun to see Manal in Boston doing something on Human Rights Day. Ya halaa, Manal!
If you are on Twitter, don't forget to check out the hash tag #women2drive. There is also a daily Twitter compendium of news on the subject that you can find by searching the #women2drive hash mark.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Wheel of Progress - Shaima Jastaniah and Anne French Bush
If all politics is local, then a writer in Concord, MA is correctly connecting Shaima Jastaniah's case with the pioneering driving life of Anne French Bush, the first American woman known to have obtained a driver's license. Below is the text (link is here) Concord Patch writer Maureen Belt writes today about the life of Anne French Bush, noting that today is the appeal day for Shaima Jastaniah's lashing case. Stay tuned to see if she appeals. Meanwhile, enjoy the story. (I blogged about visiting the cemetery in this blog post).
The Wheel of Progress - Maureen Belt
Concord, MA - December 12, 2011
As you know, I can go on and on about the wonderful things about Concord and I am always amazed at how I can link our community into the news of the day. Here’s a for instance. Today, Dec. 12 is “appeal day,” for Shaima Jastaniah, the 34-year-old Saudi woman who was caught driving in her hometown of Jeddah in September, and sentenced by her conservative government to 10 lashes. Shaima was hardly joy riding, she was on her way to visit someone in the hospital. Her crime was simply driving while female, a serious offense in Saudi Arabia. Her punishment, if today’s appeal falls through, is being publicly whipped on the back 10 times.
There are hundreds of blogs and news stories about Shaima’s plight, which her supporters hope pave the way for all women in Saudi Arabia to have the right to drive. Some of the more right-winged conservatives of the Kingdom believe authorizing women to drive a vehicle automatically reduces the number of virgins while spontaneously spiking the number of divorces and promiscuous women. (Reflect on that next time it’s your turn to carpool, ladies.)
This world news made me think of Anne Rainsford French Bush, the first known woman to receive a drivers license in the United States. Anne, who was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in 1962, was licensed in March 1900 to drive a four-wheeled steamed or gas-powered vehicle. Anne Rainsford French was living in Washington, D.C., at the time and learned to drive from her father, a renowned physician who let her take his locomobile out solo.
In a 1952 Life magazine article, Anne said her mother was a little concerned about her daughter behind the wheel, fearing that “no gentleman would be interested in any lady who didn’t stay where she belonged and act like one.” Hmmm. Sounds a little like the flack Shaima Jastaniah is receiving. Fortunately, Mrs. French’s fears did not keep Anne off the road, and though Anne did not drive too much longer, she paved the way for women pretty much everywhere to get behind the wheel of a car and take control of their destinations.
Anne married Walter Meiggs Bush and they settled in Concord and raised a family. According to the Life article, Walter did all of the driving during their marriage, even when his wife reminded him she was this country’s first female licensed driver. When she asked him to let her drive, he told her, “Driving is man’s business. Women shouldn’t get soiled by machinery.”
Even though Anne endured such comments from her husband, she never had to worry about being publicly humiliated or physically harmed for getting behind the wheel of a car. Instead, Anne got some serious mileage out of being the first woman licensed driver. She was named Miss Locomobile for 1900, and was honored at the AAA Golden Jubilee event in 1952, and has her name in the U.S. history archives. Here’s hoping as bright a future awaits Shaima Jastaniah in Saudi Arabia today.
(Some interesting side notes about Anne. She was the niece of Daniel Chester French and he used her as a model for, among other projects, the “America” statue that stands with the sculptor’s Continents collection outside the Old U.S. Custom House in New York City’s Battery Park. Here is more on Anne from Harry Beyer’s Sleepy Hollow Cemetery series.)
You can e-mail the author Maureen Belt at: mcb23@comcast.net
The Wheel of Progress - Maureen Belt
Concord, MA - December 12, 2011
As you know, I can go on and on about the wonderful things about Concord and I am always amazed at how I can link our community into the news of the day. Here’s a for instance. Today, Dec. 12 is “appeal day,” for Shaima Jastaniah, the 34-year-old Saudi woman who was caught driving in her hometown of Jeddah in September, and sentenced by her conservative government to 10 lashes. Shaima was hardly joy riding, she was on her way to visit someone in the hospital. Her crime was simply driving while female, a serious offense in Saudi Arabia. Her punishment, if today’s appeal falls through, is being publicly whipped on the back 10 times.
There are hundreds of blogs and news stories about Shaima’s plight, which her supporters hope pave the way for all women in Saudi Arabia to have the right to drive. Some of the more right-winged conservatives of the Kingdom believe authorizing women to drive a vehicle automatically reduces the number of virgins while spontaneously spiking the number of divorces and promiscuous women. (Reflect on that next time it’s your turn to carpool, ladies.)
This world news made me think of Anne Rainsford French Bush, the first known woman to receive a drivers license in the United States. Anne, who was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in 1962, was licensed in March 1900 to drive a four-wheeled steamed or gas-powered vehicle. Anne Rainsford French was living in Washington, D.C., at the time and learned to drive from her father, a renowned physician who let her take his locomobile out solo.
In a 1952 Life magazine article, Anne said her mother was a little concerned about her daughter behind the wheel, fearing that “no gentleman would be interested in any lady who didn’t stay where she belonged and act like one.” Hmmm. Sounds a little like the flack Shaima Jastaniah is receiving. Fortunately, Mrs. French’s fears did not keep Anne off the road, and though Anne did not drive too much longer, she paved the way for women pretty much everywhere to get behind the wheel of a car and take control of their destinations.
Anne married Walter Meiggs Bush and they settled in Concord and raised a family. According to the Life article, Walter did all of the driving during their marriage, even when his wife reminded him she was this country’s first female licensed driver. When she asked him to let her drive, he told her, “Driving is man’s business. Women shouldn’t get soiled by machinery.”
Even though Anne endured such comments from her husband, she never had to worry about being publicly humiliated or physically harmed for getting behind the wheel of a car. Instead, Anne got some serious mileage out of being the first woman licensed driver. She was named Miss Locomobile for 1900, and was honored at the AAA Golden Jubilee event in 1952, and has her name in the U.S. history archives. Here’s hoping as bright a future awaits Shaima Jastaniah in Saudi Arabia today.
(Some interesting side notes about Anne. She was the niece of Daniel Chester French and he used her as a model for, among other projects, the “America” statue that stands with the sculptor’s Continents collection outside the Old U.S. Custom House in New York City’s Battery Park. Here is more on Anne from Harry Beyer’s Sleepy Hollow Cemetery series.)
You can e-mail the author Maureen Belt at: mcb23@comcast.net
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Saudi Woman to Be Lashed for Driving, Despite Royal Pardon
Shaima Jastaniah is back in the news. She was caught driving in Jeddah and was sentenced to ten lashes. The King pardoned her, but the sentence still stands. I've chosen this article about the case since it's written by a college professor who knew Shaima when she lived in Houston and was able to interview her. We are with you, Shaima. A link to the story is here and it's pasted in below.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Saudi Woman to Be Lashed for Driving, Despite Royal Pardon
By Nivien Saleh
Shaima Jastaniah had become a symbol of Saudi Arabia's movement for female driving rights
Remember Shaima Jastaniah, the Saudi woman who made international headlines in September by being condemned to ten lashes for driving a car through the coastal city of Jeddah? King Abdallah pardoned her personally. But it now turns out that she may be lashed after all.
On Saturday, November 12, she was served with an official notice that, notwithstanding the royal pardon, she will be flogged unless she wins a legal appeal in mid-December. She has kept this private, hoping to resolve it quietly, until now. Her quiet options seemingly exhausted, Shaima called me and asked me to help tell her story. "I want to be able to drive, just like I did back in the States," she told me. "And I want other women to be able to do the same. It's a basic human right."
Her only offense was driving while female. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed behind the steering wheel, this is a serious breach of public order.
Although Shaima now lives in Jeddah, she had spent many years in Houston, Texas, where she became my student and friend. In 2000, at age 23, she arrived with her husband, who worked towards a license in accounting, and two young children. In 2007, she enrolled in the Master of Liberal Arts program at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, concentrating in international studies, because she wanted to understand the values, dynamics, and contradictions of Middle Eastern countries. I taught her in four courses and came to know her well.
Shaima fit right into Houston society. Texans are larger than life, and so is she. Discard your images of the veiled female Arab: Her dedication to Islam is sincere -- she recently completed the hajj to Mecca -- but she is not demure and does not attempt to fade into the background. When she enters a room, you notice.
Though she is not one to seek the limelight, Shaima freely speaks up in front of others when an issue matters to her. And she has strong ideas of what is just and fair.
There is no doubt that her time in Houston changed her. I saw her grow intellectually and come to recognize that, deep inside, she was a passionate individualist who saw life as full of possibilities.
Her marriage, which had been arranged, did not survive her personal development. In 2010, when she returned to Saudi Arabia, diploma in hand, she was on her own. As is customary in situations like hers, she moved back in with her parents.
In Houston, Shaima drove a luxurious black BMW X5, which she shipped back to the Kingdom upon her return. But even with her international driver's license, she is not allowed to drive the SUV there. Instead, she has to employ a male chauffeur, who is a stranger to her. As she is now gainfully employed, her parents leave it up to her to pay the driver's salary. That renders her inability to steer the vehicle doubly galling, she says. In her view, the prohibition against female driving has nothing to do with Islam and everything with the maintenance of patriarchal rule. After all, did Aysha, the favorite wife of the Prophet Muhammad, not ride her own camel into the Battle of Basrah in 656?
On a sweltering summer day at noon, the Texan in Shaima came out. Longing for some time alone, she grabbed her keys, fired up her BMW, and drove off. Three hours later, the authorities stopped her.
In Saudi Arabia, when a woman is caught driving, the typical police response is to extract a signed pledge not to "misbehave" a second time and let her go. There are a few women who broke the prohibition against driving several times and pledged betterment again and again. Shaima's case, however, never went through that stage. The matter was immediately referred to the country's conservative shariah court system, which is controlled by the Kingdom's religious establishment.
The judge happened to pass his verdict on the heels of a government announcement that, five years from now, women will receive the right to vote and run for public office. Possibly to register his disapproval, possibly to discourage the other women who had recently taken to the road, or maybe for some other reason, the judge assigned the unusually harsh sentence of flogging. Shaima was shocked. "What I did was a misdemeanor. The court could have fined me, and I would have been happy to pay up," she told me. "Instead, they decided to criminalize me. I am not a criminal!"
In keeping with judicial protocol, the judge asked if she planned to appeal. She said yes. He explained that upon receiving a copy of the verdict, she would have 30 days to register her appeal with the Court of Cassation.
Then came the tweet. On September 28, Princess Ameerah al-Taweel, wife of King Abdallah's billionaire nephew Al-Waleed Ibn Talal and a longstanding champion of women's right to drive, declared, "#women2drive Thank God, the lashing of Shaima is cancelled. Thanks to our beloved King. I'm sure all Saudi women will be so happy, I know I am." Her husband had spoken to the King on Shaima's behalf. In Saudi Arabia's tribal society, where wasta -- which loosely translates to "connections" -- is everything, this should have been enough to close the case. But it wasn't.
As Shaima told me, this tweet was the most official statement of royal pardon that she received. Whether the Kingdom's clerics are consciously snubbing King Abdallah's second-hand declaration or whether they lack the digital awareness to appreciate Twitter as a means of policymaking is unclear. But the tweet left them unfazed.
Shaima received a copy of the verdict in November, and unless she successfully appeals the sentence by December 12, it will be administered. Not only is the punishment painful, it is also humiliating to her and to all Saudi women who believe that a right to education should go hand in hand with freedom of movement.
But her options are limited. She might submit and take her lashing, hire local counsel who could quietly attempt to both appeal and obtain another royal pardon, or hire an international human rights counsel who could take the case to a foreign tribunal under international law. A small circle of local feminists is encouraging her to spearhead their movement, however fledgling it may be, by alerting the media. But that would mean becoming the center of attention in a country where hierarchy is respected and opposition regarded with suspicion.
When she asked for my advice, I turned to a friend with knowledge of the country, who said: "Her options boil down to two strategies: She can either hire a local lawyer and bow and scrape; or she can go nuclear by dishing this to the international press."
Shaima Jastaniah is no scraper.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Saudi Woman to Be Lashed for Driving, Despite Royal Pardon
By Nivien Saleh
Shaima Jastaniah had become a symbol of Saudi Arabia's movement for female driving rights
An unidentified woman in Jeddah poses to illustrate driving a car - Reuters
Remember Shaima Jastaniah, the Saudi woman who made international headlines in September by being condemned to ten lashes for driving a car through the coastal city of Jeddah? King Abdallah pardoned her personally. But it now turns out that she may be lashed after all.
On Saturday, November 12, she was served with an official notice that, notwithstanding the royal pardon, she will be flogged unless she wins a legal appeal in mid-December. She has kept this private, hoping to resolve it quietly, until now. Her quiet options seemingly exhausted, Shaima called me and asked me to help tell her story. "I want to be able to drive, just like I did back in the States," she told me. "And I want other women to be able to do the same. It's a basic human right."
Her only offense was driving while female. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed behind the steering wheel, this is a serious breach of public order.
Although Shaima now lives in Jeddah, she had spent many years in Houston, Texas, where she became my student and friend. In 2000, at age 23, she arrived with her husband, who worked towards a license in accounting, and two young children. In 2007, she enrolled in the Master of Liberal Arts program at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, concentrating in international studies, because she wanted to understand the values, dynamics, and contradictions of Middle Eastern countries. I taught her in four courses and came to know her well.
Shaima fit right into Houston society. Texans are larger than life, and so is she. Discard your images of the veiled female Arab: Her dedication to Islam is sincere -- she recently completed the hajj to Mecca -- but she is not demure and does not attempt to fade into the background. When she enters a room, you notice.
Though she is not one to seek the limelight, Shaima freely speaks up in front of others when an issue matters to her. And she has strong ideas of what is just and fair.
There is no doubt that her time in Houston changed her. I saw her grow intellectually and come to recognize that, deep inside, she was a passionate individualist who saw life as full of possibilities.
Her marriage, which had been arranged, did not survive her personal development. In 2010, when she returned to Saudi Arabia, diploma in hand, she was on her own. As is customary in situations like hers, she moved back in with her parents.
In Houston, Shaima drove a luxurious black BMW X5, which she shipped back to the Kingdom upon her return. But even with her international driver's license, she is not allowed to drive the SUV there. Instead, she has to employ a male chauffeur, who is a stranger to her. As she is now gainfully employed, her parents leave it up to her to pay the driver's salary. That renders her inability to steer the vehicle doubly galling, she says. In her view, the prohibition against female driving has nothing to do with Islam and everything with the maintenance of patriarchal rule. After all, did Aysha, the favorite wife of the Prophet Muhammad, not ride her own camel into the Battle of Basrah in 656?
On a sweltering summer day at noon, the Texan in Shaima came out. Longing for some time alone, she grabbed her keys, fired up her BMW, and drove off. Three hours later, the authorities stopped her.
In Saudi Arabia, when a woman is caught driving, the typical police response is to extract a signed pledge not to "misbehave" a second time and let her go. There are a few women who broke the prohibition against driving several times and pledged betterment again and again. Shaima's case, however, never went through that stage. The matter was immediately referred to the country's conservative shariah court system, which is controlled by the Kingdom's religious establishment.
The judge happened to pass his verdict on the heels of a government announcement that, five years from now, women will receive the right to vote and run for public office. Possibly to register his disapproval, possibly to discourage the other women who had recently taken to the road, or maybe for some other reason, the judge assigned the unusually harsh sentence of flogging. Shaima was shocked. "What I did was a misdemeanor. The court could have fined me, and I would have been happy to pay up," she told me. "Instead, they decided to criminalize me. I am not a criminal!"
In keeping with judicial protocol, the judge asked if she planned to appeal. She said yes. He explained that upon receiving a copy of the verdict, she would have 30 days to register her appeal with the Court of Cassation.
Then came the tweet. On September 28, Princess Ameerah al-Taweel, wife of King Abdallah's billionaire nephew Al-Waleed Ibn Talal and a longstanding champion of women's right to drive, declared, "#women2drive Thank God, the lashing of Shaima is cancelled. Thanks to our beloved King. I'm sure all Saudi women will be so happy, I know I am." Her husband had spoken to the King on Shaima's behalf. In Saudi Arabia's tribal society, where wasta -- which loosely translates to "connections" -- is everything, this should have been enough to close the case. But it wasn't.
As Shaima told me, this tweet was the most official statement of royal pardon that she received. Whether the Kingdom's clerics are consciously snubbing King Abdallah's second-hand declaration or whether they lack the digital awareness to appreciate Twitter as a means of policymaking is unclear. But the tweet left them unfazed.
Shaima received a copy of the verdict in November, and unless she successfully appeals the sentence by December 12, it will be administered. Not only is the punishment painful, it is also humiliating to her and to all Saudi women who believe that a right to education should go hand in hand with freedom of movement.
But her options are limited. She might submit and take her lashing, hire local counsel who could quietly attempt to both appeal and obtain another royal pardon, or hire an international human rights counsel who could take the case to a foreign tribunal under international law. A small circle of local feminists is encouraging her to spearhead their movement, however fledgling it may be, by alerting the media. But that would mean becoming the center of attention in a country where hierarchy is respected and opposition regarded with suspicion.
When she asked for my advice, I turned to a friend with knowledge of the country, who said: "Her options boil down to two strategies: She can either hire a local lawyer and bow and scrape; or she can go nuclear by dishing this to the international press."
Shaima Jastaniah is no scraper.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Allowing women drivers in Saudi Arabia will be 'end of virginity'
The UK's Telegraph and many other papers are reporting this story. A link to the Telegraph story is here, and the text is pasted below.
Allowing women drivers in Saudi Arabia will be 'end of virginity'
Allowing women drivers in Saudi Arabia will tempt them into sex, promote pornography and create more homosexuals, according to some conservative Muslim scholars.
By Andy Bloxham - 8:15AM GMT 02 Dec 2011
Academics at the Majlis al-Ifta' al-A'ala, which is Saudi Arabia's highest religious council, said the relaxation of the rules would inevitably lead to “no more virgins”. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are banned from driving.
The academics, working in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the conservative King Fahd University, produced the conclusions in a report for the country's legislative assembly, the Shura Council. It warned that allowing women to drive would "provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce".
Within 10 years of the ban being lifted, it claimed, there would be "no more virgins" in the Islamic kingdom. It pointed out that "moral decline" could already be seen in those other Muslim countries in which women are allowed to drive.
In the report Prof Subhi described sitting in a coffee shop in an unnamed Arab state where "all the women were looking at me".
"One made a gesture that made it clear that she was available,” he said. “This is what happens when women are allowed to drive.”
Women caught driving in Saudi face corporal punishment.
In September, Shaima Jastaniya, 34, a Saudi woman, was sentenced to 10 lashes with a whip after being caught driving in Jeddah. There has been strong protest in the country about the sentence, which was later overturned by King Abdullah, and about the law generally but resistance to reform remains strong among the traditionally conservative royal family and clerics.
The Saudi government is currently considering a proposal to ban women – already forced to cover up most of their body in public – from even displaying their eyes, if they are judged too “tempting”.
Allowing women drivers in Saudi Arabia will be 'end of virginity'
Allowing women drivers in Saudi Arabia will tempt them into sex, promote pornography and create more homosexuals, according to some conservative Muslim scholars.
By Andy Bloxham - 8:15AM GMT 02 Dec 2011
Academics at the Majlis al-Ifta' al-A'ala, which is Saudi Arabia's highest religious council, said the relaxation of the rules would inevitably lead to “no more virgins”. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are banned from driving.
The academics, working in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the conservative King Fahd University, produced the conclusions in a report for the country's legislative assembly, the Shura Council. It warned that allowing women to drive would "provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce".
Within 10 years of the ban being lifted, it claimed, there would be "no more virgins" in the Islamic kingdom. It pointed out that "moral decline" could already be seen in those other Muslim countries in which women are allowed to drive.
In the report Prof Subhi described sitting in a coffee shop in an unnamed Arab state where "all the women were looking at me".
"One made a gesture that made it clear that she was available,” he said. “This is what happens when women are allowed to drive.”
Women caught driving in Saudi face corporal punishment.
In September, Shaima Jastaniya, 34, a Saudi woman, was sentenced to 10 lashes with a whip after being caught driving in Jeddah. There has been strong protest in the country about the sentence, which was later overturned by King Abdullah, and about the law generally but resistance to reform remains strong among the traditionally conservative royal family and clerics.
The Saudi government is currently considering a proposal to ban women – already forced to cover up most of their body in public – from even displaying their eyes, if they are judged too “tempting”.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Foreign Policy: What Do Saudi Women Want?
Excellent essay by Saudi writer Eman Al Najfan about Saudi women and human rights. She mentions the driving issue a couple of times, putting it into the context of Saudi society. Well done, Ms. Al Najfan. A link to the story is here and text is pasted in below.
What Do Saudi Women Want? It's not as simple as driving, voting and property
by Eman Al Najfan
What do Saudi women want? I wish I could give you an easy answer. But Saudi Arabia is a diverse land -- spread out across a vast territory almost a fourth the size of the United States and divided by religious sects and among some 45 tribes. Divining the Saudi people's demands, never mind those of Saudi women, is no simple task.
By law, every Saudi woman has a male guardian. At birth, the guardianship is given to her father and then upon marriage to her husband. If a woman is a widow, her guardianship is given to her son -- meaning that she would need her own son's permission for the majority of her interactions with the government, including the right to travel abroad. Legal recourse is difficult to obtain, especially because abuse is only recognized when it's physical abuse. Even then, the Saudi justice system is patriarchal, bordering on the misogynistic. For example, to this day the Justice Ministry has not issued a law banning child marriage, leaving the decision at the discretion of the girl's father.
You would think that women living under these conditions would long for liberty, independence, and civil rights. Many do -- as this year's driving campaign makes clear. However, it's just not that simple. Millions of others are still not sure they are ready for change. Some explain their indecision as a fear that they might have to assume responsibilities they are incapable of undertaking. One fellow Saudi tells me that she sees what women have to put up with abroad: "I see how American women have to run around the city running errands, and I don't want to open that door. As long as women driving is banned, no one will have these expectations for me," she says.
In fact, Saudi Arabia may be even more conservative than most outsiders think. There are some who are not only passively happy with the status quo but also loud in their resistance to any form of change. In 2009, a Jeddah woman named Rawdah Al-Yousif, in collaboration with members of the royal family, organized a campaign to strengthen the guardianship system. It was called "My Guardian Knows What's Best for Me." They urged the king not to give in to local activists and international human rights organizations regarding the guardianship system. Another campaign gathered thousands of signatures from both men and women calling for the extension of gender segregation laws to hospitals -- the same segregation laws that have led to Saudi women only making up 15 percent of the national workforce and an unemployment rate for women so high that the government won't release the numbers. The only public places where these laws are not enforced are malls and hospitals. Yet there are Saudis who would like to see segregation even there.
None of this is a surprise, considering what is being taught in the public school system. In religion classes, students learn that the Saudi interpretation of Islam supersedes any worldly concepts of human rights. Women have the most to lose, yet these ideas are so ingrained that I defy you to find a report of a Saudi mother complaining about what her children are being taught.
Women in most countries may take their aspirations for freedom for granted, but for many of us, it is brand new. An exasperated expatriate in Riyadh once expressed to me how frustrated she was with the requirement to wear an abaya everywhere. She wondered: How do you all put up with having to cover your faces for your whole adult lives? What she didn't realize was that many Saudi women look at her and wonder: How can she walk around without an abaya? How is it that she doesn't feel exposed and naked?
Yet I am happy to say that I am one of many women hungry for self-determination -- women who have realized that though liberty and rights come with responsibility, it also gives them and their daughters the autonomy to pursue their happiness.
And yes, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Saudi women who are fighting for their rights -- and the well-covered driving campaign is just one of many battles, from fighting for the right to manage their own businesses to being allowed to freely leave and enter the country without their guardian's permission. Even something as simple as recognizing women lawyers in our judicial system could be transformational. And that, of course, is why it is so hard.
What Do Saudi Women Want? It's not as simple as driving, voting and property
by Eman Al Najfan
What do Saudi women want? I wish I could give you an easy answer. But Saudi Arabia is a diverse land -- spread out across a vast territory almost a fourth the size of the United States and divided by religious sects and among some 45 tribes. Divining the Saudi people's demands, never mind those of Saudi women, is no simple task.
By law, every Saudi woman has a male guardian. At birth, the guardianship is given to her father and then upon marriage to her husband. If a woman is a widow, her guardianship is given to her son -- meaning that she would need her own son's permission for the majority of her interactions with the government, including the right to travel abroad. Legal recourse is difficult to obtain, especially because abuse is only recognized when it's physical abuse. Even then, the Saudi justice system is patriarchal, bordering on the misogynistic. For example, to this day the Justice Ministry has not issued a law banning child marriage, leaving the decision at the discretion of the girl's father.
You would think that women living under these conditions would long for liberty, independence, and civil rights. Many do -- as this year's driving campaign makes clear. However, it's just not that simple. Millions of others are still not sure they are ready for change. Some explain their indecision as a fear that they might have to assume responsibilities they are incapable of undertaking. One fellow Saudi tells me that she sees what women have to put up with abroad: "I see how American women have to run around the city running errands, and I don't want to open that door. As long as women driving is banned, no one will have these expectations for me," she says.
In fact, Saudi Arabia may be even more conservative than most outsiders think. There are some who are not only passively happy with the status quo but also loud in their resistance to any form of change. In 2009, a Jeddah woman named Rawdah Al-Yousif, in collaboration with members of the royal family, organized a campaign to strengthen the guardianship system. It was called "My Guardian Knows What's Best for Me." They urged the king not to give in to local activists and international human rights organizations regarding the guardianship system. Another campaign gathered thousands of signatures from both men and women calling for the extension of gender segregation laws to hospitals -- the same segregation laws that have led to Saudi women only making up 15 percent of the national workforce and an unemployment rate for women so high that the government won't release the numbers. The only public places where these laws are not enforced are malls and hospitals. Yet there are Saudis who would like to see segregation even there.
None of this is a surprise, considering what is being taught in the public school system. In religion classes, students learn that the Saudi interpretation of Islam supersedes any worldly concepts of human rights. Women have the most to lose, yet these ideas are so ingrained that I defy you to find a report of a Saudi mother complaining about what her children are being taught.
Women in most countries may take their aspirations for freedom for granted, but for many of us, it is brand new. An exasperated expatriate in Riyadh once expressed to me how frustrated she was with the requirement to wear an abaya everywhere. She wondered: How do you all put up with having to cover your faces for your whole adult lives? What she didn't realize was that many Saudi women look at her and wonder: How can she walk around without an abaya? How is it that she doesn't feel exposed and naked?
Yet I am happy to say that I am one of many women hungry for self-determination -- women who have realized that though liberty and rights come with responsibility, it also gives them and their daughters the autonomy to pursue their happiness.
And yes, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Saudi women who are fighting for their rights -- and the well-covered driving campaign is just one of many battles, from fighting for the right to manage their own businesses to being allowed to freely leave and enter the country without their guardian's permission. Even something as simple as recognizing women lawyers in our judicial system could be transformational. And that, of course, is why it is so hard.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Female Driver Storms Crowded Saudi Beach
Emirates 24 reports the following story taken from the daily Sabq. A link to it is here, and the story is also pasted in below.
Female driver storms crowded Saudi beach
Defies driving ban to spark panic among visitors
By StaffPublished Sunday, November 13, 2011
A Saudi woman defying a ban on driving cars by females in the conservative Moslem Gulf Kingdom stormed a crowded beach at high speed, causing panic among the visitors and prompting many of them to flee.
The woman, who was accompanied by several girls, veered off the road with her Toyota land cruiser four-wheel vehicle and entered the long sandy “Half-Moon” beach in the eastern province.
"She caused panic among beach revelers and many of them screamed and ran away….she was driving in a reckless way, prompting some visitors to phone the police,” Sabq Arabic language daily said.
The paper recalled that a Saudi woman driving at high speed in a desert area last year lost control of her vehicle, causing it to overturn many times. The accident resulted in the death of the driver and four female passengers and the injury of six other women who were in the car.
Female driver storms crowded Saudi beach
Defies driving ban to spark panic among visitors
By StaffPublished Sunday, November 13, 2011
A Saudi woman defying a ban on driving cars by females in the conservative Moslem Gulf Kingdom stormed a crowded beach at high speed, causing panic among the visitors and prompting many of them to flee.
The woman, who was accompanied by several girls, veered off the road with her Toyota land cruiser four-wheel vehicle and entered the long sandy “Half-Moon” beach in the eastern province.
"She caused panic among beach revelers and many of them screamed and ran away….she was driving in a reckless way, prompting some visitors to phone the police,” Sabq Arabic language daily said.
The paper recalled that a Saudi woman driving at high speed in a desert area last year lost control of her vehicle, causing it to overturn many times. The accident resulted in the death of the driver and four female passengers and the injury of six other women who were in the car.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Saudi Women Drive Change Despite Mixed Signals
Wonderful piece on NPR by Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, that is based on interviews with Saudi women that Ms. Nelson conducted in Riyadh. I find this refreshing in that it actually has Saudi women speaking - their voices audible - stating their opinions. Well done Ms. Nelson. You can link to the article (and listen to the story) here. The text is pasted below.
Saudi Women Drive Change Despite Mixed Signals - Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson
November 10, 2011 Saudi women are getting conflicting messages from their government about whether it intends to expand their rights.
They received a boost from King Abdullah, who pledged to give them more political power in the coming years. But new Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz Al Saud is known for his opposition to women's rights.
Such mixed messages stir up hope, fear and frustration. Several Saudi women tell NPR they simply want a say in how they live.
Tug-Of-War: Women In The Middle
Even finding a public place where they can meet with a reporter is a struggle. They are kicked out of a Starbucks because it is prayer time, when shops must close. A nearby hotel lobby won't work, either, because there are men inside. Saudi women lingering in the same space as men could trigger a visit by the dreaded mutawa, or religious police, who enforce a strict segregation of the sexes in public spaces.
So the women decide to gather in the reporter's small hotel room. But even that proves a challenge, as they search for an elevator with no men inside.
Nuha al-Suleiman says such obstacles take the fun out of going anywhere.
"I feel just frustrated when I go out because I have to find my driver. I will have to stay in some places. I cannot walk in all streets," she says. "There are religious police everywhere, and they can complain about anything, so I just prefer staying home."
Middle East
After The Revolution, Arab Women Seek More RightsThe 28-year-old businesswoman and other Saudi women interviewed for this story say they are tired of waiting for rights most other women around the world take for granted.
The mixed signals especially bother them. In a historic speech in September, Abdullah pledged to add women to his all-male advisory council and allow them to take part in the next municipal elections. Two days later, a court in the port city of Jeddah sentenced a young mother to 10 lashes for driving a car.
The king later set the sentence aside. Even so, analysts say it was an unusually harsh punishment for violating a female-driving ban that isn't enshrined in law.
Ruba, a 21-year-old university student, calls the sentence shameful. She believes it was a backlash against the decision to offer women political rights. Ruba, like several women in this story, asked that only her first name be used to protect her family.
"Of course, it felt like a game of tug-of-war between the liberals and the conservatives," she says. "When the liberals pulled harder and won, the conservatives pulled even harder.
"So it just felt like women were that rope between the two parties."
'Society Is Ready'
Nevertheless, Saudi women these days are going after their rights like never before, says Fawzia al-Bakr, a 45-year-old Saudi columnist and college professor who defied the driving ban in 1990.
"I remember when I [went] to any gathering, or social gathering or the family, everybody [looked] at you as odd — totally odd — because you were asking for something that is against the religion and against the social ... code and all that," she says. "Now ... I can actually talk to my students about things. It's an interesting time."
Activist Manal Al-Sharif's Drive
Saudi activist Manal al-Sharif drives in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, while talking about the difficulties women face. She was later arrested for driving and spent 10 days in jail.
She credits greater educational and work opportunities for their empowerment — that, and the Internet, which has made it easier for women to network and draw attention to their efforts.
Activist Manal al-Sharif posted a video of herself driving in the city of Khobar in May, leading to her arrest. Supporters quickly created a Facebook page for her and demanded that she be released.
Public pressure and an apology by Sharif, who also signed a pledge that she wouldn't drive again, led authorities to release her 10 days later. Still, the news spurred other Saudi women to get behind the wheel, including Rasha Alduwisi.
Alduwisi, a 30-year-old banker, says she's tired of paying one-third of her salary to drivers to take her to and from work.
"The society is more accepting now, that's for sure," she says. "Like, you can see people waving to you and giving you the thumbs up and all that. ... That tells me society is ready."
It isn't as if Saudi women have any choice but to drive, adds Mohammed Fahad al-Qahtani, who heads the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association in Riyadh. He says a growing number are working or going to school, and the kingdom has no public transit system, making cars the only viable option.
al-Qahtani explains that the ban is hard on men, too. They often have to play chauffeur, as he does for his wife and children.
"I drive my kids in the morning, and I drive her to work, too, and I collect them in the afternoon," he says. "Can you imagine this busy schedule, and sometimes I'm the family driver, too, at night?
"So when I travel — and I do, I travel a lot — she'll be alone standing in the street with her kids, flagging a taxi to take them, and they are not reliable."
Beyond Driving
Ending the driving ban is not the only change many Saudi women want. Some say it's more important for the Saudi government to establish an age of majority for women.
Under current Saudi law, a woman is the dependent of a male relative, be he her father, brother, husband or even her son. She always needs that male guardian's permission to do almost anything outside the home throughout her life.
She can even be married off without being told, says Sarah, a 23-year-old marketing specialist.
"When we get rid of that law, I will be able to tell you that Saudi Arabia is headed toward change," she says.
Saudi Women Drive Change Despite Mixed Signals - Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson
November 10, 2011 Saudi women are getting conflicting messages from their government about whether it intends to expand their rights.
They received a boost from King Abdullah, who pledged to give them more political power in the coming years. But new Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz Al Saud is known for his opposition to women's rights.
Such mixed messages stir up hope, fear and frustration. Several Saudi women tell NPR they simply want a say in how they live.
Tug-Of-War: Women In The Middle
Even finding a public place where they can meet with a reporter is a struggle. They are kicked out of a Starbucks because it is prayer time, when shops must close. A nearby hotel lobby won't work, either, because there are men inside. Saudi women lingering in the same space as men could trigger a visit by the dreaded mutawa, or religious police, who enforce a strict segregation of the sexes in public spaces.
So the women decide to gather in the reporter's small hotel room. But even that proves a challenge, as they search for an elevator with no men inside.
Nuha al-Suleiman says such obstacles take the fun out of going anywhere.
"I feel just frustrated when I go out because I have to find my driver. I will have to stay in some places. I cannot walk in all streets," she says. "There are religious police everywhere, and they can complain about anything, so I just prefer staying home."
Middle East
After The Revolution, Arab Women Seek More RightsThe 28-year-old businesswoman and other Saudi women interviewed for this story say they are tired of waiting for rights most other women around the world take for granted.
The mixed signals especially bother them. In a historic speech in September, Abdullah pledged to add women to his all-male advisory council and allow them to take part in the next municipal elections. Two days later, a court in the port city of Jeddah sentenced a young mother to 10 lashes for driving a car.
The king later set the sentence aside. Even so, analysts say it was an unusually harsh punishment for violating a female-driving ban that isn't enshrined in law.
Ruba, a 21-year-old university student, calls the sentence shameful. She believes it was a backlash against the decision to offer women political rights. Ruba, like several women in this story, asked that only her first name be used to protect her family.
"Of course, it felt like a game of tug-of-war between the liberals and the conservatives," she says. "When the liberals pulled harder and won, the conservatives pulled even harder.
"So it just felt like women were that rope between the two parties."
'Society Is Ready'
Nevertheless, Saudi women these days are going after their rights like never before, says Fawzia al-Bakr, a 45-year-old Saudi columnist and college professor who defied the driving ban in 1990.
"I remember when I [went] to any gathering, or social gathering or the family, everybody [looked] at you as odd — totally odd — because you were asking for something that is against the religion and against the social ... code and all that," she says. "Now ... I can actually talk to my students about things. It's an interesting time."
Activist Manal Al-Sharif's Drive
Saudi activist Manal al-Sharif drives in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, while talking about the difficulties women face. She was later arrested for driving and spent 10 days in jail.
She credits greater educational and work opportunities for their empowerment — that, and the Internet, which has made it easier for women to network and draw attention to their efforts.
Activist Manal al-Sharif posted a video of herself driving in the city of Khobar in May, leading to her arrest. Supporters quickly created a Facebook page for her and demanded that she be released.
Public pressure and an apology by Sharif, who also signed a pledge that she wouldn't drive again, led authorities to release her 10 days later. Still, the news spurred other Saudi women to get behind the wheel, including Rasha Alduwisi.
Alduwisi, a 30-year-old banker, says she's tired of paying one-third of her salary to drivers to take her to and from work.
"The society is more accepting now, that's for sure," she says. "Like, you can see people waving to you and giving you the thumbs up and all that. ... That tells me society is ready."
It isn't as if Saudi women have any choice but to drive, adds Mohammed Fahad al-Qahtani, who heads the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association in Riyadh. He says a growing number are working or going to school, and the kingdom has no public transit system, making cars the only viable option.
al-Qahtani explains that the ban is hard on men, too. They often have to play chauffeur, as he does for his wife and children.
"I drive my kids in the morning, and I drive her to work, too, and I collect them in the afternoon," he says. "Can you imagine this busy schedule, and sometimes I'm the family driver, too, at night?
"So when I travel — and I do, I travel a lot — she'll be alone standing in the street with her kids, flagging a taxi to take them, and they are not reliable."
Beyond Driving
Ending the driving ban is not the only change many Saudi women want. Some say it's more important for the Saudi government to establish an age of majority for women.
Under current Saudi law, a woman is the dependent of a male relative, be he her father, brother, husband or even her son. She always needs that male guardian's permission to do almost anything outside the home throughout her life.
She can even be married off without being told, says Sarah, a 23-year-old marketing specialist.
"When we get rid of that law, I will be able to tell you that Saudi Arabia is headed toward change," she says.
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