JEDDAH, 9 March 2008 — While the world was busy with rallies, conferences, campaigns and meaningful activities to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD), there was inaction yesterday in Saudi Arabia except for two low-key events that took place in Jeddah.

According to the IWD website, 611 events took place in 52 different countries — ranging from small random informal gatherings to large-scale highly organized events — to mark the day.

Even Afghan women gathered at the American University of Kabul to highlight issues affecting them, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency. Events were also held in Pakistan, India, Indonesia and China as activists pressed for an end to discrimination against women, ranging from abortion of female fetuses to workplace bias. Activists in Pakistan attended a rally, a conference on eliminating discrimination and violence against women, and a women’s rock-climbing competition.

But, when Arab News contacted the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) asking about IWD activities, an executive secretary responded in astonishment, “Oh, is it today?”

Fouziah Al-Ouni, a Dammam-based human rights activist, said that it is painful to see the entire world and the Gulf region organizing lectures and rallies calling for the empowerment of women while no events took place in Saudi Arabia.

“It’s all due to the absence deep-rooted awareness of human rights in this country,” she said, adding that — in spite of establishing the Human Rights Commission and the National Society for Human Rights — there is still much more that needs to be done.

“Things are developing slowly. At least the IWD was mentioned in local newspapers this year. However, the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education must encourage their employees to organize IWD activities and programs,” she said, adding, “Educated women recognize and celebrate IWD even on a small scale.”

Shahd Attar, a Jeddah-based business operations manager of Cisco System Inc., featured on the IWD web page delivering a message of progress, hope and appreciation. Cisco was a sponsor and a supporter of IWD 2008.

“The world definitely needs International Women’s Day especially in areas where women are going through a lot of rapid social progress. Positive reinforcing messages that come out of IWD help women through these changes,” said Attar. “I believe what women need the most is empowerment through education, empowerment through skills training and empowerment through recognition.”

As part of IWD celebrations in Saudi Arabia, a two-day workshop was held in Jeddah on developing the role of women in the Kingdom’s economy by raising awareness about promoting women in the work force. The event was organized by Future Experts and hosted at Effat College. A second event was organized by the Jeddah Debates, which held a discussion “about Saudi women’s international participation allowing a public exploration of the important issues in the Arab and Islamic world.”

The day at Arab News was just like any other day except for a short message that staff exchanged. “It’s International Women’s Day so I’m sending a little recognition to all the great, loving, patient superwomen I know. Yes, we can!” the message read.