The disappointing news came just ahead of the enforcement of a new system that allows for municipal elections to be held in a few months time for electing half the members of the new municipal councils.
The happiness generated by last week’s announcement that the elections would be held in autumn was short-lived. It was soon to be followed by another statement stressing that women would be excluded from the entire process. This only raises questions about the seriousness of what is being said about reforming the women’s status in society.
To what extent are we serious about recognizing women as citizens with rights and responsibilities just like men? What is the degree of truth in the words being said and repeated again and again of respecting women and recognizing their intellectual and practical capabilities? How long should women remain on the fringes of public life in our country?
When the Third National Dialogue Forum held recently in Madinah dedicated itself to discussing the situation of women in society choosing for its deliberations the title “Saudi Women, Rights and Obligations,” it was viewed as a good indication to the concern shown toward women’s affairs and a source of optimism that women’s conditions would improve.
When the conference announced its recommendations, some of which were vague and generalized, people held high hopes that the recommendations would receive at least some of the attention they deserve and that practical steps would be taken to ensure that the words are turned into deeds.
Reality, however, tells of something different.
The moment it was announced that women have nothing to do with the forthcoming municipal elections, the glamour of the recommendations faded away. So much for the recommendation calling for “broadening the scope of women participation in public life”.
Today, it can be said that this particular recommendation has been met with indifference and disregard from the part of the officials responsible for laying down the rules for the municipal election.
That was one of several recommendations issued by the Madinah forum. Will the fate of the other recommendations be the same?
If those recommendations which all sought to address women’s affairs did not receive the support they deserve and if they are not activated and the necessary mechanism found for implementing them, then the status of women would not change and the process of reform will stall. We would be moving in a vacuum that in the end would lead us nowhere.
