First, I want to point out what is happening in some neighboring Gulf countries. Women there are allowed to vote and are also serving as government ministers. Now just hold that in your mind.
Our papers recently carried an item about the capture of a wanted terrorist who was dressed in women’s clothes. In the same week, a gang of thieves, dressed as women, robbed a store. This is not the first time that such things have happened nor will it be the last.
One cannot help but wonder if the black cloth (the abaya) should make its wearer untouchable. A woman walking in a street or riding in a car is protected by the mere fact that she is a woman. Having her face covered increases her protection. At police checkpoints, the usual procedure is to let cars pass if a woman, or women, are in the back seat. Before the introduction of ID cards for women, Saudi women were identified only on the IDs of their male guardians. Women never had to prove their identity — or maybe only at airports. But that was for those with passports.
For the majority who do not normally carry passports, the only way to prove their identity is with the family card on which a woman’s name is printed on the list of dependents. Since the introduction of personal ID cards, there have been objections in some areas of the Kingdom to having ID cards for women — especially ones with a picture of the woman. The objection to having women’s pictures on the cards came first from men. They would not allow photos of their female relatives on the cards lest a stranger see them. There is also a clause that makes optional the issuing of a card to a woman. In other words, if a woman does not want a card, she is not forced to have one. In fact, male guardians have used this plus the fact that their approval is required for the issuance of a card to pressure women and prevent them from getting their own personal ID.
A columnist on one of our papers suggested that the government use a system of fingerprinting for women who do not want ID cards. How, I ask, will that help? Is there going to be a special finger print reader, either mechanical or human, at every checkpoint?
Our papers are full of cases concerning women whose identities cannot be confirmed. Because of this, laws are broken and crimes committed. Assuming a false identity is the most common practice. Since family cards do not have pictures, men and women can use them as ways of assuming any desired identity. Easy enough for someone in an abaya to claim to be someone else and withdraw money from a bank. Let’s think about it for a minute. The mere fact that a woman is shrouded in black makes her untouchable and so she is never asked to prove that she is who she claims to be.
Can’t people see how this plays straight into the hands of criminals, thieves and anyone else intent on breaking the law? Some will probably say that such cases happen all over the world — as no doubt they do — but in those other countries, there is a legal way of confirming a woman’s identity. There is, in other words, a legal way of confirming a woman’s identity in every country in the world except Saudi Arabia. When courts are full of cases of forgery simply because of the refusal to have a woman’s picture on an ID, it is time to think about our priorities. Women who want to cover their faces have every right to do so; I am not suggesting otherwise; but all women, covered or uncovered, should have an ID that proves without question who they are, that they are indeed who they claim to be. The older family ID simply cannot do this.
One negative result of leaving the matter of IDs optional is that women are sidelined when it comes to important issues. One reason given for not allowing women to participate in the upcoming municipal elections is that many do not have IDs. How can election officials be sure who the women really are and if they have already voted or not? Not having an ID is preventing women from being fully involved in their country’s development.
To some liberals, the idea of a person having an ID is unnecessary and takes away an element of personal freedom. In our society, however, where women’s personal freedom is restricted, having an ID would make a real difference. Women would have a symbol of their own independence; they would not be under the thumb, so to speak, of a male guardian. Having a male guardian is not the solution to all the problems of a woman and for many men, having these obligations and duties is an unnecessary burden. In such cases, an ID for women would be welcome for both sexes; women would be as independent as men and they could carry out their own business without male help, agreement or supervision.
To look at the matter from still another perspective, some men, as we know, abuse their power over women for no other reason than that they have the power. They must approve anything the woman wants to do involving official paperwork and documents. That in itself is a source of power and is often misused and abused by men.
In one of our papers there was an article about male guardians refusing to approve ID cards for their women relatives because they did not want their “women” to have a public identity since that would reflect adversely on tribal feelings of pride and honor. Women belong to the tribe but they are kept in the background, never named in public or openly consulted. The report also told of men who use the family card as a weapon to exercise authority over women.
The man holds the family card, which has the names of his immediate female relatives, his wife and daughters. In one case, a woman wanted to apply for a job and she needed the family card as proof of her identity but her brothers refused to give it her because of a dispute over an inheritance. Another woman complained that she could not move her children from one school to another because her former husband refused to give the family card to her and thus she was unable to prove that she was the mother of her children. One would normally expect the law to help these women. A lawyer interviewed by the newspaper said that it was indeed wrong for men to use their authority to harass women but that, to be honest, he saw no legal way out of the situation. All he could do was suggest that the family seek help and guidance from family elders and friends.
So here we are discussing some very basic human issues — issues which have long ago been settled in the rest of the world. And while we are still debating and discussing, women are allowed to vote in neighboring Gulf countries and have been appointed as government ministers.
