DAMMAM, 19 May 2006 — The Eastern Province Literary Club (EPLC) elected members to its recently formed committee for women. This is the first time in the club’s 16-year-history that women have been allowed to participate in the club’s organizational activities.
Literary clubs in Saudi Arabia, located in principal cities, play a key role in promoting readings, lectures and regional book fairs. Committees of the clubs are in charge of different activities, such as poetry, narration and children’s education.
Sixteen candidates vied for the seven-seat women’s committee, including an 11-year-old girl who was commended for her effort but nonetheless disqualified due to her age. Seven women were elected in a vote supervised by the club’s leaders — Jubair Al-Malihan, club president, Mubarak Al-Kaldi, the club’s vice president, and Ahmad Al-Mula, the club’s general manager.
The winners were: Najat Al-Shafee, who got 42 votes, Fawzia Al-Hani with 32 votes, Fawzia Al-Eunee with 31 votes, Tagreed Al-Bakshi with 31 votes, Mariam Bubshait with 28 votes, Qumasha Al-Ulaian with 20 votes and Wedad Al-Manee with 20 votes.
In May, the Ministry of Culture and Information, which is in charge of the country’s 12 literary clubs and 83 public libraries, announced new board members for the clubs in Riyadh, Makkah, Jeddah and the Eastern Province.
There were rumors that Lamia Baeshen, literary critic and professor in the English Department of Jeddah’s King Abdul Aziz University, was a possible nominee for the Jeddah club.
But when the ministry announcement came no woman was appointed. Without elaborating, the ministry statement said that the boards would be formed through voting by its members in future once mechanisms had been put in place by the new leadership.
Some women writers expressed their disappointment over the decision not to appoint women to any of the club’s boards. The ministry said that the decision not to appoint Baeshen to the board in Jeddah had nothing to do with her qualifications, but rather because the ministry aims to incorporate women in future boards simultaneously in all the clubs, beginning with elected women’s committees.
Hanaa Hijazi, a Jeddah-based short-story writer, told Arab News early in May that Jeddah seemed the most suitable place to begin incorporating women into the clubs since it is considered one of the most liberal cities in the Kingdom.
For his part, Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani said in April that the women’s committees, such as the one elected last week on the EPLC, are supposed to act as “an extension of the board of directors in all clubs.”
“The clubs should be open to all positive trends and should follow the National Dialogue Center as an example,” said the minister, referring to the dialogues that take place twice a year and seek to address broad social issues with the participation of the public, including women and youths.
