In a meeting with newspaper editors, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah criticized the local press for publication of pictures of women who are inappropriately dressed or who appear in provocative attire.
“One needs to think if he would want his daughter, sister or wife to appear like that,” the king said.
Unfortunately, Western media reports misquoted King Abdullah’s comments as a call to ban all pictures of women in Saudi media. This was far from the truth.
Photographs of respectable Saudi women continue to appear daily in the local press. However, the king’s sentiments are shared by many Saudi families who feel that images of scantily-clad women don’t set a good example for our youth and should neither be encouraged nor accepted by our media.
As a concerned mother, I appreciate the king’s advice, and I hope the media will continue to respect our Islamic teachings and refrain from publishing indecent pictures of women in our newspapers.
I also read with great interest the news of an Iranian initiative to promote Islamic fashion. I agree with the view of one of the Iranian women members of Parliament that “young people’s clothing in the Muslim world does not reflect their Islamic identity, which is really not their fault, since modest modern fashions for women are not available and are not offered by our own designers or popular Western fashion houses today.”
I am also of the opinion that we need to encourage our designers to create fashions that are decent and affordable for our young women to maintain their Muslim code of dress.
We need to promote fashions inspired by traditional patterns and encourage people to avoid incompatible foreign fashions. The aim is to offer clothes that reflect modesty, beauty and diversity and at the same time display cultural independence.
We need to study how to project the image of the Saudi women to the world, but what will be her new look?
The image of a faceless woman shrouded in black does not represent the true discipline of a Muslim woman. It is an image that has been distorted by misinterpretations of Islam and has made the world less respectful of our faithful women. It has portrayed Islam as being suppressive and a religion that deprives women of their basic rights to be respected and admired.
In the West, it has also projected an image leading to backlash against Muslims entrants to society. In the Netherlands, such concerns prompted one young Dutch designer to come up with some headgear for Muslim women that would maintain modesty while allowing them to participate in school activities from which they otherwise would have been excluded.
We need to come up with a new image for the Muslim, Arab or Saudi woman who is proud of her heritage and culture. The hijab is our Muslim identity — let us wear it with elegance and pride. At the same time, as our country is forced to change to compete globally, let’s remember that fashions may have to change somewhat to enable both women and men to be effective workers in a variety of situations — not in the name of promoting Western garb, but in promoting economic success for our nation.
Saudi fashion designers need to help create smart, elegant and modest modern fashions for the Saudi woman.
An opportunity to study professional fashion design could be the means to achieve this goal. The opening of a Paris-based Ecole de Mode International (ESMOD) in collaboration with the Fashion Design Institute in Riyadh could provide young Saudi women the opportunity to create their own designs that are suitable to Saudi culture and Muslim identity.
Students will pursue a three-year course that includes drafting, computer-aided design, marketing, live drawing, fashion, culture, communication and textiles.
Moreover, this much-needed career could also provide young graduates work with retailers and as tailors, merchandising assistants as well as fashion designers.
ESMOD has institutes offering master’s programs in fashion design and business administration in France, Germany, Norway, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Brazil and now they are most welcome in Saudi Arabia.
The nature of the modern professional character of the Saudi woman should also be considered and studied carefully. If we are to project women in political and leadership positions they should be educated on government policies and made aware of the accepted social conduct and the Muslim perspective in the new emerging political scene among nations. In order to do that, however, we need to develop a Muslim perspective that truly reflects the teachings of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and leaves behind any cultural add-ons that spawn intolerance, hatred or the unnecessary restrictions on women.
With such a consensus, we could start creating a new image for Saudi women so they can assert themselves and their Muslim identities in the world.
The projection of Saudi women today is haphazard and has not been carefully studied. We first need to formulate a framework that can help the Saudi woman achieve acceptance within her society before we can send her out for international approval in the global village. Women constitute a great, underutilized asset for our economic development, and we need to ensure that we use this incredible resource as wisely as we use our oil or mineral resources, which are administered with the greatest of care.
Critical to our future success is exercising the care required to avoid failures or backlashes that could push back a clock that we can’t afford even to stand still. If we are going to project Arab and Islamic issues on the world stage, we had better be operating with a wide consensus domestically if we wish to have any hopes of success.
Saudi men and women, religious leaders and government officials all need to consider these issues carefully, remembering that is it not the West dictating to us but the world that is challenging us to either take our place near the front of the line with other nations that adapt and progress or at the back of the line with the nations that can’t.
The untapped potential of Saudi women can propel us ahead — but only if we let it. Wise deliberations that do not result in resolution will neither be very wise nor very helpful to our shared economic future. Therefore, it is imperative that we arrive at a resolution and put a plan into action to help Saudi women overcome their challenges and succeed — both for their nation and for Islam.
— Samar Fatany is a radio journalist. She is based in Jeddah.
