JEDDAH, 6 June 2004 — Preparations for the third national dialogue forum in Madinah focusing on women’s issues are complete, according to the chairman of the organizing committee.
The June 12-14 forum will be structured around 18 research papers focusing on women’s rights and duties.
Seventy academics, thinkers and journalists including 30 women from all over the Kingdom have been invited to take part in the forum, which is expected to tackle bones of contention like women driving.
Sheikh Saleh Al-Hosayn told a press conference in Makkah yesterday dialogue was “an important channel to express views with responsibility.” But he warned participants should take account of the nature of both men and women and their different roles in society.
Faisal Muammar, secretary-general of the King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center, stressed the crucial role of the forum as a platform bringing scholars and intellectuals together.
The subject for the Madinah dialogue was decided on the recommendation of the last session, in Makkah, among whose demands were a general strengthening of women’s role in society and specific institutions like a national commission to deal with women, children and family affairs.
Muammar said the forum would focus on four broad topics: Woman’s rights and duties; Women and society; Women and work; and Women and education.
There have been increasing calls to ease restrictions that make women dependent on male relatives in virtually all aspects of life. Some argue that constraints should be eased for purely economic reasons at a time when women increasingly need to work to make ends meet or have the mobility to take their children to school.
Muammar said his center was working to promote a culture of dialogue in the Kingdom.
The King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center set up by Crown Prince Abdullah has so far held two forums, in Riyadh and Makkah, that brought together prominent intellectuals from a range of backgrounds.
The Makkah forum called for an end to discrimination and for a comprehensive strategy to combat extremism. The recommendations also included immediate reform of the curriculum and greater press freedom.
