JEDDAH, 22 June 2004 — Young Saudi women were mostly critical of the third National Dialogue Forum that ended in Madinah last week with 19 recommendations on women’s issues, provided they had heard of the forum at all.
Some were quick to point out that women who participated in the forum were in the age group between 40 and 60 while most of the Kingdom’s population is under 25.
Abeer, 28, is a mother of three children who paid close attention. “I think they were discussing shallow and unnecessary issues like driving,” she said.
She said the forum should instead have focused on women who work far from their home without access to proper transportation. “I graduated but I don’t work because I can’t leave my family every day and risk traveling to remote villages through the desert,” she said.
But Dalal, 33 and a mother of two boys, says she does want to drive. “But she too said there were important issues the forum only briefly touched on, especially women’s legal position.
Currently women need a mahram or male guardian in almost every aspect of their lives. “But what if I don’t have one? My father died a long time ago and my brothers live in the Eastern Province. My sister got divorced, and when she went to court with my mother, they refused to speak to her,” she said.
Sara Al-Jedaiby and Mariam Al-Rewali, both 25 and working full-time, had not heard about the forum but said women here were far too restricted. “Even if you apply for a job, you have to provide a paper from your father, brother or husband that says he agrees with you working. But what if the father divorced the mother and refused to give them money but at the same time objects to his daughter working? Does that mean that she should beg or die of hunger?” Sara asked.
Mariam agreed that the restrictions give rise to logistic nightmares. “We are three sisters in the same house. You can imagine the problems and fights that we go through every day over who gets to have the car and driver first. And it’s very tiring for the driver as well,” she added.
Sahar Fallatah, 25, focused on the limited job opportunities for women. “You are generally either a doctor or a school teacher,” she said. She too paid little attention to the forum.
Sahar feels there is something amiss in the way the media deal with women’s rights. Too many writers constantly talk of imaginary limits set for women by Islam, she said.
“The problem is that even some educated men think they are superior to women. This wrong idea is actually the cause of all problems,” Sahar said.
She added: “I don’t think I’m being oppressed, as Westerners think; I am happy being a Saudi woman surrounded by a caring family. But I believe that the problems that I face can be solved to make my life better.”
Sahar suggests establishing a high council for women where they can go when they face discrimination because of their gender and where they can discuss their problems.
Two other women who gave only their ages, 18 and 20, said they never thought about women and their rights, knew nothing about the issue, and were unaware of the dialogue forum.
