RIYADH, 8 April 2005 — Saudi Arabia should exert more efforts to integrate women in mainstream Saudi society. Despite efforts made by Riyadh to promote the status of women, it is widely seen that Saudi women have little role to play in many domains of public life.
This is one of the key issues addressed by the Arab Human Development Report (AHDR). The report was released by El-Mostafa Benlamlih, United Nations resident coordinator, at the UN office here. The releasing ceremony was attended by senior UN officials and newsmen including Mamoon Muhsen, UNHCR’s external affairs officer, and Dima Bashir Al-Azem, coordination associate at the local UNDP office.
The 248-page report which gives an overview of political, economic and social life of the whole Arab bloc comprising 22 member countries of Arab League, has accused Arab countries of not meeting peoples’ aspirations for development, security and liberation. The report suggests immediate action to reform methods of governance across the Arab world.
The report has been prepared by a group of Arab scholars including researchers, civil society activists and opinion-makers. The group of authors also includes some prominent Saudi scholars such as Majid A. Al-Muneef, a senior Saudi economic adviser to the minister of petroleum and mineral resources, and Siham Abdul Rahman Al-Suwaigh, associate professor at King Saud University. Al-Suwaigh is also a leading educational consultant.
Referring to the need to integrate women in Saudi society, which has been advocated by AHDR, Benlamlih, who is also UNDP’s resident representative, said: “There is room for improvement on women issues. The municipal elections in Saudi Arabia could have been more inclusive with women as voters or candidates.” He, however, lauded the efforts of Riyadh, which experimented with the first-ever election of the municipal council. “And, the elections were conducted in a very peaceful and positive way,” Benlamlih said.
On the progress made by the Kingdom, the report said: “At the beginning of 2004, Saudi Arabia witnessed an unprecedented number of civil initiatives, distinctive insofar as they were relatively acceptable to the government.”
