There are too many forces and mindsets at work in Saudi society these days. One can feel the rising tension between the opposing camps — the conservatives and the ultra-conservatives and the liberals, if we can call them that. The major point of difference among the camps has to do with Saudi women and to be frank; this has become a very hot issue. One group thinks that Saudi women need to strive for recognition and more rights in society; this group realizes that women are half of society and that they have a great deal to offer in terms of progress and development. Another group thinks that women have more than they need and that it is time for them to go back to the sort of lives their mothers and grandmothers led. So far, diversity has worked by creating a healthy atmosphere for dialogue. What is not healthy, however, are the attempts by both sides to alienate the other side, and each one insisting that theirs is the right way and the only possibility. Whatever happened to the idea of choice? We should be fighting to be able to make a choice, for a society that respects individual choices instead of banishing them.
These thoughts jumped to my mind when I read two articles in last week’s papers. The first dealt with the eighth Saudi Development Plan (2005-2009) that states that unemployment among women up to 2002 was 12.8 percent. The report attributed the percentage to the fact that many graduates specialize in subjects that are not needed or required in the Saudi job market. The article added that the majority of women are working in the sectors of education and health. Of workingwomen, 83 percent go into education and 5.4 percent into the health sector. The article also spoke of the government’s desire for greater women’s participation in development by creating more jobs and increasing investment opportunities.
Now for the second article which, by the way, came out about the same time as a petition (this seems to be the year of petitions!) asked the government to stop women working outside their homes. The petition was sent to the king, asking him not to accept “Westernized voices asking for women to abandon their domestic duties and leave their homes for outside employment.” The petition went into details of what the signatories — all women — believe are the main issues for Saudi women. The signatories consider those demanding more rights for women to be no representative and they feel they are the representatives of Saudi women. Now before we start arguing about who represents whom, lets make one point clear: No one represents all Saudi women. The claims by each group that they represent Saudi women are flawed. There are simply two opposing camps and each assumes that it is speaking for Saudi women. Each one represents some Saudi women but not all of them. This of course is what we should expect and will no doubt remain so. Different voices reflecting different opinions. The petition’s signatories point out that their real issues have not been dealt with. As far as they are concerned, all the media talk about Saudi women is mainly a conspiracy to Westernize the Kingdom’s women and turn them into a commodity by asking for more job openings and a wider role in society.
The petition is interesting because it attempts to show why it is not good for women to join the workforce or work alongside men. According to the petition, women are already being harassed on the streets when they go shopping or when they are in their cars. If this is the case when women are not driving or working beside men, what will happen if women drive and work with men?
All we can say to those people is: “Must we govern our lives based on sick mentality of some people and punish all women because of this mentality?” If there are those who make a habit of chasing and harassing women wherever they go, shouldn’t this behavior be punished instead of confining women to their homes? Are we saying that it is all right for men to harass any woman on the street because the women brought it on her by going out in the first place? I am sorry but if this is the case that means society needs to reconsider its definition of safe streets — as well as its accepted codes of conduct concerning women.
The signatories go on to demand that all important decisions concerning women should emanate from Islam without acknowledging that its main constituent in Saudi is the Shariah. Their other demands are: 1. Stop satellite channels; 2. Media outlets should give Islamists a chance to express their opinions; 3. Indecent behavior should be banned in public and this includes women riding on jetskis; 4. Have women’s community centers in every neighborhood to guarantee that women are protected from “Westernizing effects” and to deal with women’s real problems; 5. Establish a media outlet that deals with women’s issues in a modern way but in line with the Shariah; and 6. Change the curriculum to suit women and teach them different subjects from those men are taught.
What age do these people think we live in? You can’t simply go back in time on a whim, nostalgia aside. Some people live completely in the past and seem to forget the modern world around them. Does their love for the past mean they live without air-conditioning and electricity? Without cars and airplanes? All of these, after all, came to us from the “wicked West.”
It seems to me that the writers of the petition missed the whole point behind the dialogue that is going on in our country. The whole idea is to listen to others’ opinions and respect them, to acknowledge that people are different and that they are entitled to hold a variety of opinions. It seems that the right to choose is absent from these people’s agendas. When we debate on whether women should or should not drive, why can’t we simply stick to our opinions and let others have theirs? If some people do not want their wives and daughters to drive or go to school, that is their choice. By the same token, they should not assume that their way is the only possible one, the only right one and the only Islamic one. Nor should they present the idea that those who do not agree with them are committing a crime. Let us please have a bit of flexibility and tolerance!
