Summer is here and the Saudi coastal resorts are now in full swing, bustling with activities for young and old Saudi men alike.
For Saudi women, summertime outdoors activities pose dilemmas. Some women are solidly orthodox in their personal views about dressing modestly in accordance to Islam’s teachings and find themselves in limbo trying to balance their views with the high temperatures and intense sun.
Other women are more liberal in their views about modesty — liberal enough to think it’s OK to wear a swimsuit at the beach — but who don’t want to stand out from the rest and draw uninvited and unwanted attention from men.
Public beaches in Saudi Arabia are just that: public. And this means it’s OK for men to wear shorts and no shirt and enjoy the sun and surf while women roast under abayyas beneath parasols. (The difference is defined by the rules of awarah, the code of dress for Muslims applied even in the presence of members of the same sex. Under the rules of awarah, it’s OK for a man to show his bare chest and wear shorts that stop at around the knees. Women may show more skin around other women, which is why there are women-only beaches in some Islamic countries, but must cover in the presence of members of the opposite sex.) The dress code essentially shuts women out of public beach activities.
Gazwa Almotairy, a 37-year-old single woman who is living under custody of her elder brother (women of any age in Saudi Arabia must have a legal male guardian), confesses that she has never experienced swimming in the sea.
She spoke to Arab News as she was visiting the Halfmoon Beach in Alkhobar city every holiday. “I can only touch the water with my feet,” she said. “Exposing my body would upset my brother. When I watch my brother and his children swimming I wish I could be a child again, able to swim with as much freedom.”
Because beaches are public, Saudi women find themselves in an unusual predicament that they rarely find themselves in other situations: the rules of modesty meet a climate that encourages “immodest” dress. And because Saudi women are generally very conservative, they find exposing themselves in public difficult.
“It’s hard to get into the water with intruding men’s eyes,” said Fawziah Al-Ghamdi, a young single teacher who is in Jeddah, where only four percent of its beach coastline is available to the public. “The available space dedicated to the public is very narrow and crowded.”
She says that even in a modest swimsuit, which includes long nylon leggings, a shirt and a cap (which has been sarcastically called a “burqini” in Western media, a play on the words “burqa” and “bikini”), she still feels like men are checking her out.
Al-Ghamdi points out that few Saudi families can afford the lavish prices for villa rentals, which have hefty annual fees as well as per-night tariffs.
Hebah Ba-Nafea, a working mother, says that it’s difficult to find full-body swimwear that contain material which allows flexible movement in the water while not sticking to women’s body when she exits the beach and revealing her form. She says that even in Saudi Arabia, finding swimwear considered socially appropriate is very difficult. She says he has prevented her 15-year-old daughter from going to the beach until she can find a swimsuit she would consider appropriate for her.
Jeddah, widely considered the most liberal city in the Kingdom, offers one alternative. On weekends it’s not uncommon to find young Saudi women sunbathing at one of the numerous so-called “Western beaches”, private facilities that offer seaside relaxation for a daily entry fee of about SR40. These semi-private beaches are popular among younger Saudis because they offer a semblance of what they would find in resort cities outside of the Kingdom: a place where a women can wear a swimsuit like most other places in the world.
In one recent afternoon, two Saudi women in their early 20s were lounging in beach chairs listening to Arab pop music. They said they come to this private beach for snorkeling and jet skiing. This particular beach caters to women only.
