For some reason, both The Washington Post and Financial Times and the wire services are picking up the story noted here and here earlier this month about a new women’s organization’s formally petitioning the Saudi government to permit women to drive.
Each of the articles interviews different of the founders of the organization as they explain their intent. Both pieces note that the Saudi Arabic daily Al-Watan, which originally published on the issue, has been inundated with reader response. According to the Post, letters have been about evenly divided. Financial Times, quoting the paper’s editor, says a slight majority continued to support the ban. Both linked articles are worth reading.
Saudi Women Petition for Right to Drive
Challenge Poses Risks in Sole Country Where Only Men May Take the Wheel
Faiza Saleh Ambah
Saudi women petition for right to drive
Andrew England and Heba Saleh in Cairo
Gets Western Media Coverage”
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September:24:2007 - 15:01
The Washington Post article also had a photo of one of the co-founders of the protest and, because I’ve rarely seen such a normal photo of a Saudi woman, it was somewhat arresting.
Not sure how much play the Post gave the story though. It was A9 in the print and buried pretty deeply online.
We blogged about it briefly:
http://realwomenbackstory.blogspot.com/2007/09/saudi-women-organize-for-right-to-drive.html
September:24:2007 - 15:21
Most Saudi women–once their abayas are out of the way–are ‘normal’ looking. Veiling is a custom that dates back to pre-Islamic antiquity and can be found in rural areas all around the Mediterranean Basin. Increasingly, more and more cultures are giving it up. Saudi Arabia and a couple of the Emirates will be the last to do so, though.
September:25:2007 - 10:52
The running joke is about Saudi women who suddenly stand up and remove their abayas and niqabs once they are out of Saudi airspace to reveal the latest fashion, often low cut, wearing a lot of makeup and perfume.
Head to Tyson’s Corner here in the Metro DC area and you’ll see a lot of Saudi women just like that, tight clothes, flighting, just like normal women.
September:25:2007 - 12:38
That’s definitely the case for some Saudi women. I recall going to Saudi parties, in Saudi, where the Saudi women were wearing little if anything.
But that is not the norm for the middle and lower classes who are, as a rule, modest in their dress. Nor does it address the truly pious.
I don’t want to be judged by Paris Hilton’s behavior. I don’t think Saudi women should be judged by the social extremes, either end of the bell curve.
September:25:2007 - 14:20
You are right, I have seen it both ways. I have seen the Gucci skirts and high heel pumps and I have also heard the Najdi dialect from the lady behind the niqab at K-Mart.
September:28:2007 - 10:53
Just to be clear, I know Saudi women are as normal as women everywhere, but you rarely see pictures of them looking normal in print. It’s either veiled eyes or (occassionally) a pic of a westernized Saudi in London or something (usually younger) dancing in a club.
The fact that this was an unveiled middle-aged Saudi woman photographed IN the country also made it unsual. There’s plenty of pics of Saudi women speaking before congress wearing conservative dress but that’s different.
September:28:2007 - 12:32
Saudi culture really doesn’t like to see women in photographs. Saudi TV has had serious back-and-forth arguments about the presence of female news presenters being televised. Radio announcers have no such problem.
There’s even a strong taboo about mentioning the name of one’s wife or mother in public. ‘Liberal’ Saudis, including those educated in the West, have a lot of trouble publicly talking about the women in their families, let alone showing pictures of them.
You’re essentially limited to seeing ‘liberated’ Saudi women in a variety of dress or traditional Saudi women in black abayas. Not much of a middle ground, so your observation is entirely correct.
September:28:2007 - 12:41
Newscat,
If you have any Arab type shops near you look for a women’s magazine called “Sayyidaty”. It is kind of a cross between a fashion magazine, People and Newsweek all in one.
You’ll see many different types of Arab women in it in all states of dress. It is the leading Saudi women’s magazine. It is sold in many shops here in the USA where Arabs frequent. I buy it for my wife at a local shop here in the Metro DC area called “an Nakheel”.
John, I would point out that the most extreme of the extreme do not even allow the woman’s voice to be heard by unrelated males. The woman’s voice is seen as being very enticing. There are households in Saudi that have separate phone lines for male and females so that people calling do not have th hear the voice of an unrelated person of the opposite sex.
As an American I had to get used to NOT asking about someone’s wife or female members of the family. That is normal here in the USA, but I got some odd looks when I first got involved with the Arab culture, and it isnt just Saudis, it is an Arab thing.
In Saudi as well the houses often have different enterances and exits for males and females and different living rooms and family rooms for entertaining so the sexes can be divided. Marriage celebrations are often done the same way, with the man’s party being in one house, the women’s in another.
September:28:2007 - 15:40
And then there’s the sub-tribe, located near Al-Kharj, where once a woman dons her veil, no one–here small children or husband included–ever sees her face again, until she’s bathed for her funeral.
I know about the general avoidance of talking of the women in a family–one never asks about a person’s wife, instead asking about ‘the family’s wellbeing. Saudis take it to a higher level in general.