It didn’t take long… the cleric who issued a fatwa declaring it sinful for Saudi women to travel to Dubai has retracted his ruling. He was informed, by social media users as well as other clerics, that his fatwa was off the rails and he saw the light.

In U-turn, Saudi cleric withdraws fatwa on ‘sin city’ Dubai
Al Arabiya

A Saudi cleric who had issued a fatwa (religious edict) earlier this week barring travel to Dubai has decided to withdraw his statement.

Sheikh Mohammad al-Shanar issued his fatwa via Twitter last week, stating the spread of “immoralities” in the Emirati city as the reason behind his fatwa.

However, in a statement issued Wednesday, the cleric said: “Following my fatwa, there have been plenty of reactions by many people, including honest scholars who are well-informed of daawa (preaching of Islam).

“And so, after discussions, contemplation and reconsideration, and because people’s travel aims vary and the rightful path must be followed, I announce the end to a bar on travelling to Dubai unless it’s a necessity.”
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Relations among the Arab Gulf states are usually warm. They’ve even formed a Gulf Cooperative Council to make those relations formal. Yet a Saudi cleric seems bent on making enemies out of friends.

According to Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV, a Saudi cleric, Sheikh Mohamed al-Shanar, issued a fatwa warning women from traveling to Dubai… it’s like Sodom on the Gulf, in the sheikh’s eye. Not just unaccompanied women should avoid the emirate, but all Saudi women.

Needless to say, this raised a few eyebrows and a whole lot of ire.

Traveling to Dubai is ‘forbidden,’ Saudi cleric tells a woman
Al Arabiya

A Saudi cleric has sparked controversy when he issued a fatwa (religious edict) this week barring travel to Dubai because of the spread of “immoralities” there.

Sheikh Mohamed al-Shanar used his Twitter account to answer a question by a woman on whether a woman can visit Dubai without a male guardian.

“A woman asks me if it she may go to Dubai without a guardian. I answer her saying: going to Dubai is forbidden, whether she was accompanied by a guardian or not [because of the spread of immoralities], and sins increase if traveling without a guardian was not a necessity,” the cleric said on his Twitter account.

In Saudi Arabia, woman usually must be accompanied by a male guardian to be able to travel.

His fatwa prompted a wave of reaction from social media users and even from other religious scholars, with many criticizing him as “odd” and “offensive.”
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Writing at Arab News, Abdullah Sayel asks a very good question. There are 150,000 Saudi students studying abroad, both privately and as part of the King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship program. What’s going to happen to/with them once they finish their studies and return to Saudi Arabia? Just looking at the female students, who comprise about 25% of the foreign scholarship students, that’s 50,000 educated women who have some expectation of finding jobs. Never mind that some of the fields in which they’ve studied have next to no job opportunities; never mind that they’re returning with solid degrees achieved at government expense. Instead focus on the fact that the government — and society — are in now way prepared to find 50K jobs or to create them.

Education for its own sake certainly has value. But higher education is seen as a means to achieve things in life. If all you end up with is a large number of highly educated people with no prospect for work or advancement, you have a very limited achievement. You also have fertile ground for dissent arising from the inability to match expectations with reality.

I’ve no doubt that the graduates, male and female, will be militating for changes in the way in which Saudi society and Saudi government approach employment. How patient they are and how receptive government and society are to change, however, are the big, unanswered questions.

The 150,000 scholars … on their way back
Abdullah Sayel

Eight thousand Saudis have graduated days ago from the United States. From Ph.D to BA, you name it and they have accomplished it. Thirty percent of those are female graduates. Globally, nearly 50,000 Saudi female graduates are supposed to find appropriate jobs for their qualifications as soon as possible.

Here comes the bigger question: Are the available jobs capable of absorbing the coming lot satisfactorily?
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In a move that brings Saudi Arabia into the mid-20th C. in terms of workers’ rights, the Ministry of Labor has approved new regulations that provide for one day off during the week for foreign domestic workers. Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that the new regulations also require that servants and drivers be set up with their own Saudi bank accounts and that they actually be paid what their contract requires. The regulation, as reported, does not seem to require employers to give the employees control over their passports.

The regulations do, however, give domestic workers three options for how they spend their day off: 1. work and be paid overtime; 2. join the family on whatever recreational activity they’re engaged in; 3) stay at home. They — at least the female employees — are not permitted to go off on their own on their days off.

Weekend day off approved for domestic workers
Majed Al-Mufadhili | Majed Al-Mufadhili
Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – The Ministry of Labor has approved a weekend day off system for domestic workers including controls for domestic work, privileges and rights for the male and female worker and employer, organizing payment of salaries, opening bank accounts and not allowing the female domestic worker to go out alone during her weekend day off.

The options available to the female employee are that she either commits to go out with the family for recreation during the weekend off or she stays home alone.

Sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the regulation aims to protect domestic workers’ rights and those of the employer, as it imposes conditions that the employer must comply with if the domestic helps work during the weekend day off.

Most prominent among these is the consent of the housemaid or the driver to the employers of working during the weekend day off, specifying the wage and documenting it in the work contract between the two parties.
Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH – The Ministry of Labor has approved a weekend day off system for domestic workers including controls for domestic work, privileges and rights for the male and female worker and employer, organizing payment of salaries, opening bank accounts and not allowing the female domestic worker to go out alone during her weekend day off.

The options available to the female employee are that she either commits to go out with the family for recreation during the weekend off or she stays home alone.

Sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the regulation aims to protect domestic workers’ rights and those of the employer, as it imposes conditions that the employer must comply with if the domestic helps work during the weekend day off.

Most prominent among these is the consent of the housemaid or the driver to the employers of working during the weekend day off, specifying the wage and documenting it in the work contract between the two parties.
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Al Arabiya TV reports on a tribe in Saudi Arabia that swims against the current of high dowries. Rather than demanding dowries in the hundreds of thousands — or even millions — of Saudi Riyals, the tribe has a 300-year-old custom of asking only SR 2… less than one US dollar. Tribal leaders note that their marriages have a far lower failure rate, too, perhaps the direct result of taking money out of the marriage equation.

‘Two-riyal’ dowry brings pride to a tribe in Saudi Arabia
Hani Al-Sufian, Al Arabiya

A tribe hailing from the southern part of Saudi Arabia prides itself in offering the families of brides only two riyals (less than $1) as dowries, a tradition – the tribe says – dates back to more than 300 years.

The custom in the Bani Thabit tribe in Al-Numas province goes against the customary dowry system of the Arab world, especially the Gulf region, where some families ask for over-the-top presents, including gold jewelry, for their daughters hands in marriage.

One elderly man in the tribe proudly defended the tradition. He told Al Arabiya that women in his tribe are “honored and dignified and with only two riyals.”

Observers in Saudi Arabia have long warned of the rising divorce rates in the kingdom. But unlike the national trend, Bani Thabit’s elderly men say that their tribe, which is made up of at least 10,000 people, doesn’t suffer from a soaring divorce rate nor are there women left unmarried.

“Go to our villages and you will not see a lot of divorcees or ‘spinsters’,” another man told Al Arabiya.

The tradition however comes as a shock to most Saudi’s living outside Al-Numas province.

A number of people from the Bani Thabit tribe said that they are given odd looks when processing their marriage certificates outside their province, adding that government officials found the two-riyal dowry “bizarre.”

In continuing coverage over the dispute about what procedures female nurses should or should not conduct for patients, Arab News offers another voice.

It’s clear that Saudi Arabia’s culture draws bold lines when it comes to interactions between men and women. Medical practice, however, does not see “men” and “women” as entirely separate beings. Instead, it sees “patients who need medical care”. With the obvious exception of procedures that pertain solely to men or solely to women — men don’t get pregnant; women don’t get prostate cancer, for example — medicine is largely similar no matter the sex of the patient. The Saudi government recognized this long ago when it made its medical schools co-educational, mixing both male and female students in the same classes.

Appeals to custom and tradition, Khadija Habib writes, don’t really clarify the situation as during classical times it was women who did the nursing. That there are now male nurses or female nurses from different cultures does not mean that female Saudi nurses can withdraw from providing needed services. That’s simply not what the profession is about.

Saudi women find steep learning curve in nursing
JEDDAH: KHADIJA HABIB

As taboos fall away in the nursing profession and more Saudi women are hired to give care to patients in hospitals and clinics, medical personnel are beginning to realize there is a learning curve in how to approach the job.

Many new Saudi nurses have expressed dislike and frustration over the type of work they are required to perform in hospitals. Many complained about the demands of the job at a recent Jeddah conference to commemorate the International Nurses Day.

“Our job duties require that we have sometimes to deal with difficult situations, which is understandable and part of the job,” said Manish Archie, an Indian nurse who came to Saudi Arabia nine years ago. “However, what I can’t understand is that some people use us to do things that another female nurse would refrain from doing for religious reasons. And we are asked frequently to do night shifts.”

Archie told Arab News that some female nurses refuse to perform catheterization on a male patient, saying either that it is not allowed in Islam or because she feels embarrassed in performing the task.

“Now I understand the local culture, but some people go too far,” she said.
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Saudi Gazette reports that a group of female nurses in Saudi Arabia are objecting to having to care for male patients. By being forced to do so, they claim, they are being forced also to break religious taboos about seeing naked male bodies or touching them. They point to a fatwa issued nearly 20 years ago as the basis of their action.

Clearly, this is a sensitive topic and one that is driven by cultural and religious values. And while nurses in the US (who are predominantly female) may not have particular issues in dealing with male patients, the opposite view can come into play: female patients are not all comfortable with male nurses (or even doctors) in some circumstances. In the US, it’s very often the case that a male doctor will have a female assistant in the examining room at all times he is dealing with a female patient. It would be a mistake, however, to attribute this to moral scruples: in fact, it’s legal prudence. Doctors have been accused of improprieties when there have been no third-party witnesses to examinations.

In Western societies as a whole, both nurses and doctors (as well as other health care providers) are assumed to be professional. They are there to deal with illness, disease, and injury. Those things affect both men and women and it is neither practical nor efficient to set up separate facilities and staffs for the two sexes. A nurse who categorically refused to deal with patients of the opposite sex would be recommended to find a different profession.

Female nurses refuse to work in male wards
Saudi Gazette report

HOFUF — The directorate of health affairs in Al-Ahsa region is investigating the case of 12 Saudi female nurses working in a government hospital who allegedly refused to work in the male wards out of fear that they may be obliged to look at the patients’ private parts while bathing them or changing their clothes.

The nurses, working at Hassan Al-Afaliq rehabilitation hospital, defend their decision based on a fatwa issued about 19 years ago by the Council of Senior Scholars preventing female nurses from seeing men’s genitals or touching their bodies while dressing their wounds.

The fatwa, however, said female nurses could do this only under extreme situations when there are no male nurses available in a hospital.

The fatwa, signed by five senior religious scholars, including the former grand mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Baz, said this matter should never be taken lightly.
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Ahmed Al Omran has written about the issue as Riyadh Bureau, his supplement to Saudi Jeans.

Earlier this year, the government of Saudi Arabia announced that there was a path by which children of Saudi mothers and foreign fathers could attain citizenship. The move was welcomed by the tens of thousands of Saudi women who were faced with the problems of stateless children.

Sabria Jawhar, writing for Arab News, reports that while it’s a nice gesture, there are many details that have not been well thought out. Listing such children as “employees” of the mother — which sort of makes sense for dealing with the paperwork — makes little sense in actuality, for instance.

There’s a further problem with government moves to deport workers whose papers are ‘irregular’. No effort and no thought seems to have been given to the status of the Saudi women to whom some of these men are married, or to the children they share.

The entire government, Jawhar suggests, needs to be talking among its various ministries and branches to ensure fair treatment to the women and children of mixed marriages.

Confusion prevails even as Saudi women can now sponsor children
Sabria S. Jawhar

Saudi women married to non-Saudis finally got a break when they won the right to sponsor their own children, and that their children are considered Saudis by the government in getting education and work. This gives women more control over the lives of their families and more stability. There is security knowing that their children can receive government education and have access to good jobs.

We know that previously, children of Saudi women were virtually non-entities in the eyes of the government. Children of non-Saudi fathers have no citizenship. The law says that only boys can receive the citizenship at the age of 18 if they meet specific requirements. And even then, there is no guarantee that boys will ever receive citizenship. No child of expats receives citizenship at birth. Up until the new decree, children of non-Saudi fathers had no rights as Saudis, although they were Saudis in every aspect except name.

So, the recent decree gives these children a measure of comfort, yet it says nothing about what happens to these children once their mother dies.
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Want to make something stop in Saudi Arabia? It’s easy… just call for a new study on something, even if it’s been studied to death before.

Saudi Gazette reports that a number of female academics are calling for a new study on the decision to permit sports and athletic programs in girls schools. While they grudging admit that health might be important, they seem to think it more important that Saudi girls learn to comport themselves as Saudi women, wrapping themselves in cultural and religious virtue, even if it does shorten their lives.

Inactivity by both men and women in Saudi Arabia has been identified as a major component of the country’s vast experience of diabetes. Even those who might choose to take part in exercise are prohibited from doing so.

It’s useful to recall that it’s not just a heavy-handed patriarchy that delays needed change in Saudi Arabia… there are plenty of Saudi women, too, who serve to obstruct, whether on matters as simple as exercise for girls in schools or women getting behind the driver’s wheel.

Ministry decision sparks new debate on women’s sports
Saudi Gazette report

DAMMAM — A number of female academics have said the Ministry of Education’s plans to introduce physical education at private schools for girls need exhaustive study as it is a sensitive issue.

While calling for suitable sports facilities to be provided, the academics stressed that taking such steps should be in line with religious and social norms and Saudi traditions, Al-Yaum daily said in a report.

Dr. Soad Al-Suwaid of Princess Nora Bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh said schools’ top priority should be to prepare female students for married life and teach them how to take care of their children once they get married.

“This will undoubtedly reduce negative social phenomena such as divorce and drug abuse. Sports are important for everyone but some things are more important,” said Al-Suwaid, while adding that introducing sports will distract girls from their main task.
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Who could have seen this coming?

Saudi Gazette translates a piece from the Arabic daily Al-Madinah lamenting the fact that making jobs exclusive to women costs more than having men in those jobs. The article focuses on the fact that while men might work the equivalent of two shifts in a long day, Saudi women can or will only work one shift; family duties require it. Not mentioned, but also substantial costs, are the changes mandated by law to prevent men from peeking into, say, lingerie shops; the hiring of guards to protect the women and prevent men from entering the shops; and instituting a different benefits regime.

Who could have seen this coming? Anyone who cared to look. Saudi Arabia’s insistence that men and women be kept separate except in family situations just adds millions and billions of riyals to the cost of doing business in the country. Instead, a hypocritical system has evolved that keeps men and women apart, except when it’s convenient, as when unrelated males are hired to drive women around. Certain Saudis need to get their heads around the fact that mere proximity does not result in illicit sex.

Feminizing stores that sell women’s fashion has a price
Abdulrazaq Baleelah | Al-Madinah

TRADERS in women clothes and accessories are unanimous that ensuring their shops are staffed by women only by July 10 will raise prices by 30 to 50 percent. They justified this huge price rise by pointing to the fact that work in their shops can only be covered in two shifts, while women can only work for one shift.

They said in this case they would have to employ two women for the same job instead of one. Therefore, their salary bill will double, thus increasing prices.

Speaking recently at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), the traders said they would not be able to implement the decision of the Labor Ministry within two months. They asked the ministry to extend the period and to launch an awareness campaign to change the work ethics of the majority of Saudi families.

What will the ministry do especially as it has been burdened with too many assignments? It has been reported that the ministry will not back off from its decision and that it is now considering the mechanisms of implementation in a manner that will not harm the merchants and manufacturers and at the same time fulfill the core objectives of the government to provide enough working opportunities for the Saudi women.
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Just Do It isn’t only a Nike advertising slogan. According to this opinion piece in Saudi Gazette, it’s what the government of Saudi Arabia needs to do when it comes to the issue of women’s driving.

As with many things in Saudi Arabia, Mahmoud Ahmed reminds us, Saudi society takes a long time to come to conclusions about change. And the funny thing is that they never actually reach conclusions until the government says, “do this.” Once the mandate has been issued, and after a bit of fussing, the new becomes accepted. There are actually few things in which Saudi society has been the driver of change — satellite TV is one that comes to mind. In most cases, it’s the government that says girls will be educated or that English will be taught in primary schools. Even the most mundane issues like girls’ sports programs in schools take a government boot to get people moving.

It’s time, Ahmed suggests, for the government to act. All the arguments pro and con have been hashed out over the years. Everyone understands them. But until the government authorizes the activity, it’s not going to happen. So, just do it for crying out loud!

Will society allow women to drive?
Mahmoud Ahmad

There’s a decided single-mindedness in Saudi society when it comes to making decisions on social issues— especially issues that concern women. Just procrastinate and the issue will fade away. Is it me, or is it really the case that when issues require a firm decision, we either take a long time deliberating or just don’t bother to consider them, allowing them to simmer. In either case, the manner in which we tackle issues is poor at best. In the first case, we are just delaying the inevitable and the second — pushing the decision off with the attitude that out of sight means out of mind — is just wishful thinking.

Among the many issues demanding a decision from society is that of women driving. It has been said that only society can decide whether women should drive, but the question is: How long will this take?

Saudi society is divided on many mundane issues, including teaching English at the elementary level (a necessity of the times), changing the weekend to Friday and Saturday instead of Thursday and Friday ( in line with global necessity), girls’ sports in school (a healthy option for society) and many others. So why should the issue of women driving be any different? The irony is that not that long ago, society was divided on the issue of women going to school. But once the decision was taken society accepted it with the naysayers realizing the necessity of education for both boys and girls. Now those who were once against the idea are used to it and the result is that there are many schools and universities for women in the Kingdom.
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Agence France Presse reports that Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour has won a “Newcomers” award at the Cannes Film Festival for her film “Wadjda”. In the interview — here republished by Yahoo.com’s news portal “Maktoob” — Al-Mansour says she sees culture changing in Saudi Arabia. While there’s still a long way to go, changes are taking place.

Saudi Arabia more tolerant, says woman film maker
Richard Ingham

Saudi Arabia’s first woman film maker, Haifaa Al-Mansour, said her country was becoming “more tolerant and more accepting” as she picked up an award in Cannes on Saturday for her acclaimed film “Wadjda”.

The 2012 tale of an impish young Saudi girl who plots to own a bicycle in defiance of a ban has won the hearts of critics and public alike in France, Germany and Switzerland, where it is being distributed.

Filming “Wadjda” was an odyssey in itself.

In conservative neighbourhoods, local residents would block shooting, or Mansour would have to direct from a van with a walkie-talkie, as she could not be seen in public together with male crew and actors.

The film itself will only be seen in the kingdom on DVD or on television, as cinemas there are banned.
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