Here’s an interesting piece of investigative journalism appearing in Saudi Gazette. It appears to be a translation of an article appearing in the Arabic language magazine Roaa. It tells the tale of a female reporter who went underground, posing as a maid, to see how Saudi domestic servants might be treated by Saudi employers.
An ugly story results.
Her conclusions are that while it may be fine for a Saudi woman to work as a maid, she should avoid working for a Saudi family. In her instance—and this is a single case she is reporting—the males in the family were suggestively predatory. The woman of the house, dictatorial and conspiratorial. The stories of other Saudi women who have worked as maids, as reported, tend to bear that out. Those working for foreigners fared better. The article does not shed much of a good light on Saudis as employers.
Saudi housemaids: Putting concept to test
JEDDAH – Resolved to go through with it, I had a last minute meeting with my editor-in-chief to discuss what would happen should anything untoward befall me, and he kindly responded by saying he would gladly publish my obituary on the first inside page of the next issue of Roaa magazine!
I had already approached an employment agency who found me a position, and having equipped myself with a tiny hidden camera and audio recorders mascarading as music devices I contacted the agency to obtain the address of my new workplace. They refused to give it to me, however, saying that instead the agency would take me there by car. The nervous refusal to go into any details disturbed me slightly. I went to the agency’s office and waited, and eventually a Saudi driver was arranged to take me to the unknown destination. As I set off with my photographer colleague Hayat secretly in tow I tried to get as much information from the driver as possible concerning the experiences of girls who had previously worked for the agency. His responses came with a sardonic smile.
…
This story from Saudi Gazette/Okaz, if reported accurately, has to stand as the idiocy of the day.
A man takes in the abandoned children who were the responsibility of their uncle, who moved away. Two of the children are teenage girls. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice charge him with khulwa, illicit seclusion with members of the opposite sex, a sin and a crime in Saudi Arabia, and are set to jail him for a month.
It may help the man’s case that he had been asking for help from the Ministry of Social Affairs—responsible for family and child services—for about a year beforehand. It might help, too, if the Saudi government established a minimum age for marriage so that these girls would have been considered too young to establish a state of khulwa.
Hai’a charges man helping desolate kids with ‘khilwa’
Abdul Kareem Al-Murabba’MAKKAH – The former neighbor of two homeless girls and their brother who he took into his home while attempting to find them suitable care through official channels has described his dismay at facing a month in prison after the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai’a) charged him with khilwa, or illegal seclusion with non-related members of the opposite sex.
“It is ironic that I now face a month in prison after the Hai’a arrested me for being in illicit seclusion with the girls,” said the former neighbor of the 13 and 14-year-old girls and their nine-year-old brother. “The case is still being looked into by a court in Makkah.”
The children had been living on the street after being abandoned by the uncle in whose custody they had been placed following their father’s imprisonment and their mother’s remarriage, until their former neighbor saw their plight and took them into his home with his own family while the Ministry of Social Affairs resolved the issue.
He has now spent nearly a year trying to resolve the situation through the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Committee for the Care of Prisoners, and Makkah’s Social Protection Home.
An official from Makkah Social Affairs, which has taken up the case, said the children had been subjected to violence by their uncle, and that an application for urgent shelter had been submitted to the Ministry of Social Affairs. – Okaz/SG
Arab News takes a look at the problems that Saudi women with ‘no traceable lineage’—i.e., born out of wedlock—face in a society that places much value on social status. Saudi women already face certain systemic problems in life: can’t drive, are limited in their legal authorities, need to be chaperoned, etc.
If a woman can’t identify her father, though, her chances for a successful marriage in Saudi Arabia become even more limited. While her personal character may be impeccable, her lack of status too often is considered a lack of character. She ends up with a misfit for a husband or is treated like a maid by the family. It seems that being raised in an orphanage in the Kingdom is a sentence to celibacy and spinsterhood, at least within its laws and society.
Paying the price for others’ faults
Fatima Al-Saadi | Arab NewsJEDDAH: They are children without known lineages, often the outcome of illegitimate relationships. Their mothers abandoned them in streets or outside mosques at birth, as they could not bear the shame of giving birth outside wedlock. With no one to turn to, such children are taken to social care homes, where — deprived of the warmth and care of a father and mother — they are raised alongside orphans.
The number of children without traceable lineages has been on the rise in recent years. Although not guilty of any crime, they pay the price for others’ mistakes. The greatest difficulty such children face is perhaps in marrying; this is especially the case for women. Most men, particularly those who come from decent families, simply do not want to marry women without traceable lineages.
…
The UAE’s Khaleej Times runs this Agence France Presse article. As great as the news is, this piece doesn’t actually report on just how far along the creation of regulations on child marriages might be. They’re certainly an aspiration for many, but there is strong religious opposition.
Saudi working on child marriage curbs
RIYADH (AFP) – The Saudi government is working on new regulations to impose a minimum age for marrying to prevent child weddings, the head of the official Human Rights Commission said on Sunday.
“Although they are very limited, we are worried about cases of children being married,” the commission’s president Bandar al-Aiban told AFP in an interview.
“This is under serious review. We are discussing what is the appropriate age for marriage,” he said, adding that the minimum age in the new regulations could range from 16 to 18 years old.
Saudi Arabia has come under attack for permitting pre-teen and prepubescent girls to be married off by their parents.
In a case that stirred an international outcry late last year, an eight-year-old Saudi girl was sold into marriage with a man in his 50s by her father in exchange for dowry money.
The girl’s mother challenged the marriage in court but it was upheld twice by a judge.
However in April, the parties agreed to a divorce in an out-of-court settlement, under heavy public pressure and what newspapers described as intervention by an unidentified “important personality.”
Aiban said the problem is that under Islamic sharia law, the foundation of the Saudi justice system has no prohibition on child marriage and new regulations have to be crafted in harmony with sharia principles.
He said government bodies, rights groups and others are involved in the discussions to shape the new regulations, with some advocating a minimum age of 18 while others want a minimum of 16 or 17. One person proposed 15, he added.
When it comes to women’s transportation, Saudis are up the creek. Social and cultural barriers are stopping women from driving—religious authorities are on record saying there’s nothing in Islam that prohibits it—but women (and often their husbands) get jammed. The cities have rudimentary public transportation; taxis (known in the Kingdom as ‘limousines’) are expensive and drivers curt at best; hiring a foreign driver (even at the paltry salary of $533/mo.) is too expensive for many Saudis.
These and other problems are the meat of this Arab News article. I get a sense that the push to permit women to drive is heating up again. I don’t want to be too optimistic, but it seems that there is going to be a breakthrough in the near future. The religious arguments have mostly been won. The government acknowledges that there’s no law against it. Now, the economic and social cost arguments are being waged. They are irrefutable, of course, but they still have to convince the incalcitrant.
Women’s transport: Solutions needed
Laura Bashraheel | Arab NewsJEDDAH: In Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive, transportation is definitely an issue. Women are usually driven around by family members and personal drivers, or are forced to use some other type of private transportation. While the private transport is a booming business, the higher the demand the more expensive the supply becomes.
Providing alternative solutions is the only exit. Some companies provide cars and drivers to ferry their women employees for work purposes, but not all companies have the budget to do that. Workingwomen, meanwhile, find it difficult getting to work and are often charged thousands of riyals a month in transportation.
…
Saudi women will be completely equal to men, at least in the halls of the Saudi Chambers of Commerce & Industry, reports Arab News. A new law, to be passed within the next few days, will permit businesswomen to compete without any barrier to Chamber positions.
Again, this isn’t a major step, but it’s an important step in shifting Saudi ideas about the role of women in society as much as in business.
New law gives greater role to businesswomen
Galal Fakkar | Arab NewsJEDDAH: The new law for the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CSCCI) gives greater powers to businesswomen, Fahd Al-Sultan, secretary-general of the council, said yesterday.
“The new law, which replaces the existing 50-year-old law, will be passed within a few days,” he said.
… Al-Sultan said the new law gives businesswomen a greater role in the council as well as in the development of the country.
“Even if only women are elected to the CSCCI board, there is nothing in the law to prevent it,” he pointed out.
A new campaign for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, calling for a top-to-bottom revision in the way women are treated, has just been launched, reports Arab News. The campaign, Stolen Rights, looks for changes in everything from pensions for female workers to permitting women to sell lingerie, from women’s driving to equal pay to and end to harassment on the streets or the workplace.
Right now, the campaign is looking for Saudis to sign its online petition, providing ID numbers to verify Saudi citizenship. If you’re Saudi and believe in the goals, it might be worth your while.
Stolen Rights fights for women’s rights
Laura Bashraheel | Arab NewsJEDDAH: Kholoud Al-Fahad, 32, believes women’s rights are God-given — but they have been lost or stolen and need to be regained.
She is talking about a woman’s inheritance right, and the right to see justice against those who take it away. She seeks public libraries, gyms and cultural clubs for women. She wants adequate housing units for widows and poor or abused women. She wants strong sexual harassment laws to protect workingwomen from chauvinists and perverts.
To this end, Al-Fahad, a blogger and former journalist, and others have organized a public opinion campaign called Stolen Rights.
…
The New York Times runs this piece from the Associated Press reporting that Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Governor of the Mecca region, is publicly supporting women’s participation in sports and athletics. The Prince acknowledges that the action will have to be taken in coordination with the Ministry of Education and would have to comport with Saudi attitudes about modesty. No surprise there.
Senior Saudi Prince Supports Women’s Sports
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Appealing to a powerful Saudi prince, an 8-year-old girl asked why she was not allowed to play sports in school like boys. She got an unexpected response: The prince said he hoped government schools for girls would allow playing fields.
The stand taken by Prince Khaled al-Faisal, governor of the holy city of Mecca and one of the most senior second-generation members of the royal family, on the controversial issue is the strongest official endorsement so far of women’s sports and a sign the government may be tilting toward opening up on that front.
Physical education classes are banned in state-run girls schools in conservative Saudi Arabia. Saudi female athletes are not allowed to participate in the Olympics. Women’s games and marathons have been canceled when the powerful clergy get wind of them. And some clerics even argue that running and jumping can damage a woman’s hymen and ruin her chances of getting married.
…
The piece does have an unanswerable question for those clerics who fear for the hymens of girls taking part in sports. Al-Watan columnist Haleema Muthafar writes: ”I’d like to ask the sheikh, ”If in his opinion the hymen is the reason why girls should not engage in sports, what about married women? What’s to stop them?”
The UAE’s The National runs this interesting—and amusing—piece by Caryle Murphy on how the Jaguar car company is adjusting its methods to make their cars more appealing to Saudi women. Whether they’re buying the cars for themselves or influencing decisions at home, Jaguar has that certain something that makes it attractive. Enhanced salesroom techniques seem to help, too. Of course, were I buying a car that costs between $42,000 and $99,000, I’d expect some superlative service as well.
Of note is the difference in buying patterns between women in Riyadh and Jeddah. Too, Murphy is sanguine that Saudi women will be driving in the near future. Tooling around the city in their new Jags will be a treat, I’m sure!
Your car is in the lift, Madam
Caryle MurphyRIYADH // A couple of years ago, it dawned on the men who sell Jaguars in Saudi Arabia that they were not paying enough attention to an important part of their clientele: women.
“We started to listen and we found out that your typical Jaguar buyer tends to be a lady or [someone] influenced by a lady in one way or the other,” said Alan Whaley, general manager of Al Saif Motors, exclusive importer of Jaguars and Land Rovers for Saudi Arabia.
“We thought: ‘What do we do to cater for lady buyers?’”
The answer is located on a chic boulevard in downtown Riyadh: a female-only showroom built above the regular showroom.
Spacious and sunlit, it is large enough for three or four cars, and has cozy corners for coffee-sipping and brochure-browsing.
The luxury vehicles that are for sale are brought up to the second-floor space by a hydraulic lift in the corner of the ground-floor showroom.
Customers arrive by stairs located behind a side door kept locked from the outside.
This is a routine procedure for businesses that cater to women to comply with rules of the religious police.
…
There was apparently a flap in Saudi religious circles—and among those who look to those circles for guidance—over a statement by the Grand Mufti that appeared to condemn ‘temporary marriages’. Hanbali-based Shariah law permits certain types of marriage that are less than the ordinary marriage. The fact that they are allowed bothers many Saudis, notably women, as the wives in these marriages contract away certain rights and spousal responsibilities.
The Grand Mufti, as reported in this Arab News article, was condemning the ‘travelers marriage’, misfar, in which a man traveling (or studying) abroad enters into a marriage for the duration of his stay, fully intending to divorce when it’s time to go home.
Some, however, heard him to condemn misyar marriages. These, usually of longer duration, are still problematic, still draw the wrath of women’s rights activists. But, according to the Grand Mufti, are supported in Shariah law.
No to temporary marriages
Walaa Hawari I Arab NewsRIYADH: Temporary marriages are forbidden in Islam, declared Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, while answering a viewer’s question on Channel One of Saudi TV.
Thinking the mufti was delivering a verdict on “misyar” marriages, many newspapers and websites were quick to point out that the mufti’s ruling was contrary to a fatwa delivered by 60 Islamic scholars at a Muslim World League meeting sanctioning misyar marriages.
Misyar is a form of marriage that fulfills all legal requisites of a normal union, but spouses are not committed to living together in the same house and the woman can give up some of her rights, such as monetary support.
The misunderstanding was perhaps caused by the channel running a banner on the screen saying that the grand mufti forbids misyar marriage, whereas he was only discussing temporary “misfar” marriages, in which men marry while staying abroad with the intention of divorcing their wives when they return home.
…
I’ve written frequently at Crossroads Arabia about the problem of the abuse of domestic servants in Saudi Arabia. There is no question that it is a serious problem that speaks ill of Saudis who do it and those who permit it to continue.
As readers, and here, Saudi Gazette/Okaz, remind me though, runaway maids aren’t always fleeing abuse. Sometimes, they’re criminally active in jumping their work contracts and the terms of their visas.
Authorities in Jeddah arrested Monday an Indonesian man who acted as a broker helping Indonesian maids to run away from their sponsors and seek more lucrative and illegal work elsewhere. The man was reportedly charging over SR1,000 for acting as an agent and finding them work. – By Ibrahim Alawi/Okaz-SG
The Saudi judge who, it was reported, said it was okay to slap your wife for overspending, is now complaining against the journalist. Complaining in civil court, actually. He is suing, through the Ministry of Culture & Information, on his claim that the report was erroneous.
Of course, I’ve no way to assess the validity of his claim–or the original report, for that matter. What is interesting is that stating approval for corporal punishment is now seen as something shameful in itself. To me, that suggests that support for the ‘custom’ has slipped significantly.
Hearing in ‘wife beating judge’ case set for July 7
Adnan ShabrawiJEDDAH – The Khamis Mushayt District Court has set July 7 as the date to hear a complaint brought by a judge against a Saudi female freelance journalist for “publishing erroneous information against the Saudi judiciary.”
Mohammed Bin Ahmed Al-Zamil, lawyer for Judge Hamad Al-Razin, said the offending article, which was written under the title “Judge permits hitting overspending wives on face” and reported across the media and international legal organizations, was “an affront and a misrepresentation of the judge’s words.”
…