Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia

There is a large amount of criticism levied at Saudi Arabia for its stultifying and draconian laws concerning women’s rights. Stories of polygamy, the enforcement of the hijab, the requirement for all women to have a male guardian, and the central notion ofpurdah (segregation of women and men), have portrayed Saudi Arabia as an oppressive place for a woman to live.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy based on Islam, yet it is the Saudi culture, not Islam, that is the main impediment to women’s rights. The Qu’ran does not address anything to do with women not being able to drive; neither does it state anything about women covering their face. However, the clerics in Saudi tend to err on the side of caution and make certain subjects haram (forbidden) if the Qu’ran does not address it.

It is important to distinguish between the Islamic and the Western view of women. The Islamic view offers a way of life for women to follow, and while women are free to choose how they will incorporate these values into their life, there are key principles they must follow. The Islamic injunction makes men financially and morally responsible for women, so women don’t have to work and can focus on raising the next generation. The Qu’ran holds motherhood in the highest esteem of all possible positions in the Islamic community.

The Western perspective resists any general guidelines for how a woman should live her life. To make statements about what a woman’s life should be like is considered to not be leaving her free to make up her own mind.

Understand the paradigm of different cultures is paramount, as is realising that neither culture is wrong or right. In the same way many Western women see female Muslims as oppressed, there are huge numbers of Muslim women who express sympathy for women in the West who suffer from sexual exploitation, abuse at home and at work, and who are unappreciated in their traditional roles as a mother. Some Muslim women pity the fact that Western women who strive to be respected must dress and behave like men, and are expected to neglect their children’s needs for the sake of their careers. Remember, Islamic culture is drive by the appreciation of femininity, the devotion of the mother to her children, and to volunteer their services to benefit the community only if their primary responsibilities are taken care of.

These facts may have provided some context behind why it may not be shocking to learn that a government poll in 2006 found that 80 per cent of Saudi women do not think women should be able to drive, working with men, nor hold political office. Saudi women supporting traditional gender roles state that these changes would encourage an unwanted Western cultural influence and undermine Muslim values.

Even advocates of reforming women’s rights in Saudi Arabia reject Western critics on the basis that they do not understand Saudi society. Many Saudi women are unanimous in stating they do not care for women’s rights according to Western values – the lifestyle in the West has no appeal to them; they want things according to Islam, and Islamic role models.

Just because Islamic nations do not aspire to implement Western models of women’s right, does this necessarily mean they are wrong? If, hypothetically, a majority of Saudi women were happy with their alleged “suppression”, why are there any grounds to change the treatment of women?

Despite all of this, change is occurring in Saudi Arabia. Recently Saudi women were granted the right to ride bicycles in public (albeit only in restricted, recreational areas). It may be easy to scoff at this, but change is extremely relative. Just because change in women’s rights isn’t happening at the pace Western influences would like it too, it does not necessarily mean the movement is too slow.

In fact, the government under King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia is considered to be moderately progressive. The country’s first co-educational university has been opened, the first female cabinet minister has been appointed, domestic violence has been prohibited, gender segregation has relaxed, monogamy is the norm, and from 2015 women will have the right to vote.

Critics say reform is too slow but they do not realise that they are observing change from an outside, Western perspective. Inside the country, these changes are dizzying.

Iraq and South Africa post-Apartheid are prime examples of the detrimental effects that can arise when regimes that worked in the West are transplanted to countries whose cultures are incompatible with such models.

Women’s rights are a pertinent concept, but it is imperative for us to recognise the differences of cultures, and not turn a blind eye to reality.

Many people fail to understand that the tactics employed by the well-heeled foot of feminism during the suffragette movement would categorically fail in Saudi Arabia. The move to gender equality in Saudi Arabia needs to be natural, organic and from within the country.