Gause on women in Saudi 21, April 2010
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Saudi Arabia.Tags: Gregory Gause, Saudi Arabia, Women in Saudi, women's rights, Women's rights in Saudi
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Gulf sage Greg Gause has a fantastic article at FP on the changing role of women in Saudi society. The short article is well worth reading but here are a couple of little ‘nuctas’ which I gleaned.
- Yes, KAUST is a great thing but Gause notes that it is so isolated (80 miles from nearest city) from Saudi society and there are so few Saudis there, let alone Saudi women, that its effects are perhaps best measured in decades.
- There was a co-ed crowd at Riyadh’s annual book fair and at the fair for the King Abdullah study abroad fair. Even the religious vice and virtue police were present – at a stall – at the former giving out leaflets. Nevertheless, these are but ‘one off events’.
- Jeddah’s Chamber of Commerce is working on implementing different working times for men and women so they never have to mix.
The Gulf blog 
Change comes slowly – particularly in a country where the tribal taqlid of the jahilliya remains so strong.
But it is coming.
Pray that the current King has a long reign to push the process forward.
And as we measure the progress in other countries, it’s probably useful to reflect on the time and struggles taken in our own to get where we are today. And in some cases how far off the ideal we still remain.
You’re preaching to the converted. I hate to think what the British Monarchy was doing a few hundred years after its founding.