More Saudi statements for greater women’s rights 2, March 2008
Posted by thegulfblog.com in Saudi Arabia.Tags: Saudi, Saudi Arabia, Turkey Al Faisal, women's rights
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Prince Turkey Al Faisal the former Saudi Ambassador to the US and the UK recently gave a lecture at King Saud University regarding Saudi Diplomacy. Whilst the lecture is reported to have descended into a somewhat boring history about the Prophet, during the questions and answer at the end, there were a few interesting comments. The following is a quote from Ahmed Al-Omran who attended the conference and was one of the founders of Saudiblogs.org.
Al Faisal admitted that women’s rights are being violated “in the government’s bureaucracy and in the social arena.” He said the government is trying to promote women’s rights but described them as social matters related to the progress of society. Princey Turky said he sees no problem in women’s working as diplomats, and he thinks that they will excel and give a good image for the country. Finishing his remarks, he said he is looking forward to the day when there is no discrimination or injustices against women. “As men, we should put women above our heads.”
Once again, therefore, there are official pronouncements from members of the Saudi Royal family which are clearly in favour of further women’s rights. The unknown factor in this is, therefore, the degree to which the public as a whole are behind such proposals. Or indeed, if the public are mostly behind the Saudi religious police and their recent outrageous actions.
The Gulf blog 