A Veiled Threat? Do Saudi Women Threaten the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?

Hello folks,
Im helping a university student to recruit people for her research paper. She needs to interview Saudi Arabian male and female about "how the woman's driving ban in Saudi affecting their lifestyle". Read the research proposal bellow for better understanding on why she is doing this and if you are a Saudi Arabian citizen and you are interested or know any one interested to do the interview please contact the researcher (colleen Mcfee) at this e-mail: cawin@yahoo.com

Please we need your help and we will help enhancing the situation of Saudi women through bringing the light to this important issue.

Project Proposal Guidelines

Proposed Title
A Veiled Threat? Do Saudi Women Threaten the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? 

Research Question
Do women in Saudi Arabia have rights and freedoms? What rights do Saudi women want and what challenges would they face meeting these goals? What are common hopes and dreams for Saudi women? Can they successfully achieve a healthy sense of self-worth, self- esteem and self-actualization? Does lack of female autonomy affect the health and well-being of the nation? If women are granted more rights, how would that impact their lives and what would change? 

Context
Saudi women have appeared in international news recently for different issues such as rebelling against the driving ban and being thrown in jail for it or receiving the right to vote in the 2015 elections. I will look at how these small changes will impact Saudi women. I will compare how the lifestyle of Saudi women differs from other women in other Arab States. I will examine the different institutions in Saudi culture that keep women subservient. Institutions such as family, religion, education, segregation, lack of freedom to travel freely and so forth will be analyzed in order to see a broader picture of the struggles. I would like to explore ways the women can slowly empower themselves and discover what change they would like to see happen with their lives. 

It is important to examine social control and inequalities of Saudi Arabia because these women have second-class citizenship status. The social construct of women in Saudi Arabia restricts their ability to make decisions for themselves. Their “ownership” is passed from one male relative to another called her “guardian.” It is this guardian, who then has the power to make decisions for women about work, education, travel and even medical procedures. This type of societal power imbalance has the potential to humiliate women by restricting their participation, connection and choices in society and thus shows the extent to which women are still battling for the expansion of their own position in their country. 

Objectives/Purpose
I hope to bring awareness to the issue of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. I want to show how lack of autonomy can break the spirit of a whole gender. I want to explore self-actualization of people. I would like to explore in Saudi women the questions all people ask themselves: Who am I? What is my identity? What are my future goals and aspirations? Can women successfully achieve self-actualization and meet their needs? I want to broaden the understanding of Muslim women who live in Saudi Arabia.

Methodology/Approach
I plan to answer my research question by using an interview technique of Saudi women and men in Winnipeg and in Saudi Arabia via Skype. I have several female Saudi contacts in Winnipeg to due my volunteer experience as a Language Partner through the University of Winnipeg. I would also like to use photo voice to express my project visually. I will use peer review literature to support my findings. 

Research Contribution
I am interested in understanding who the Muslim women of Saudi Arabia are and how I can help them in their plight to achieve some form of parity within their fundamental society. I want to gain insight into their struggles because after completing my Undergraduate degree and Masters degree in Conflict Resolution Studies, I would like to work with women in the Middle East. With understanding the patriarchal structure of their society I can successfully advocate for them. I am passionate about discussing issues of women’s rights in the Middle East because they require attention and support for change. 

Experience Relevant to the Project
In 2010, I travelled alone to the Middle East for 4 months and although I did not go to Saudi Arabia I became keenly interested in the rich diversity of the region. I am very interested in the cultural freedoms males enjoy in the Middle East and the double standard females face. I saw this many times throughout my trip: what was acceptable for the male would never be acceptable for the female. My curiosity narrowed further upon my return to Canada because I met a female friend from Saudi Arabia through the language partner program at the University of Winnipeg. My friend tirelessly answered many questions I had about her culture, which focused mainly around the rights and freedoms of women. 

Another relevant contribution I have to this research project is that I live my life from a feminist perspective and although I am very interested in human rights development, I favour more the fight for furthering women’s rights around the globe. Currently I am a volunteer at a local community health clinic called Klinic where I am a Sexual Assault Crisis Counsellor. It is in this position that I have gained a deeper social awareness into the status of women. It is clear to me that women are still being recklessly abused and degraded as I have seen through my experience with Klinic. I find myself wanting to do something official with my passion for women’s rights and the Middle East. This research project is the perfect forum to look further into this issue.




Don't forget to forward this message to people you know to help the researcher to collect more realistic data on this issue.Appreciate your cooperation

Thank you

My latest article  published at the Uniter (University of Winnipeg Student's news paper)

November 2nd 2011

I know my rights

Saudi women can now vote and run for office, but there’s more to the royal decision than meets the eye

by Fatemah Al Helal (Volunteer)

by Ayame Ulrich

Women in Saudi Arabia seem like they are always waiting for a royal decision to have their rights given to them. In 1960, women were granted the right for education by King Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz, despite opposition from the public.

After 50 years of living with this decision, the results are clear.

According to the World Bank report, there are more female students in higher education in Saudi Arabia than in Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia or West Bank-Gaza. Women in this country realize that they don’t want to wait another 50 years to have another basic right.

As an example of this, a group of women last June defied a nationwide ban that keeps them from driving.

This step seems to be a very small one toward reaching equality between men and women, but at least it starts things moving.

Unfortunately, the authority’s response to this event was to detain the women who drove their cars and to continue to ban women from driving.

Surprisingly, on Sept. 25, the king of Saudi Arabia announced that women will be allowed for the first time to join the unelected parliament. Women will now be able to vote and run for office starting at the next municipal councils in 2015.

This is the most significant step forward in Saudi women’s rights since the girls’ education decision in 1960.

A lot of women have been dreaming of this for long time, and many were surprised by the decision. As a Saudi woman, I was also surprised, but at the same time I couldn’t be wholly optimistic about it.

I garnered conflicting messages from the announcement.

Women in Saudi Arabia realize that they don’t want to wait another 50 years to have another basic right

The first one, which is positive, was that King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz believed that this action would lead to women’s empowerment and political reform.

The second message was that this was just a way to bend to the international community in order to avoid the embarrassment of being so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to women’s rights.

Looking at it in this context, the women’s involvement in the municipal election and parliament wouldn’t be positive, but a sham. There are examples of this throughout the Middle East.

Afghanistan parliament, for example, has women elected, but this doesn’t make Afghanistan a democratic country or a better place for women.

As a matter of fact, some of those women are warlord’s allies, and most of the time they work against women’s well-being because there is no way to oppose the warlords’ patriarchal government.

Even if there were a women who decided to talk honestly or fight for women’s equality, they would end up dismissed from the parliament.

Malalai Joya was a good example of a woman who was dismissed for publicly denouncing the presence of what she considered to be warlords and war criminals in the Afghanistan parliament.

In light of the possibilities at hand, the most important thing is for women in Saudi Arabia to benefit from this powerful right and keep pushing to gain more rights, so that we can consistently enhance women’s status there.

http://uniter.ca/view/6846/

Saudi women's rights movement

Saudi women refuse to stay in their kitchens and waste their education and skills on nothing. They are ready to move on, alongside men.

By Fatema Kareem - Tuesday 26 Jul 2011

religious countries, Saudi Women, women's rights

Political Islam, or whatever you want to call it, has failed on both sides: Shiite and Sunni countries. Some people may argue that it’s the fundamentalists from each side who need to be blamed for this dark and scary image of Islam, not the religion itself! Until we find modern intellectual minds that interpret and apply the pure Islam on the Earth, political Islam will continue to fail. We need unbiased individuals and groups to help reform and modernize the religion and also to take the non-Muslim into account because we all live together on one planet.

I want to ask those who want to apply the real Islam in our daily and political life, as they claim: which Islam do you want to apply? Sunni Islam or Shiite Islam or Wahhabi Islam?

On the first day we go to school, in the first religion class, we have been told that it is un-Islamic to separate religion from state and as Muslims we should be ready to give our lives to protect this religion. Otherwise we are considered “kafir”, which means infidels in Arabic, who accept western values.

We need to find a middle ground to stand on for all people, even non-believers, and move on with our lives to the future. What happens in Saudi Arabia or Iran, for example, affects other people on the other side of the world and vice versa. We are no more isolated from others: the world is changing and it is better to embrace this change for good.

There are many who are affected negatively by political Islam and when it comes to women the situation becomes worse. Women’s fight to gain their basic rights in some countries has become a dark long night with a dawn that never comes.

In a country such as Saudi Arabia, the abuse of women’s rights is not simply the unfortunate result of religious authority. It is the consequence of a state policy that gives women fewer rights than men and that means women face discrimination all their lives. That allows men to practice their power on women without being accused by law. On the other hand, nobody will never know. It is always there; something has been cooked and in case of Saudi women the “Arab spring” might raise the heat under their pot a little bit. The women in this area are growing and deciding to take the hard path and are starting to express their opinions freely. Saudi women now don’t want to waste their education and skills or get married to someone to satisfy their materialistic desires. According to “Arab News”, in a study conducted recently (which more than 200 women participated in between the ages of 17 to 35), 87% would choose financial independence over depending on their husbands. Only 13% admitted they would marry a rich husband.

“I cannot see myself staying at home and doing nothing but cooking and cleaning. I want my husband to see more in me than just a ‘baby-making machine,’” said 34-year-old Zahra Abunaser

Oppressed people cannot stay oppressed forever. Even though women in this area are not asking for many rights, such as political rights, banning or limiting other religious issues like polygamy or temporary marriages for men, women’s rights may obtained years from now.

The women’s movement in Saudi Arabia is still taking baby steps; it could take years to walk independently. Academic achievement is not necessarily helping to push the women’s rights movement. The confrontation of women’s groups who are asking for more rights within Islam with the small number of secular and atheist women (due to lack of freedom of religion and beliefs in this country) make it hard for all women to get together and benefit from unification. There are women who still find that being a feminist is not Islamic, there are some who want few rights—such as stopping the ban on women’s driving and removing the guardianship law on women at the age of 18. It is not surprising that we find women who are still against the freedom of choosing clothes and not wearing the veil, and who support polygamous marriage, or even temporary marriages. There are women who would fight hard to keep things as they are. There is a woman called Salwa al-Mutairi, a well-known television hostess and thankfully an unsuccessful candidate for the Kuwaiti Parliament, who claims that women being sex slaves is an Islamic practice to legitimize men’s sexual desires outside of marriage and to avoid adultery!

Another example of a woman that refuses the fight to acquire more rights for women is Rawdah Al-Yousif, a Saudi Arabian who describes herself as activist. This woman attacked Manal Al-Sharif, the woman who started the campaign “Women2Drive” and drove her car in June 2011 to make a statement that the driving ban on women should be stopped in Saudi Arabia. Al-Yousif was also a campaign supervisor and organizer, with a number of other Saudi women, on a campaign supporting the Kingdom’s male guardianship system. The campaign was entitled “My Guardian Knows The Best For Me”.

Another reason pushing the women’s movement back in Saudi Arabia is the conflict between Shia and Sunni Muslims. Every time when women from Shiite minority demand that women of Saudi Arabia deserve more rights, no matter what their background is, they are always facing the accusation of disloyalty to their country and the hidden agenda, mostly the Iranian Shiite agenda, claimed to be destroying other Saudi women’s morals. All these reasons keep women uniting and fighting to gain their rights as human beings.

Twenty years ago we weren’t standing where we are now. It is maybe the “Arab Spring” or the “social media” or whatever helps the young ones to start thinking and to try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. For sure, the picture will be clear for everyone eventually and the Saudi youth will start to understand that we are all Saudi Arabian and this is what most matters to build this country.

Saudi women catch the revolution virus

This article first published by ViewsHound website.

By: Fatema Kareem - Wednesday 25 May 2011 

Tags: Saudi Arabia, rights, middle east

Women face barriers in every country in the world. These barriers may be greater or lesser depending on the government and society in each country. The patriarchal system in Saudi Arabia has made it hard for women to acquire equal rights with men. While men have few political rights, women still have almost none. Moreover, this situation is nurtured by the religious authority; women were told that they were created by God to stay at home and do the housework, with limited options for work outside their houses.

It seems that women in Saud Arabia are fed up with the ignorance and neglect of the authority and society, and their failure to grant them more rights. Thus they have decided to change their tactics and take action instead of waiting. In recent days a Saudi woman, Manal Al Sharif, has been calling for a mass drive by woman on June 17th, 2011, in an effort to change the society’s opinion of women driving. She released a video on YouTube describing how woman can participate in the movement to lift the ban on women driving. Al Sharif started to drive her car using an international driving license, but was detained at Alkhobar police station for the second time at about 2am a few days ago, without any clear accusation.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women from driving. The government has stated that it is a matter of time, and that it is completely up to the people of Saudi Arabia to decide when they are ready for this to change – political views have nothing to do with it. This vague statement seems to be indirect approval for the current policy to avoid international embarrassment and to keep the matter from the rest of the world.

The women of Saudi Arabia have caught the revolution virus from nearby countries, and the detention of one woman won’t stop them or make them afraid. A driving demonstration was held in the 1990s, and a few years later the issue came to the surface again when human rights activist Wajeha al-Huwaider drove her car in the private campus of the oil company ARAMCO to raise awareness of the issue. Women’s fight for the right of mobility is a key part of their struggle for wider rights in the future – they are starting to believe that rights are something they must fight for.

The issue of women driving doesn’t require great discussion – it is a non-negotiable right. The government of Saudi Arabia needs to take action and change the law now. If the government are looking for a chance to move toward reform in the country, now is the time to begin.

Wajeha al-Huwaider

This is an article i would like to share with you written by a friend of me called Cato Alexis from United States, featuring Wajiha Al huwaider for this year's International Women's Day.

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Wajeha al-Huwaider is a Saudi activist, journalist and co-founder of The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women’s Rights in Saudi Arabia. She is a native of the city of Hufuf in eastern Saudi Arabia. She holds an MA in Reading Management from George Washington University. She currently works as an education analyst for Aramco.

Wajeha is another Lioness of the East I admire. This is a feisty woman who likes to do even the littlest things to get under the skin of the Saudi government and religious clerics. She wrote various articles advocating for reform and for the rights of Saudi women as a freelance journalist when in 2003, the Saudi Interior Ministry banned her from writing in the Saudi press. She thumbed her nose at them and continues to publish her works on reformist Arabic websites and has gained international recognition. She is a divorced mother of 2 teenaged boys who she has sent to the U.S. for boarding school so as in her own words: “I send them there because I do not want them to grow up to be typical Saudi men.” (She doesn’t mince words!).

She is adamant in her demands for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world in which women are still not allowed to drive. She stated once: “Saudi women are weak, no matter how high their status, even the ‘pampered’ ones among them, because they have no law to protect them from attack by anyone. The oppression of women and the effacement of their selfhood is a flaw affecting most homes in Saudi Arabia.” In 2008, on International Women’s Day she gained worldwide media attention when she posted a YouTube video of herself driving in Saudi Arabia. She petitioned King Abdullah to allow women in the country to drive freely.

Wajeha has performed other acts of defiance and activism as well. In 2006, on the first anniversary of King Abdullah’s accession to the throne, she staged a public protest. She stood on the King Fahad Causeway, the 16-mile causeway that links Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Thousands of people (men!) drive this thoroughfare everyday. Wajeha carried a sign stating “Give Women Their Rights.” marching up and down the public road. She was arrested within half an hour and detained for hours, and the police demanded that she sign a pledge to stop all of her activism in exchange for her release. She was also banned from traveling back to her residence in Bahrain when her passport was confiscated.

The one thing that Wajeha protests against the most is the law of “guardianship” found with Saudi Arabia. A woman, no matter her status, requires a “mehram” “male guardian” to do anything in her life in the eyes of the Saudi government. The divorced mother of two is fiercely against a system she says treats women as 2nd class citizens: "If I wanted to get married, I would have to get the permission of my son," she says.

As a form of protest, Wajeha often tries to cross King Fahad Causeway, where she had staged her one-woman protest. She is turned away by border police every time, because she refuses to carry documentation that state her “male guardian” allows her to travel outside of the country: “I am not a dangerous person, so why do they turn me away? Because I refuse to present a document signed by my male "guardian," giving his permission for me to travel. And why do I do that? I possess such a document, but it is humiliating to have to produce it, and I am tired of being humiliated solely because I am a woman.”

The editor of the reform-minded Aafaq compared Al-Huwaidar to Rosa Parks. And Wajeha has been given several honors and awards for advocacy for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries hold a special place in my heart. I spent several months traveling to some of the Gulf countries and in Egypt and Jordan. I had experiences, good and bad, of what it was like traveling not just as an American, but as a woman traveling on her own. I would do it all over again if I could, with much more zeal and less recklessness. As hard as I tried, months before my travel plans took place, I could not enter Saudi Arabia. I became a woman on a mission and made dozens of phone calls, networked with various people, until I finally spoke over the phone with the delegate in the Saudi Embassy in D.C. who gave out the visas. I was told that I needed “connections” within Saudi Arabia, or a Saudi male citizen to sponsor me. They didn’t care “how I got the visa” just as long as they saw in writing that a Saudi male had sponsored me, and it had to be a relative or a job offer from a company. I was told I could easily get a “transit visa” to Saudi Arabia which is a 3-day visa as you’re traveling through one country to another; the catch: I still needed a “male guardian”.

I went on to stay in several Gulf countries that border Saudi Arabia. I remember being amazed one day in Oman; I was packed in a beat up old Toyota truck with 7 Omani girls as we traveled through the mountains to visit friends of the Omani family I was staying with at the time. No men, no “guardians” present at all, except one of the little brothers who was barely 4 years old and just along for the ride. (Oh, I fell madly in love with that kid!!!). The older sister of the group plowed through waterways and up hills shifting gears with ease, making fun of me later for not knowing how to drive stick.

I started thinking about how a few hundred miles away was a country in which women could not freely drive without fear of reprisal from the government or the menacing Muttawa, religious police. One of the girls was studying nursing in a nearby city, her choice, her decision. In the country next door, an ambitious Saudi girl would need permission to even attend college and even though Saudi women make up almost 60% of college graduates, the employment rate for females is alarmingly high. I have become friends with Saudis from school and from my time traveling and I absolutely love and adore their hospitality, generosity and kindness. One of my closest friends from Riyadh is insistent that I continue to try to visit regardless. His own father tried to find a way to get a visa for me to visit, but not having the “wasta” (Arabic: “connections”) he wasn’t ever able to obtain one. Why? I needed a male relative to take me, or else I needed to have a male sponsor of a business that hired me.

In 1991, several dozen Saudi women staged a protest by driving around Riyadh in vehicles before they were arrested and faced continued harassment upon release. It was the start of the first Gulf War and Saudi Arabia allowed American troops in the country and American servicewomen were driving up and down Saudi roads in military vehicles freely; this irked the Saudi women to stage a protest, demanding their right to do the same.

Ultimately in the end, it’s not just the right to drive that Saudi women face, it’s the right to be treated as an equal citizen by the Saudi government and monarchy. The Saudi women have an uphill battle, but the determination and tenacity of women like Wajeha al-Huwaider is an inspiring story to be told.

I posted several links to blogs that belong to Saudi women and foreign women, working, going to school or married to Saudis, and what their daily lives are like. There are also plenty of Saudi men and male bloggers who also advocate for women’s rights and reform in Saudi Arabia as well, which I have posted.

One of the blogs is by an older American woman, married to a Saudi for over 30 years, and just a few years ago moved to Saudi Arabia with her husband and young son. She blogs about her life and trying to adjust to the culture. Her unabashed honesty and insightful posts are wonderful to read.

http://susiesbigadventure.blogspot.com/

Another is by a former American diplomat who married a Saudi diplomat. Recently widowed, she blogs about Saudi Arabia and its politics and culture. It contains very insightful articles by a very intelligent woman.

http://americanbedu.com/

Another is by a young Saudi woman who currently studies in Canada and writes about her views of life in Saudi Arabia and life in a western country. Beautiful and thoughtful writing from a beautiful woman.

http://daughterofarabia.blogspot.com/

Another is by a male Saudi who writes frequently about reform and human rights for people in Saudi Arabia.

http://saudijeans.org/about/

To only see Saudi Arabia as “oil and sand”, “Extremism” and/or “Osama bin Laden” is to ignore the complexity of its people and its enriched culture and history.

I still wish to visit Saudi Arabia one day to meet Wajeha al-Huwaider and many of the other brave Saudi women who perform large and small acts of courage to defy the systematic discrimination of females, minorities, and foreigners within Saudi Arabia. I hope to see the beacon of light grow brighter and more women like Wajeha al-Huwaider continue to fight until they are treated as equals. Hence, why Wajeha al-Huwaider is a favorite of mine!

International Women's Day 8th, March

I received an email from a friend I have never met in my life this afternoon - am completely thankful to the power of internet that helps to bring people together- she is a young woman from Kuwait I knew her for almost three years, excitedly she was telling me that she just graduated from university and ready to move on towards the next level of her life. Recently she was visiting Saudi Arabia specifically Mecca. She was delightful describing how this brings peace and calmness to her soul and how Saudi Arabian woman she met there were caring and kind to her. How lucky you are: she said because you are from Saudi Arabia, it is such a nice country. This really touching something inside me and makes the waterfall works began and this is the reason why I decided to share this story with you. I was shattered between two major feelings, the natural love of my home and the struggle I go through just because of my gender. Saudi women deserve a better life and opportunities more than what they have. I won’t start to list the achievements on women’s rights level Saudi women have done because there are not so many. I’m writing today for the Saudi woman from different ages and backgrounds who are still suffering and struggling in the name of religion, traditions or anything used to push them back to the shadow zone for not to be seen by others. In 2011 while people are celebrating the International Women’s Day (IWD) every year on 8th of March, Saudi Arabian woman are still begging their rights from those who put themselves in the place of God. It is overwhelming for me and for all the human rights activists in this area that the majority of women accept this situation as a normal way of living and waiting desperately for their rights fall from the sky or delivered as a gift, they are isolated from the life that they should be part of and participated in. For the woman of Saudi Arabia who chooses to be free they should fight very hard and not to afraid or compromise to acquire normal and basic rights. History has shown us many examples of women who paid their life price for their freedom or take the risk swimming against the stream flaw. One example is, Malalai Joya, “the bravest woman in Afghanistan” according to BBC news. This woman did what thousands or millions of men are afraid to do. She simply raises her voice to unmask those who destroyed Afghanistan in the name of Islam. That voice was against warlords!

Malalai Joya risks her life for the sake of Afghan people, men and women. Even with four assassination attempts and suspend from the Parliament because of her persistent criticism against warlords she never compromise. Thousands of people show their solidarity and support for her and that what encouraged her to say the truth all the time and stand by her people’s side. Malalai Joya has inspired me and many others as well and taught me one important lesson that “Rights are something fought for and not given by others”

Saudi Arabia wins seat on UN women’s rights board

This is an interesting point of view am agreeing with Spencer Fernando, the International Comment Coordinator for the Manitoban and the writer of the follow article and sharing the same inquiring:" Why would one let the fox guard the hen house?"

Seriously?
Saudi Arabia wins seat on UN women’s rights board

In Saudi Arabia, women cannot drive, cannot use many facilities utilized by men and must receive a man’s written permission to open a bank account, travel or receive medical care. Apparently, the United Nation sees this record on women’s rights as sufficient to give Saudi Arabia a spot on a new women’s rights board.

This is a disgrace. Allowing Saudi Arabia to have a seat on a board that discusses and determines women’s rights issues is an insult to every woman on earth, as well as an insult to every country that respects the rights of women.

Unfortunately, this continues the UN’s sad history of allowing the opponents of human rights to hold power over the very same rights they deny to their own people. I would love to be able to say that Saudi Arabia is the only country on the board that doesn’t deserve to be there, but that would be ignoring the fact that both Libya, where women are imprisoned for “social rehabilitation,” and the Congo, where rape is practiced with sickening impunity as a tool of warfare, were both offered spots on the board.

The idea of having a UN board to discuss and promote women’s rights makes sense, and it is a noble goal. Sadly, the inclusion of these countries with backwards and barbaric records when it comes to women has discredited the UN women’s board even before it holds its first meeting. Should a country where women do not have the right to dress as they please be allowed to pass judgement on women’s rights in another country? The answer to that is obvious to all of us, yet clearly not so obvious to the UN. Why would one let the fox guard the hen house?

According to an article appearing on TheStar.com, a man in Saudi Arabia is able to marry up to four wives. When the reporter asked why this was allowed, a Saudi delegate responded that “[ . . . ] it was to ensure a man's sexual appetite was satisfied legally if one wife could not fulfill it.” Charming. Thank goodness that Saudi Arabia will be able to lecture the countries of the world on how to treat women; what would we do without their brilliant guidance?

This sends a disturbing message to those who support the UN and to all of us who support women’s rights. The UN is saying that they will not stand against those who treat half of their own people like second-class citizens. They are saying that they lack a value system based in reality, and they are showing that they lack a moral compass.

The sad thing about this, aside from the legitimacy granted to the oppression of women, is the fact that the United Nations was once an organization with lots of potential. When formed from the wreckage of the Second World War, the UN offered the world a chance to achieve a unity of purpose and gave hope to those still suffering that one day they too would be free. Today, this potential is lost. The UN has become a weak and for the most part ineffectual organization. Though there are various programs that do some good things, and though there are many UN workers who are compassionate people determined to help those in need, the overall organization itself has become an impediment to the goals it claims to be fighting for.

Where do we go from here? Though opinions will vary, it seems that the UN is close to the breaking point when it comes to its public credibility. For many, including myself, the UN lost all credibility long ago, and it will be difficult for the UN to justify the dues it receives from member countries when that money is put towards foolish mistakes such as a women’s rights board that features countries such as Saudi Arabia. If the UN does not get their act together soon, it might be better off for the democracies of the world to form their own organization, one based on human rights and a true set of values.

Spencer Fernando is the International Comment Coordinator for the Manitoban.


The source of this article

Samar's case was a consequence behind bigger dilemma

Samar's Case was the tip of an iceberg of women's abuse series in Saudi Arabia. Thousands of stories similar to her's happening every time behind the closed door and since the victims stayed silent their story disappeared in the men's world. Samar Badawi, Saudi woman who are divorced and have a son. She is abused by her father, who are considered to be her fully guardian since she is divorced and her son are not adult to take this turn according to Saudi law. The father insulted her verbally and physically not just this he was interfering in her personal life and that probably caused the end of her mirage. Interestingly, the father was documented to be abused but this was not enough for the judge to be justice. He is like most of the men in Saudi Arabia thinks women must submit to their guardians ( father, brother, husband or even son).



Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV) DC chapter activist Fatima Thompson Leads Saudi Arabia Protest in Washington DC - June 26, 2010



The woman was staying in women's shelter for more than a year waiting for a miracle happend to be responsible on her life as adult. Samar and her lawyer Waleed Abulkhair decided to go public and spread out internationally to catch international people and human’s rights attention. I think this is successful way with a country like Saudi Arabia, which is care too much about its international image. Finally they made it and have lots of people's support. She have her story published in many international newspapers.

This issue wasn't about one woman its about more that 50% or audi Arabian population "Women" iit could be other Saudi woman who suffer from one of her family's member. It could be me!! The guardianship law is one of hundreds of oppressive low against women should be change. This must change to protect the women from all types of abuse. By supporting such thing we are empowering women and letting our country and our life to improve.