Among the hundreds of news stories that are told every day around the clock I did not find a “first” except in the news about Saudi women participating in the municipal council elections as candidates and voters, which received wide media coverage and global attention as a big leap in Saudi women’s rights.
Women in Saudi Arabia are subject to blatant discrimination, as the Wahhabi Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Authority, which is influential in ruling circles, regard them as inferior and believe they should be covered from head to toe.
Up until that day, Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world that denied women the right to vote. Even men were not allowed to vote, for members of the municipal councils and the Shura Council were directly appointed by the king. But in 2005, King Abdullah issued a decree that 50 percent of the members of municipal councils should be elected. This was the first election in the history of the country.
The recent elections were for two-thirds of the members of these councils, with the remaining third to be appointed by King Salman, who had in 2011 promised that women would be allowed to vote and run in municipal elections.
King Abdullah is thereby the first Saudi king to grant political rights to women since the founding of Saudi Arabia. He is also the first to appoint a woman as assistant minister.
Although the municipal councils have limited functions, their election was the only opportunity for Saudis to feel that they are involved, like the rest of the world, in choosing their representatives. And for Saudi women, it was a historic moment, as one of them told the French AP news agency that she cried when she cast her vote. “It was something that we only watched on TV happening in other countries,” she said.
This means that the communication revolution made people look to each other and seek similar ways of life. And although Saudi women live affluently, they still felt the injustice of being discriminated against in terms of their citizenship rights.
Saudi women are strong and smart, yet they still suffer from a condescending look. They are not allowed to drive because men believe they cannot handle a car.
Saudi Arabia is undergoing changes that I hope will positively affect the status of women. Perhaps 2016 will be the year where women are given driver’s licenses.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
