RAY OF LIGHT
Here's something I didn't expect to see quite this soon. The UK Telegraph reports:
"Saudi Arabia is to lift its ban on women drivers in an attempt to stem a rising suffragette-style movement in the deeply conservative state.
Government officials have confirmed the landmark decision and plan to issue a decree by the end of the year.
The move is designed to forestall campaigns for greater freedom by women, which have recently included protesters driving cars through the Islamic state in defiance of a threat of detention and loss of livelihoods.
The royal family has previously balked at granting women driving permits, claiming the step did not have full public support. The driving ban dates back to the establishment of the state in 1932, although recently the government line has weakened."
That this is finally happening is important for a whole number of reasons, not the least of which because it represents a fundamental societal change long needed in Saudi Arabia. It's a country where the government is based on a historic, but increasingly teetering balance between religious and secular forces. And it's a country that's trying to figure out how to create social and economic opportunities for it's rapidly growing, young population beyond it's bounty of oil riches.
As the article goes on to explain:
"Saudi Arabia maintains a strict segregation of the sexes outside the family home.
An unaccompanied woman must shop behind curtains and cannot hail a taxi.
Critics believe allowing women to drive would be the first step towards a gradual erosion of the kingdom's modesty laws. A woman would have to remove the traditional abaya robe to get a clear view behind the wheel."
The Economist earlier this week had a great piece providing a broader background on the world as seen from an Arab perspective going into this new century. Here's a taste:
"IT IS not easy to be an Arab these days. If you are old, the place where you live is likely to have changed so much that little seems friendly and familiar. If you are young, years of rote learning in dreary state schools did not prepare you well for this new world.
In your own country you have few rights. Travel abroad and they take you for a terrorist. Even your leaders don't count for much in the wider world. Some are big on money, others on bombast, but few are inspiring or visionary.
These are gross generalisations, of course. Huge differences persist among 300m-odd Arabic speakers and 22 countries of the Arab League. With oil prices touching record highs, some Arab economies are booming.
The gulf between a Darfuri refugee and a Porsche-driving financier in Dubai is as great as between any two people on earth. Yet to travel through the Arab world right now is to experience a peculiar sameness of spirit. Particularly among people under 30, who make up the vast majority of Arabs, the mood is one of disgruntlement and doubt."
Remember we're just talking about the Arabs here, not the broader Islamic world in the Middle East in beyond. We're not talking about Iran and Pakistan in these pieces, which are going through some of these issues as well.
The Saudi move on permitting women to drive, is but a tiny step forward that has yet to be taken. But that it's being considered, is important to note in the broader perspective.
Young arabs are going to find their world even more unfamiliar when women take on more equal roles. This is bound to increase the clash of ideas between the traditions prescribed by religion and the changes wrought by economic and technical change. I hope the side of modernity wins out.
Posted by: alex tolley | Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 10:16 PM