"LandepNews"
Women in Saudi Arabia
Abdullah said on Sunday on state television that his regime refused to marginalize women in the Saudi society in every field of work. Therefore, he announced that women have a right to submit their candidacy for municipal council membership, and that they have the right to submit candidates in accordance with the Shariah law.
The changes the Saudi king is enforcing are rather surprising and will probably be cheered by the women in his country and the human rights organizations in the West especially since Saudi society practices a very strict segregation between men and women following the teachings of the Wahhabi version of the Sunni Islam. The segregation runs as deep as separating them in schools, restaurants, and lines at fast-food stores.
For that reason women are banned from sales jobs in malls and stores, unless the store is for female clientele only, and they are even not allowed to drive.
The king announced that he would allow women to become members of the Shoura Council, his privy council. He had promised to improve the status of women, and the first thing he did was to open a co-educational university in 2009. The same year he appointed the first female deputy minister, saying that women would have a larger access to jobs.
A Saudi human rights activist announced on that occasion that soon women could be allowed to drive, which in his opinion would be a huge step forward.
The royal Shoura Council is composed of 12 members and advises the king on various matters such as human rights, foreign and energy. The council is permitted to draft laws and present them to the king.
The king said he reached the decision to give women a broader representation in society after consulting with various scholars, and considers that this way the national development would be fostered.
Saudi Arabia is the most important world oil exporter, but is considered the least democratic country in the Middle East, being an absolute monarchy, which was ruled by six kings since 1932, when it was established.
The changes the king is making started in June, when the king issued a decree by which women were permitted to work in shops that sell female commodities.
The same month, the women in Saudi Arabia staged a protest against the driving ban, by getting behind the wheels of their cars, in a daring move to end the only female driving ban in the entire world.
The king of Saudi Arabia is taking important steps toward averting the possibility that the country be hit by the Arab spring. He ordered that increases in spending and funds be made in the field of housing as well to endorse military and religious projects.
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