பாரபட்சமான சட்டங்களுக்கு எதிராக சவுதி அரேபிய பெண்கள் போர்க்கொடி

பெண்கள் வண்டி ஓட்டக்கூடாது
ஆண்களை விட பெண்களுக்கு புத்தி கம்மி
சொத்தில் மகனுக்கு கிடைப்பதைவிட மகளுக்கு பாதிதான் பங்கு
இரண்டு பெண்களின் சாட்சியம் ஒரு ஆணின் சாட்சியத்துக்கு சமம்

என்று இன்னும் அதிகமான பாரபட்சமான சட்டங்களுக்கு எதிராக சவுதி அரேபிய பெண்கள் போர்க்கொடி உயர்த்தியிருக்கின்றனர்

League of Demanders of Women's Right to Drive Cars in Saudi Arabia என்ற பெயரில் ஒரு அமைப்பு உருவாகியுள்ளது.

Saudi ban drives women to rebel
IAN MATHER

DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT (imather@scotlandonsunday.com)
IN AN increasingly equality-conscious world it is almost a miracle it has remained unchallenged so long. Saudi Arabian women are heading for a collision with the country's ultra-conservative religious establishment over a 17-year-old official ban that prevents them from driving vehicles.


A group called the League of Demanders of Women's Right to Drive Cars in Saudi Arabia will present a petition to King Abdullah this week, asking him to "return that which has been stolen from women: the right to free movement through the use of cars, which are the means of transportation today."

The women add: "This is a right that was enjoyed by our mothers and grandmothers in complete freedom."

The exceptionally bold language in a country that uses draconian laws against even the mildest dissent indicates growing self-confidence among Saudi women reformers as the economy slowly opens up to outside influences.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that forbids women from driving. But the ban is relatively modern, a fact the women are hoping to exploit. It was introduced in 1990 after a group of women drove a convoy of cars to protest against a "cultural" prohibition against women drivers. The result was disastrous for them. The Council of Grand Ulamas (religious scholars), the highest religious authority in the country, issued a fatwa (religious decree) stipulating that women driving was against the rules of Islam.

Heading the new group pressing to overturn the ban is Wajeha Al-Huwaider, an American-schooled education analyst at the Aramco oil corporation in Dhahran, eastern Saudi Arabia.

She is a single mother of two, and reveals: "If I wanted to get married, I would have to get the permission of my son." Her son is 17.

Last month, she held a one-woman demonstration with a placard demanding, "Give Women Their Rights!" She was arrested, detained for seven hours and freed only after a male "guardian" signed for her.

Banned by the Saudi Interior Ministry from writing in the Saudi press, she writes online. The authorities have threatened to take away her job if she continues.

The women are up against formidable opposition. The fundamentalists have increased their grip on Saudi Arabia as the "war on terror" has helped foster anti-Americanism in Saudi society.

The ban on driving is part of a wide sweep of restrictions on the role of women, which are enforced by the country's religious police, the Muttawa, a common sight on Saudi streets.

Strict segregation of the sexes is used to deny equal educational opportunities for women, and women are allowed to work only in certain vocations. Freedom of movement is severely restricted. Women require a mehram - a male guardian's permission - to travel, rent an apartment or attend college.

Heading the resistance to women drivers is Saudi Arabia's long-serving ultra-conservative interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz, who says the state has other priorities.

"We consider the question to be secondary, not a priority," he said. "These matters are decided according to the general good and what is dictated by women's honour, but I urge everybody to put a stop to this and not make an issue out of it that pits one group against another."

The religious establishment has come out in force in favour of the ban. A statement signed by more than 100 clerics, judges, university teachers, heads of the Saudi religious police and teachers at the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, the two holiest sites in Islam, declares that no Islamic scholar or "good figure in society" has called for women to drive.

Some of those who signed claim that women driving would create greater economic burdens because families would need to have more than one car, and they would have to buy new cars regularly because "women are known to like everything new".

A typical Saudi orthodox religious view is that of Dr Mohammed Al-Farraj, a prominent cleric and orator at Al-Rawdah mosque in Riyadh, who opposes any political or social reforms not based purely on Islamic law.

He believes that any freedoms granted to women, including the right to drive, will open the door to "gender mixing", which is a source of "great vice". He advised fathers not to be lax in allowing their wives or daughters to go out as this will lead to "serious evils" because they will "beautify themselves, take off their hijabs and be indecent".

Al-Farraj reserves particular venom for a popular TV programme, Tash ma Tash, which manages to dodge the official censorship. One sketch which attracted his anger lampooned the driving ban with a sketch on whether women should be allowed to ride donkeys, and if so whether they should have to be female ones. He declared that the actors were apostates who should be punished by death.

The Shoura Council, the nearest thing to a parliament in Saudi Arabia, has decided the topic is too hot to handle, announcing it was not the right body to discuss the issue because of the fatwa.

Reformers in the government are in a minority, and impotent in the present climate. The royal family are similarly reticent, although Abdullah's daughter, Princess Adela, has given a guarded endorsement of both women driving and female appointments to the Shoura Council.

There have been some small openings in Saudi society. Saudi women are getting higher-paid jobs and starting businesses.

There are now more female than male students in Saudi Arabia. The news media are freer to report on official corruption and human rights abuses. The foreign ministry is trying to recruit more female diplomats.

Wajeha Al-Huwaider is not impressed. She attacks discriminatory laws which "classify women as having less sense, detract from their importance, cast doubts about their abilities, let them be beaten and divorced, let them be imprisoned within four walls, allow them to be treated as their husbands see fit, let them be bought and sold by legal agreement, and, when the women fail and violate religious law they welcome their barbaric killing."

She adds: "Dogs and cats in the developed world have more rights."

Also off limits

Inherit as much wealth as male siblings: in Islamic countries, women can own personal possessions but inherit a smaller proportion of their father's estate than men.

• Work without restriction: women can work, but only if it does not interfere with more important family commitments.

• Marry a non-Muslim man: some say the principle exists because Muslims may not place themselves in a position inferior to that of the followers of other religions.

• Divorce easily: while men can divorce their wives easily, women face many legal and financial obstacles.

• Wear what they like: women have to cover all but their face and hands. Men need only to cover themselves from knee to waist. Some Islamic societies have stricter codes, requiring women to hide all but the eyes.

• Give evidence alone in court: some strands of Islamic thinking say the evidence of a woman is worth only half that of a man so two female witnesses are needed.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1482062007