Tag Archives: saudi arabia

Today’s Lady News: Saudi Arabian Women Can Vote Or Run For Office Without Male Approval In 2015

Jessica WakemanDecember 29, 2011 //
  • Saudi women will be able to vote and run for office without a male guardian’s approval in 2015, an official has announced. Women in Saudi Arabia require a male guardian’s permission — usually a father, brother or husband — to work, travel, study abroad, and marry, along with numerous other activities. Some see King Abdullah’s recent support of giving more rights to Saudi women as a slow sign of progress. [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
  • Argentina’s president Christina Fernandez de Kirchner has thyroid cancer and will take 20 days off in January for surgery and recuperation. [BBC]
  • Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tops the list of most admired women in the world, according to a Gallup poll. Clinton is followed by Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, Sarah Palin, and Condoleezza Rice, respectively. [New York Times] Keep reading »

“Tempting” Eyes Can Now Get You In Trouble In Saudi Arabia

Rachel KrauseNovember 18, 2011 //
France's Burqa Ban
France now bans face-covering Muslim veils on women. Read More »
Saudi Women Can Vote
The King of Saudi Arabia declares women can vote. Read More »
"Burqa Rage"
A French woman ripped a burqa off another woman's body. Read More »
woman veil

Religious police in Saudi Arabia may now stop sluts women in public walking around with “tempting” eyes. In other words, Saudi gals with attractive peepers may be forced to cover them up, if a vice officer deems them inappropriate. This is only the most recent “repressive measure” that may be taken against women by the Islamic state. Saudi Arabia’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, or CPVPV, is a branch of the government that enforces the restrictive dress codes of the state, particularly those applied to women. In current Saudi law, it is already required that women out in public don a veil. But covering up “tempting” eyes? Mind-blowing. [USA Today]

Saudi King Spares Woman 10 Lashes For Breaking Driving Ban

Jessica WakemanSeptember 29, 2011 //
muslim woman photo
Male Guardians
text message photo
Where ya going? Saudi Arabia will text your male guardian. Read More »

Saudi Arabia is on a roll with this not-treating-women-too-much-like-2nd-class-citizens thing! Earlier this week King Abudllah announced that women could vote and run in elections. Then on Wednesday, a member of his staff told the AP a Saudi woman will be spared a punishment of 10 lashes for flouting the country’s ban on women driving.  The woman, Shaima Jastaina, was found guilty of driving without a license (as Saudi Arabia only issues such licenses to men) and sentenced to 10 lashes. Geez Louise, hold onto your testicles, boys, because it is like the office of Ms. magazine over there!  Just kidding: the official speaking to the AP declined to elaborate about the amnesty, which may signify the king is trying not to draw attention to it and risking angering Saudis who oppose the expansion of women’s rights. But two grand, pro-women gestures in one week is still something to celebrate. [Al-Jazeera]

Keep reading »

Women Can Vote And Run For Office, King Of Saudi Arabia Declares

Jessica WakemanSeptember 26, 2011 //

Saudi Arabian women may now vote and run for office, King Abdullah declared on Sunday, ending a portion of the restriction on women’s rights in the region. Women in Saudi Arabia are still required to have a male chaperone (usually a male relative) to do most things and are still forbidden from driving. Therefore, the extent to which women actually can exercise their right to vote or to run for office may be limited. However, the king has indicated with this decree that the kingdom may be inching towards change. According to The New York Times, he told the country in an address, “We refuse to marginalize the role of women in Saudi society.” He added that women will be appointed to a government council that advises the monarchy on policy. Keep reading »

Saudi Woman Challenges Her Dad Over Male Guardianship Law

Jessica WakemanJuly 5, 2011 //

Imagine that you could not travel or go to school without your dad’s permission. You need him, your brother, or a male driver to take you anywhere you want to go in a car. He even has a say in who you get to marry.

This is life under Saudi Arabia‘s guardianship law — a combination of the legal code and religious doctrine within the kingdom. Men have guardianship over the unmarried women in their families, which usually means a father is guardian to his daughter (but in his absence, a son or uncle can fill in). When a woman marries, the guardianship switches over to her husband. Even when Saudi women are no longer minors, they are still treated like children in the eyes of the law.

One woman is trying to change all that: a 43-old-old doctor, going by the pseudonym “Samia” in press reports, is challenging her father’s guardianship in the Saudi Supreme Court. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Saudi Women Flout The Driving Ban

Jessica WakemanJune 17, 2011 //
  • Today is the day Saudi Arabian women are holding a mass protest by breaking the law and driving. Our thoughts are with them! [Christian Science Monitor, The Daily Beast]
  • Brazil is considering a quota for Sao Paulo Fashion Week which requires that 20 percent of its models be black. If only American fashion shows would do the same thing. [Daily Mail UK]
  • A boarding school in Kenya offers fathers a traditional dowry to secure their girls an education. [CNN]

Keep reading »

Saudi Women Plan Major Protest Of Driving Ban On June 17

Jessica WakemanMay 24, 2011 //

On June 17, women in Saudi Arabia are planning a protest of the country’s ban on women drivers en masse by getting behind the wheel. Women in Saudi Arabia are forced to rely on male relatives or male drivers to get anywhere by car, and are not allowed to travel outside the country without a male relative’s permission or to vote. The Women2Drive campaign, which is gaining support through a Facebook group called “I will drive starting June 17,” will be an act of civil disobedience that could perhaps lead to a sea change of women’s rights in the Saudi kingdom. According to The New York Times, the protest will not have a centralized location. Women with valid drivers’ licenses from other countries are asked to get behind the wheel of their car, put on their seat belts, and drive around, going about their usual day. If they are able to, women are asked to film themselves driving and upload the video to YouTube. Keep reading »

One Of These Mariahs Is Not Like The Other

Julie GersteinOctober 5, 2010 //
Mariah Carey Saudi Arabia airbrushing photo

Take a look at the above images of Mariah Carey: In one picture, she’s in an adorable crop top and shorts set. In the other, she’s decked out in pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Which is real and which is fake? It turns out the fully-clothed Carey is Saudi Arabia’s censored version of the image, in which adorable capri pants were airbrushed onto Mariah’s naked legs. In the conservative Muslim country even superstars have to tone it down.

After the jump, some other Mariah Carey album covers and images that have gotten the Photoshop Magic treatment. Keep reading »

Leaving The Country? Saudi Arabia May Text Message Your Male Guardian

Jessica WakemanAugust 5, 2010 //
text message photo

Imagine if every time you left the country — for a vacation, for college, for a new job — you needed permission from your father, brother or husband.

That’s the story of Saudi Arabian women’s lives: women have male guardians (“mahrams”) who must go through a bureaucratic process to grant them permission to travel unaccompanied. But now, technology might be involved: recently, at least one Saudi women’s rights activist claims her husband received a text message from the foreign ministry when she left the country for a vacation. Keep reading »

It’s Illegal To Refuse To Breastfeed An Adult Male In Saudi Arabia

Ami AngelowiczJune 7, 2010 //
drinking milk photo

A new law in Saudi Arabia has caused quite a bit of confusion. Are you sitting down? OK, so a strict version of Islam forbids women to come in contact with men who are not their relatives. And so the Saudis have issued a fatwa demanding that women who come into regular contact with unrelated men should breastfeed them so that they can be considered relatives. But the big issue is not the law, believe it or not. The heated debate is about the logistics of the law. Keep reading »

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