The Women of Al' Saud

I remember having a Saudi family as neighbors. I remember how the wife’s English was broken but that never stopped her from inviting my mother and my sister and I over for some tea and snacks. I remember her house always smelling of some woody Arabian spices that would eventually make you drowsy. I remember sitting next to her kids and watching Arabic dubbed versions of Pokemon and Dragon Ball-Z on MBC Channel 3. I also remember being too afraid to ask them to change the channel into something I could comprehend. I remember the Aunty entrusting us with her parrot when her family and her went off on a trip somewhere. The parrot would wake us up in the middle of the night screeching out words in Arabic. I’m ashamed to admit, the parrot knew more about the language than I did.

But I also remember that that Aunty would never invite my Dad over unless her husband was around. I also remember how she would cover herself from head to toe in black whenever she chose to step outside her house. It is a law in Saudi that women could not travel without a male guardian and her abaya, a law even my mother had to abide to despite being a Christian.

For those of you who haven’t read Princess by Jean Sasson (a crime I tells ya!), it is perhaps one of the best books to read about the women of Saudi Arabia. A true tell-all story through the eyes of Princess Sultana Al’ Saud (renamed for the sake of protection and privacy) belonging to the uncontrollably rich Saudi Royal family. Despite hoarding possibly a quarter of the country’s wealth, she still lives in a gilded cage all because she is a woman. 

According to Sultana, the (backward) people of Saudi believe “women are dominated by men, who by the grace of God are deemed superior.” Utter hogwash, she says, in more elegant terms of course. But because of this, women who choose to determine their own lives suffer – from stoning, to being drowned in their own family swimming pool.

However, what is evident through Sultana’s tone throughout the book is that she demands change.

Although this book was written in 2001, a response to the 9/11 attacks, women rights is now a hot potato in Saudi Arabia, believed to have found foothold due to the recent uprising in the other Middle Eastern countries. From jobs, to driving cars (yes, women are not allowed to drive cars. Although my mother uses this as her excuse “11 years of no driving, how do you expect me to pick up again?” I personally believe she’s afraid.) Women are also ready to defy laws taking on the risks of being jailed.

Samar Badawi is one such woman who served 7 months in prison because she chose to disobey her father under the guardianship law – a law which requires women to gain permission from their father, brother, husband or even their adult son to carry on with their day-to-day activities. She had been abused by him since the age of 14 and chose to run away to a women’s shelter. Once she got out of jail, she in turn sued her father for not allowing her to marry when she wanted, and won.

Badawi doesn’t blame the law but just demands awareness. She claims the laws are “very fair” hence they helped her escape her father’s grasp, it's just that women are unaware of what the law can do for them. Earlier this year she went on to receive the International Women of Courage Award by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton.

However, not all women would agree with her. Najla Hariri was recently condemned for driving her son to school under the guardianship law which her husband and she were forced to sign to prevent her from doing it again. She argued, “I reject the idea of his being my ‘guardian’ because I’m a 47 year old woman, I should be my own guardian.”

But not all Saudi women agree. Many argue these are the rants of the well-to-do Saudis, of people who already have everything on their plate and all they’re missing is to be “able to take a passport and travel as they want, or drive a car.” Poor Saudi women actually like the fact that they are so pampered and protected by their family. Bring me a poor Saudi woman who’s against this, a woman asserts.

But, I believe, this is the opinion of a sole minority group. Saudi women are educated with foreign degrees and are tired of sitting at home waiting for something to do and no longer want someone else telling them what to do. And so Hafia Al Mansour decided to get off her ass.

She is the first Saudi woman to have directed a film called “Wadjda” which is going to be screened at the next Cannes Film Festival. The story revolves around a girl in Riyadh (the capital) who desperately wants a bike – again, an anti-oppression movie.

However, predictably, this movie will not be shown in Saudi Arabia mainly due to the fact there are no theaters there. (I assure you we had plenty of DVD stores and even more pirated DVD stores.)

Perhaps this is Sultana’s dream coming true – women standing up, demanding for freedom and with King Abdullah standing right behind them. Although change might not be an overnight shift and might take a generation of radical Islamist to change their view, there is hope for the Saudi women.