Tag Archives: Muslim Women’s Rights

A Woman’s Place: Saudi Princes in Row Over Kingdom’s Image

Posted on January 23, 2012 | 6 Comments

Princess Ameera Al-Taweel's Speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. The Princess' High Media Profile is Leading to Rifts in the Royal Family. Image Credit: Flickr

Saudi women have taken the wheels in recent months literally by defying the country’s notorious driving ban, and figuratively in attempting to advance their rights in the wake of the Arab Spring in the famously “conservative” Kingdom which allows women virtually no rights without male guardianship or representation.

In addition to the battles Saudi women have been waging on the ground and behind the scenes for their rights, or lack there of, they have had a champion in Princess Ameera Al-Taweel, the wife of Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the more progressive of the thousands of Princes of the Saud family, and one of richest men in the world.

The Princess Frequently Travels With her Husband on Official Trips, Serving as his Vice-Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees and Head of the Executive Committee of the Al-Waleed bin Talal Foundations. Image Credit: Flickr

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Posted in Politics Not As Usual, Violence Against Women, Women's Rights=Human Rights

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A Meaningless Vote? Saudi Women’s Rights Remain Stagnant

Posted on September 28, 2011 | 4 Comments

“What a difference a day makes, 24 little hours,” is how the song goes, and the line could not ring more true for Saudi women.

This week we saw Saudi King Abdullah grant women the vote in an effort to not only keep the “Arab Spring” away from his Kingdom, but also to quell the the momentum the women’s movement has gained there to remove the country’s notorious driving ban.

But the King is offering too little too late. He is missing the point by responding with the right to vote. Saudi women’s demand to be allowed to drive, a ban which only exists in Saudi Arabia, goes beyond the right to simply be permitted by law to start the engine of your car.

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Posted in Violence Against Women, Women's Rights=Human Rights

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Starting the Engine: Saudi Women Drive for Their Rights

Posted on June 17, 2011 | 6 Comments

Women in Saudi Know the Right to Drive is the Start to Gaining Their Basic Rights. Image Credit: Flickr

The spirit of the Arab Spring broke the steel gates of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today as one by one Saudi women started their engines, defying the country’s notorious ban on women driving, the only place  in the world where women are not permitted to drive.

Today’s protest is the culmination of an online campaign that started last month when IT security consultant Manal al-Sharif posted a YouTube video of herself behind the wheel. She was arrested and jailed for ten days. Her detention sparked an international outcry from rights groups, demanding Saudi’s rulers remove the driving ban on women.

Religious edicts by the Kingdom’s senior clerics claim the ban “protects against the spread of vice and temptation.” In reality the restriction forces families to spend a significant amount of their income hiring foreign drivers.

Chairwoman of the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of Virginia, Farzaneh Milani explains the real fear behind the ban:

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Posted in Politics Not As Usual, Violence Against Women, Women's Rights=Human Rights

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Virginity Tests: Time to Let Gender Out of Revolution’s Closet

Posted on June 6, 2011 | 3 Comments

A Thin Line Between Sex & Politics: Mona Eltahawy Asks What Revolution is Not About Gender? Image Credit: Flickr

There is no doubt that the recent revolution in Egypt got the wheels of the Arab Spring rolling. But just as quick as women were to flood the corners of Tahrir Square and the streets of Cairo in the hopes of a democratic Egypt, their voices were soon sidelined.

This is nothing uncommon. Even in conservative countries, we frequently see women come out in full force during political protests with little to no objection from the men. And this was not a first for Egyptian women who were heavily involved in Egypt’s 1919 revolution.

It is after the euphoria fades, after the dictator is placed under house-arrest when the political blueprint of a country is being determined that women are nowhere to be heard. We repeatedly see this. From Bangladesh’s ’71 War of Independence, to Iran in ’79, to Libya, Syria, and all over the Middle East today, where are the women at the decision-making table? Where are the women when it comes to forming the new government?

Bangladeshi Female "Freedom Fighters" Were Front & Center in the 1971 War of Independence. Image Credit: Flickr

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