The sentencing of a Saudi Arabian woman to 10 lashes after she drove a car demonstrates the scale of discrimination against women in the kingdom, Amnesty International said Sept. 27. “Flogging is a cruel punishment in all circumstances but it beggars belief that the authorities in Saudi Arabia have imposed lashes on a woman apparently for merely driving a car,” said Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa deputy director Philip Luther, noting the irony that the sentence was handed down days after the Saudi monarchy had announced that women would be granted the vote in municipal council elections.
“Belatedly allowing women to vote in council elections is all well and good, but if they are still going to face being flogged for trying to exercise their right to freedom of movement then the King’s much-trumpeted ‘reforms’ actually amount to very little,” said Luther. “Saudi Arabia needs to go much further. The whole system of women’s subordination to men in Saudi Arabia needs to be dismantled.” (AI, Sept. 27)
Saudi Arabia’s rulers allow elections for only half of the seats on municipal councils, which have few powers, and women will not be afforded the vote and stand in the polls until 2015. Nalia Attar, who organized a campaign for women to be allowed to participate in the elections, said the move marks the beginning of progress. “Despite the issue of the effectiveness of these councils, women’s involvement in them was necessary” she said. “Maybe after women join there will be other changes.” (Mancunion, Sept. 28)
See our last posts on Saudi Arabia and the Arab revolutions.
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Saudi police fire on protesters
Saudi authorities on Oct. 5 said that 11 security personnel and three civilians were injured in al-Qatif, a large Shi’ite city in oil-rich Eastern Province. The opposition say that 24 men and three women were wounded and hospitalized. Ahmad Al-Rayah, a spokesman for the local Society for Development and Change, said that most of the civilians hit when security forces fired on the crowds. (The Independent, Oct. 5)
Saudi women get the vote —but still flogged for driving
More than four years after the change was announced, women in Saudi Arabia finally got to vote in municipal elections. Women also stood as candidates, another first. A total of 978 women ran, alongside 5,938 men. Female candidates had to speak behind a partition while campaigning or be represented by a man. (BBC News) Of course many women were presumably not able to access polling places due to their reliance on their husbands and male relatives for transport. "Let's not forget that women won't actually be able to drive themselves to the voting booths as they're still completely banned from driving," Amnesty International's Karen Middleton told The Independent.
Saudi Arabia to allow women to drive
Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud on Sept. 26 announced by decree that the country will grant women driver's licenses beginning next June. The order was broadcast though Saudi Arabia's state television channel. The country is the only nation to outright forbid women from driving under the guardianship laws. (Jurist)