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Arabia

500 Saudi Women: "We Refuse To Drive Cars and Home Is Our Natural environment"

2005-07-31

A group of Saudi Women have expressed their disapproval concerning a statement signed by 500 conservative women and addressed to crown Prince Abdullah Bin AbdulAziz, in which they requested that women should not be allowed to drive.

Might one be so bold as to suggest that if you don't want to, don't do it? And to let any other women who do want to do it do so? That's probably too complicated for the Arabian mind, though...

The statement also demanded that editorials in newspapers, which aim to westernize women and bring them out of their homes be ignored.

Well, see? I you were properly illiterate, then you couldn't read them, could you? On the other hand, even though you are presumably literate, your real gripe is probably with the guy holding the gun to your heads forcing you to read them.

The letter was signed by 14 academics from the Jeddah and Mecca Universities, the girls' education colleges in the Mecca area, 3 doctors, 7 health workers, 93 teachers, 12 workers, 93 college students, 79 high school students, and 123 educated homemakers. They demanded that the woman should not be allowed to drive a car since this subjects her to harassment in public places, markets, and in front of girls' schools. They also demanded the establishment of a women's ministry run by sharia clerics.

Right. That'll make things all better. Shoulda thought of that before...

Saudi businesswoman Raja al-Munif expressed her surprise at the appearance of such statements and said, "These ~~people are crazy~~ demands are strange. How can they demand a ministry for women that is run by men?" She asked, "A woman is a human being. So how can she not manage her own affairs? As to driving a car, she said, "The woman is free and driving will not be a duty imposed on her".

Bingo! Raja gets it. Of course, since she does, she must be killed. The Women's Ministry (run by mullahs) will no doubt take care of that...

Commenting on their talk that the woman's place is her house, Raja al-Munif said, "There are academics, doctors, and teachers. Let them leave their work and universities."

I've long since come to the conclusion that Arabs don't feel silly like we do...

Posted by:Fred

#15 So basically, noone who can't afford a Paki indentured servant (or in the old days, a slave) can be considered, in the opinion of these guys, to be devout?

Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-07-31 22:33

#14 So don't drive already. And stay home, too. Who gives a shit?

But if you want to keep not driving and staying home, you'd better remind your "men" (and I use the term loosely) that the rest of the women in this world don't "think" the same way you do and they'd best not be trying to force your pathetic way of life on us.

I'll leave the "or else" to your fevered imaginations. I'm sure it will involve the Joooooos somehow. :-(

Wotta buncha LOSERS.

Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2005-07-31 22:06

#13 tw's description is spot-on. Yes, the husband or father can hire a driver, usually Indian or Pakistani. He sits in front and she in back. But he is much more likely to be a household servant and driving only one of his duties.

Posted by: .com 2005-07-31 20:02

#12 I also have wondered for a long while... in the old days, when many Moslems worked as traders, and were gone from their home for much of the year, how were the womenfolk supposed to survive with the "don't leave home without a male relative as escort" custom?

Slaves. A slave could go to the market -- male or female, didn't matter, because an attack on a slave was a matter of property, not honor.

Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-07-31 19:43

#11 I imagine the drivers are thought of as a kind of family retainer, john, rather than as an unrelated male. As such, the man would have a feudalistic-style responsibility to the male head of the household, to keep the family's females safe. That's the only way I can rationalize it, anyway. Mr. Wife so hated the time he spent working in Saudi Arabia, that he told me very few stories. Not like India, from which he brought me back tales and cookbooks! ;-)

Posted by: trailing wife 2005-07-31 19:07

#10 I've read that many saudi women have hired drivers.
They are allowed to be alone in cars with men not related to them?

Posted by: john 2005-07-31 18:50

#9 I suspect that the 500 conservative women have more than met their match.

Posted by: Captain America 2005-07-31 10:53

#8 .com said #2 Indoctrination from birth is certainly effective, no?

That's exactly the Feminist Plan executed on our campuses. There is but one true god....just different at UC Berkley.

Posted by: Speretch Thromomp3699 2005-07-31 08:41

#7 When I was on the Arabian Peninsula, I was told that rich Muslimutts who have 4 wives, always marry one fat and ugly one as dishwasher and housekeeper. I would bet that they 500 Saud hags are the ugly skanks, and are trying to assuage shame by kissing up to their masters.

Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler 2005-07-31 03:03

#6 Fred sed:

Might one be so bold as to suggest that if you don't want to, don't do it? And to let any other women who do want to do it do so?

This issue is about more than women driving cars. It pervades the arab/muslim worldview. British Muslims don't like bra ads? Remove them. No churches (and heaven forbid, synagogues!) in most muslim countries. And so on, and so on.

There is an intolerance of tolerance. The live-and-let-live policies of factions our own left AND right, universally do not apply to the arab world. Instead of "freedom", they choose submission. And this is only one way in which that plays out.

Posted by: PlanetDan 2005-07-31 02:53

#5 Edward, you'd probably find that the signatures are real.

It's probably easy to find 500 women in the very-well-off families who feel this way, and think that anyone who isn't well-off enough to afford the luxury of purdah should shut up and suffer (and probably slowly die off or something).

(When it was part of Hinduism, it was generally practiced by the higher-caste/class women, and not the lower castes, for instance.)

Remember that article a while back about the Jordanian general, where they said that the Bedouin, way back when, didn't follow rules like that? They probably couldn't afford it.

I also have wondered for a long while... in the old days, when many Moslems worked as traders, and were gone from their home for much of the year, how were the womenfolk supposed to survive with the "don't leave home without a male relative as escort" custom?

I don't _know_, but my theory is that in places like 12th century Afghanistan, they weren't as literal-minded about Islam (or about the caste-based practices inherited from Hinduism in the area, which have also been discussed here) as they are in Saudi Arabia today.

Comments?

Posted by: Phil Fraering 2005-07-31 02:15

#4 ... anyone check and verify those 500 signatures? (Yes, I mean what I'm implying.)

Posted by: Edward Yee 2005-07-31 01:29

Might one be so bold as to suggest that if you don't want to, don't do it? And to let any other women who do want to do it do so? That's probably too complicated for the Arabian mind, though...

SF9749-Didn't Aladdin always drive the carpet, and Jasmine just ride?

Posted by: BigEd 2005-07-31 00:44

#2 Indoctrination from birth is certainly effective, no?

Posted by: .com 2005-07-31 00:32

#1 Why drive when you've got flying carpets?

Posted by: Sliting Fleating9749 2005-07-31 00:09

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