OPINION & EDITORIAL
Saudi women barred from voting in upcoming election
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Also by Natalie Mikhail:
- No more excuses for Israel (November 12, 2004)
- Bush appears poised to claim 2nd term (part one) (November 3, 2004)
- A messy situation in Haiti cries for international help (October 21, 2004)
- Saudi women barred from voting in upcoming election (October 14, 2004)
- Darfur genocide needs end (September 23, 2004)
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- Clubs, sexes can be seperate yet equal (February 28, 2005)
- Middle Eastern Freedom (April 29, 2005)
- A world of difference (January 19, 2004)
by Natalie Mikhail
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Earlier this week the Saudi Arabian election committee announced that women will not be able to participate in the country’s first nationwide vote. While this decision is a completely unfair and backward view, it is no surprise that gender inequality in politics reigns in this extreme male-dominated society that still does not allow women to travel unaccompanied by male relatives or even to drive automobiles.
Saudi Arabian citizens — both men and women — have not voted since the 1960s, and even then voting was limited to a few municipal elections. But the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, in which 15 of the 19 hijackers involved were Saudis, prompted calls for the Saudi royal family to modernize the country’s political setting according to international standards.
After immense pressure from reformists both in Saudi Arabia and abroad, particularly from the country’s traditional Washington ally, de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah scheduled the dates for the elections to be held in three stages from February 10 to April 21. The election law published in August, however, did not explicitly ban women from voting, giving many progressive Saudis hope and even encouraging three women to declare themselves as candidates.
Reform usually entails changing and improving something to correct any faults by imposing modern methods. But Saudi Arabia’s Interior Minister Prince Nayef’s comment repressing any expectations for women’s rights in the political arena is a deliberate move against reform, revealing the country’s backwardness and lack of commitment to international standards of equality and human rights.
“I don’t think that women’s participation is possible,” Nayef said in a comment to a Kuwaiti newspaper.
Electoral officials in the government cited administrative and logistical reasons for its decision to ban women from elections in this conservative Muslim kingdom, such as problems over special polling arrangements for women and the small number of women who carry photo identification cards because the pictures show their faces unveiled.
Ironically, the announcement marked a major victory for Saudi Arabia’s religious establishment, which fears the kingdom is moving too fast on even the most modest reforms in the birthplace of Islam. As an absolute monarchy that is governed by a highly conservative interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, the country’s powerful religious authorities adamantly disapprove of any move that might encourage women to mix with men.
However, governance on the basis of religion in the way Saudi Arabia operates is false, in terms of its view on women. According to Islam and the Qur’an, women are instructed to obtain knowledge and education in order to use it to help fellow human beings. Islamic history presents several examples in which women participated in serious discussions and played an active and equal role in politics. Such instances include a woman teaching reading and writing when the prophet could do neither; a woman protecting the prophet from the pagans of Mecca; and a woman narrating many of the prophet’s sayings and teachings after his death. To entrust women with such important roles implies their importance in society.
In essence, the Muslim woman’s participation in community affairs was established from the beginning of Islam. This includes the right to vote.
Saudi Arabian political leaders are, therefore, hiding behind false religious pretexts by withholding many rights from women. It is a violation of their own religious beliefs and practices. Other Islamic countries, such as Egypt, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, allow women to vote and still maintain their traditional and religious practices.
The vagueness of the Saudi Arabian government’s justification for the ban is blatant resistance to reform, hidden by the fact that it is allowing some change by holding elections for some. However, in order for the kingdom to really reform and become a developed society, the government must allow more political and social freedom for all citizens.
Natalie J. Mikhail (nmikhail@badgerherald.com) is a senior majoring in journalism and international studies.
Anonymous (October 14, 2004 @ 8:58am):
Shouldn't our allies be 'spreading liberty?' Why isn't GW Bush working on his buddies to 'spread democracy to the Middle East?' Almost all of our Middle East allies are governed by royalty, not elected leaders.
Anonymous (October 14, 2004 @ 9:29am):
Even if they let women vote, the elections would still be rigged. There can be no peace in the Middle East until dictatorships like Saudi Arabia provide true freedom to all their citizens.
Anonymous (October 14, 2004 @ 12:04pm):
Now you all know what a screwed-up religion Islam really is. I've heard Muslim women claim that they have so much freedom and opportunity as Muslims, but I've never seen it. Unless Muslim women in the West have an entirely different experience, I just can't accept it. Thank God I'm not religious!
