You have to admit this is a start. Hopefully it will go further than this in the future.
Saudi Arabia election features female candidates and voters for the first time
Communication staff members for the campaign of a female candidate in the Saudi municipal elections contact voters in Jidda.
(Jordan Pix / Getty Images)
Kate LinthicumContact Reporter
On a recent night in the Saudi capital, municipal council candidate Amal Badredin Alsnari wooed potential voters with heaping plates of hors d'oeuvres and a pledge to bring more public services to neighborhoods in need.
Looking glamorous in a black head scarf and red pantsuit, Alsnari spoke passionately to about two dozen women gathered in a banquet room at a downtown Riyadh hotel. Next door, in a separate room, men snacked on their own appetizers and listened as Alsnari’s speech played on loudspeakers.
It was politicking, Saudi-style.
As this wealthy desert kingdom prepares for a historic election Saturday, in which women will compete and vote for the first time, Saudi Arabia’s strict gender laws are coloring the political process even as they’re being challenged.
Like all women in Saudi Arabia, Alsnari, 60, a doctor and a grandmother of nine, will not be allowed to drive herself to the polls Saturday.
After terror attacks, Muslim women say headscarves have made them targets for harassment
Even if she wins a spot on the municipal council representing central Riyadh, she will still face scorn by the religious police if she walks the streets alone, and she will still be unable to travel abroad without the permission of a male relative.
According to election rules, female candidates can be fined if they’re caught speaking directly to male voters. Men and women will cast ballots at separate voting centers.
In a country dominated by a strict form of Islam, some clerics have demanded women sit out the elections. Fearing reprisals, many candidates have forgone public campaigning, opting instead to reach out to voters through social media.
With so many restrictions in place, many women view their entry into the democratic process with tempered enthusiasm, even as Saudi officials hail it as a great advancement.
“It’s a good beginning,” said Alsnari’s daughter, Arij Abanomi, 43. “We will see how good.”
Except for Vatican City, where male cardinals elect the pope, Saudi Arabia is the last country in the world to bar women from elections. Women have had the right to vote in other Persian Gulf states for years.
In Saudi Arabia, the seeds of change were planted after the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, when King Abdullahdecreed women should be included in municipal elections.
It was one of several gestures Abdullah made toward female equality before his death in January. He also appointed women to a national advisory body and allowed them to practice law and work as sales clerks in clothing and lingerie shops.
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Saudi Arabia election features female candidates and voters for the first time
Saudi Arabia election features female candidates and voters for the first time
Communication staff members for the campaign of a female candidate in the Saudi municipal elections contact voters in Jidda.
(Jordan Pix / Getty Images)
Kate LinthicumContact Reporter
On a recent night in the Saudi capital, municipal council candidate Amal Badredin Alsnari wooed potential voters with heaping plates of hors d'oeuvres and a pledge to bring more public services to neighborhoods in need.
Looking glamorous in a black head scarf and red pantsuit, Alsnari spoke passionately to about two dozen women gathered in a banquet room at a downtown Riyadh hotel. Next door, in a separate room, men snacked on their own appetizers and listened as Alsnari’s speech played on loudspeakers.
It was politicking, Saudi-style.
As this wealthy desert kingdom prepares for a historic election Saturday, in which women will compete and vote for the first time, Saudi Arabia’s strict gender laws are coloring the political process even as they’re being challenged.
Like all women in Saudi Arabia, Alsnari, 60, a doctor and a grandmother of nine, will not be allowed to drive herself to the polls Saturday.
After terror attacks, Muslim women say headscarves have made them targets for harassment
Even if she wins a spot on the municipal council representing central Riyadh, she will still face scorn by the religious police if she walks the streets alone, and she will still be unable to travel abroad without the permission of a male relative.
According to election rules, female candidates can be fined if they’re caught speaking directly to male voters. Men and women will cast ballots at separate voting centers.
In a country dominated by a strict form of Islam, some clerics have demanded women sit out the elections. Fearing reprisals, many candidates have forgone public campaigning, opting instead to reach out to voters through social media.
With so many restrictions in place, many women view their entry into the democratic process with tempered enthusiasm, even as Saudi officials hail it as a great advancement.
“It’s a good beginning,” said Alsnari’s daughter, Arij Abanomi, 43. “We will see how good.”
Except for Vatican City, where male cardinals elect the pope, Saudi Arabia is the last country in the world to bar women from elections. Women have had the right to vote in other Persian Gulf states for years.
In Saudi Arabia, the seeds of change were planted after the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, when King Abdullahdecreed women should be included in municipal elections.
It was one of several gestures Abdullah made toward female equality before his death in January. He also appointed women to a national advisory body and allowed them to practice law and work as sales clerks in clothing and lingerie shops.
Continue reading at:
Saudi Arabia election features female candidates and voters for the first time
