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Bekijk Volledige Versie : Making a public splash in Saudi



mark61
09-05-07, 09:12
By Rachel Reid
BBC News, Saudi Arabia

A new university for women is opening in Riyadh - yet Saudi Arabia remains a country where women cannot vote, drive, dress as they like or go where they please.

When I moved to the Middle East six months ago, I knew I would have to bid farewell to my arms and legs.

But I was happy to be working in the region, so I did not resent having to put my skirts and dresses into storage.

But as I prepared for my first trip to Saudi Arabia, I was bristling at the thought of having to wear an abaya - the all-enveloping black cloak that turns the women of the Gulf into mournful ghosts.

Perhaps that is why I called the hotel before I arrived, to ask a question I already knew the answer to - will I be able to use the swimming pool?

The response was a small silence, and then an embarrassed laugh. "Er, No madam. The pool is, of course, for men only. I am so sorry."

The women of Saudi Arabia are not just folded away behind swathes of hot black cloth, they live segregated lives, ushered out of the all-male public spaces into so called "family" areas, escorted everywhere by husbands or male relatives, and expected to ask for male permission to travel.

So the idea of women swimming in public was laughable.

Undeterred, I wrote a slightly uppity e-mail to the manager of the hotel, protesting that whatever discrimination I expected in the country, I didn't expect it in an international hotel, and asking how he could justify charging me the same price for a lesser service.

I suggested that he could arrange a single sex time for women to swim. I even offered to swim in my abaya.

To my surprise, he agreed to my request. The pool would be mine between six and seven in the morning.

So, wishing I had someone to witness me swimming in cloak and goggles, I arrived for my swim, at dawn.

Big revolution

The night manager of the leisure centre, Walid, was waiting for me, in a state of nervous excitement.

"Good morning Madam," he said. "We have everything ready for you. We have cordoned off the pool, placed screens all around."

"So if you have everything you need I shall lock you out here so that you won't be disturbed."

He paused for a moment with his keys, and fixed me with a conspiratorial look.

"I have to congratulate you, Madam, I think you are the first woman to swim in public in all Saudi Arabia!"


Saudi leaders say women will be allowed to vote in 2009
I grinned. "A small revolution?" I asked.

"No a big revolution. I don't think you realise how big," he said, shaking his head in amazement.

"So since you've screened it all off, does that mean I don't have to wear an abaya?" I asked.

"You can wear what you want," he said, smiling, "No-one can see you."

I didn't feel this was the moment to point out that I was swimming in the open air, at the foot of the tallest building in the country. There was a 41-storey skyscraper looking down upon this scandal. I couldn't help but gaze up at it between lengths, and giggle. :hihi:

First elections

Later that day I met an impressive woman of the Gulf called Haya Rashed al Khalifa. Haya is one of Bahrain's first female lawyers, and currently the President of the United Nations General Assembly.

She was in Riyadh to address a gathering of Arab heads of state; an unusual occasion in a region where female politicians are still an unfamiliar sight.

The first nationwide elections only took place here two years ago.

Women were not allowed to vote, let alone stand as candidates.

But Haya told the rows of men seated in front of her that they could not avoid change any longer.

It was time, she told the Arab leaders, that they recognised that women are part of the human race.

Meeting Haya later, I told her I was struck by her optimism.

This repression of women, she told me, is not about Islam. It is about culture. Just look at how interpretations of Islam shift with geography.

The closer countries are to other civilisations - the more progressive they are.

Take Tunisia, in North Africa, where women have had full rights for 50 years. The tides of change have now reached the Gulf.

I told her about my small ripple at the hotel. Her jaw dropped. "You asked to swim in Saudi Arabia? Young lady," she said, "that is more of a breakthrough than mine!"

It wasn't of course. The right to swim comes a long way down the list of demands of the women in Saudi Arabia - well below the right to vote, or the right to drive a car.

But the Saudi leaders are beginning to address that list.

They have said that women will be allowed to vote in the local elections of 2009.

If they keep their promise, that will be a revolution.

The women voters might still be hidden beneath abayas, but they surely won't be expected to bring their male escorts into the voting booths. Will they?

mark61
09-05-07, 10:36
Toch is het wel gek. Als je vrouwen in 2009 stemrecht gaat geven geef je daarmee impliciet toe dat je al die tijd verkeerd zat. Of zijn ze dan pas rijp ervoor? :boeps:

mark61
09-05-07, 10:44
Geplaatst door BiL@L
Heeft met administratieve/registratieve oorzaken te maken.

Dat duurt voor vrouwen langer dan voor mannen? :wtf:

Soldim
09-05-07, 10:55
Geplaatst door BiL@L
Ken jij een maatschappij waarbij dat niet zo is gegaan dan?

Ik ken maatschappijen waar vrouwen het stemrecht langer ontzegt is dan mannen, om oneigenlijke redenen als 'niet geschikt om te stemmen' etc. Ik ken geen maatschappijen waar het makkelijker was om mannen eerder stemrecht te geven om 'administratieve/registratieve' redenen.

Soldim
09-05-07, 11:17
Geplaatst door BiL@L
Ik denk dat het heel gebruikelijk is dat maatschappijen die over gaan op geregistreerde burgerschap, daarmee beginnen bij de mensen die een baan hebben.

Napoleon maakte zich over het hebben van banen niet erg druk, voor zover ik weet.

mark61
09-05-07, 11:18
Geplaatst door BiL@L
Ik denk dat het heel gebruikelijk is dat maatschappijen die overgaan op geregistreerde burgerschap, daarmee beginnen bij de mensen die een baan hebben.

Je denkt dat je hiermee de serieuze reden te pakken hebt?

Bart.NL
09-05-07, 11:58
In Nederland kregen vrouwen ook later stemrecht dan mannen. Dus wat is het probleem?

illmatik
09-05-07, 12:06
Geplaatst door Bart.NL
In Nederland kregen vrouwen ook later stemrecht dan mannen. Dus wat is het probleem?

Het 'probleem' lijkt mij meer in de lijn te liggen van "Wij hebben dit al een tijdje en kloppen ons daarom op de borst". De vergelijkingen gaan echter niet op.

Bart.NL
09-05-07, 12:16
Geplaatst door illmatik
Het 'probleem' lijkt mij meer in de lijn te liggen van "Wij hebben dit al een tijdje en kloppen ons daarom op de borst". De vergelijkingen gaan echter niet op.

We kunnen onszelf tot 2009 nog even op de borst kloppen :cool: .

Mark
09-05-07, 13:02
Dat vrouwen niet meer mogen rijden is helemaal niet zo gek, dat zou de files sterk verminderen.

En eigenlijk zouden we eens een onderzoek door Maurice de hond moeten laten doen om te kijken of de vrouwen anders stemmen dan de mannen, zo nee dan heeft hun stemrecht dus geen enkele invloed.

Bart
09-05-07, 17:54
Geplaatst door illmatik
Het 'probleem' lijkt mij meer in de lijn te liggen van "Wij hebben dit al een tijdje en kloppen ons daarom op de borst". De vergelijkingen gaan echter niet op.

Want?

Tomas
09-05-07, 17:57
Geplaatst door Mark

En eigenlijk zouden we eens een onderzoek door Maurice de hond moeten laten doen om te kijken of de vrouwen anders stemmen dan de mannen, zo nee dan heeft hun stemrecht dus geen enkele invloed.

Dan zou je uit administratieve overwegingen dat stemrecht ook weer in kunnen trekken, lijkt mij.

En eigenlijk is het nu toch ook zo dat getrouwde mannen twee keer mogen stemmen, en is dat nou zo eerlijk?