The Concerns of the Saudi Women

Op-Ed by Fahda bint Saud bin Abdul Aziz
Al-Hayat

The Arab Muslim women in general and Saudi in particular have never in their modern and old history come under the spotlight at the internal and external levels. Nor have their rights been a major cause for concern as is the case now - to the extent that they appear as the sole pivot for the nation's renaissance in its current crisis. This concerted intense campaign calls for optimism should this be the reason behind it!

Indeed, many women rights-related issues need to be reconsidered and this gentle creature must regain her standing. About to lose this divine particularity, women are undergoing a superficial transformation - from altered physical features to loss of internal balance.

Women's human rights were violated prior to Islam but with its ascent, women regained all their rights and were introduced to their obligations, which helped restore social balance for human beings to live in "eternal" happiness.

As a result, women gained power - though not a supernatural one - while men cemented their strength with their respect for women's privacy. In other words, both men and women preserved their natural disposition, which drew them closer to each other and helped them enrich the Muslim civilization in poetry, literature, and diverse sciences. In the meantime, the natural roles within the family were respected, and this nucleus was preserved over generations, even at the gloomiest moments.

During the century-long wars and colonialism era, as the structure and concepts of the Arab Muslim society were substantially altered, the family system, on the other hand, remained until recently a source of pride and honor. Over the years, the family laws have represented and identified all social codes. When duties and obligations were equitably assigned among family members, society suffered from less psychological and social problems - as had been the case of the Saudi society which emerged from the tribal system and drew the socioeconomic relations among its members.

The Saudi generations were at that time known to be productive, living off their own hand-made goods, whether clothes or food. Women, productive as they were, formed an integral part of this system and the cornerstone of the family and tribe. Fully aware of their rights within this framework that guaranteed them protection, respect, and care from cradle to grave, they were only concerned with sheltering, feeding, and clothing all tribe members. In parallel, society provided them, mainly the divorced, widow, and the elderly, with a guardian's protection, for it was shameful to abandon tribe members, whether men or women.

These tribal features prevailed over the Saudi society even when the Island was united as a stable country in line with oil discovery. The State then substituted the tribe in protecting the people and settling their affairs in light of the Sharia. Consequently, the State, intent on teaching men, generalized and opened more schools in an effort previously confined to personal initiatives in Hejaz and Nejd. Unfortunately, women's share of education remained scant in these communal schools (four in Mecca, 5 in Jeddah, and one in Medinah), the most renowned of which was Al-Zahraain Jeddah.

In parallel, "Al Ahlia School For Girls" was set up in 1974 and "Al Nasifiyah" in 1950. In turn, the Saudi Crown Prince Saud bin Abdul Aziz opened in 1951 the first school for girls in the Kingdom, the Riyadh-based Al-Karimat School and sent his own daughters thereto hoping, by so doing, to encourage parents to teach their daughters. This exemplary school became in 1970 the first secondary institution in the Kingdom. In addition, King Saud daughters opened in 1956 Mabarrat Al-Karimat, while Prince Talal bin Abdul Aziz established in 1956 King Abdul Aziz Mabarrat.

Still, as these schools failed to absorb more girls willing to pursue their studies in Riyadh, the parents, forced to send their daughters to Egypt, urged King Saud to open more schools for girls - hence came the 1960 General Presidency for Girls' Education run by senior scholars under Sheikh Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al Sheikh. This school later opened many branches across the Kingdom despite all the objections rebuffed by the King himself.

Since then, conditions started to change for women, who began studying and working in specific fields in tune with society's perception of their work and role. Many working women stood out, notably King Saud daughters who ran King Saud Mabarrat - let alone some female poets and authors who favored, in this conservative society, to write under pseudonyms. Likewise, many Saudi women embraced teaching, a profession previously restricted to ladies from Egypt, Palestine, and Syria.

When the ministry of Labor and Social Affairs was established in 1960 under King Saud, it undertook, in cooperation with the ministries of health, education, and agriculture a huge project: the urban and rural local community development center. To this end, 16 such centers were set up in 1960, where women contributed to eradicating illiteracy, disseminating girl education, cementing respect for handcrafts, and pinpointing the importance of social development.

In addition, women created their own cooperative associations - with some later transformed into charity associations. They also trained girls and helped the poor households after examining their precarious conditions. In other words, women sought primarily to uproot female illiteracy, help poor households and raise awareness, which are all education and work-related concerns within a family-respectful framework. At this, society at large accepted women education and work amid respect for religion and customs. At the same time, social solidarity was preserved and family's financial reliance on working women was viewed as socially shameful, which eventually strengthened family ties.

As the per capita income mounted during the boom - the dangers, dimensions, and concepts of which went unnoticed, as society and its needs evolved, and rural migration increased in quest of education and job opportunities, many concepts, like family care and men's role as guardians, changed. Accordingly, men began relying sometimes on working women. Many social changes prevailed amid higher incomes and the prevalent locally-unacceptable concepts given the impact of the foreign labor force on the traditional families, which proved unable to preserve the inherited Muslim values.

Thus, families were fearfully disrupted, and their members, engrossed in materialism and different consumption patterns, were drawn apart. As a result, some momentous aspects were overlooked, like the need to rehabilitate the individual to become productive and self-sufficient. In parallel, the citizen embraced some of the negative aspects left by the consuming societies. Hence, both the citizen and society lost many values. But women were not the sole segments to suffer from this change as depicted in our media which, in the footsteps of their foreign counterparts, make judgments based on the values of the strong, totally overlooking the fact that the law that protects women equally protects all social categories.

Indeed, Saudi women concerns are now more numerous and violent than ever. Women have unfortunately relinquished most of their Sharia-consecrated rights in light of the social and economic changes and the alteration in the concepts long prevalent in the tribal and family systems which provided women with protection and care. Women were then supposed to economically provide for the family, which added up to their family responsibilities. Their acquired rights were equally violated and their status as working women exploited; hence the prevalent social and psychological problems, the mounting divorce cases referred to courts and the relevant matters - from alimony to the right of guardianship.

The situation was compounded further, since problem solving was no longer a family responsibility amid social disintegration, weak family protection and cohesion, increased interest in easy money and social appearances, diminishing financial assets, and loosening morals.

Personal interests prevailed over laws, which were not implemented on equal footing. Nepotism, bribery, and corruption became rampant, thus disrupting social balance and increasing women concerns as well as family and work responsibilities. Exposed to the foreign winds, women sought to imitate the media-portrayed seducing women. As such, considerable funds were channeled to plastic surgery -which most often yielded reverse results from deformation to death and caused psychological disorders.

Nowadays, women suffer from many factors. Socially speaking, this suffering affects society at large. Values are rapidly changing in a society unable to keep pace and adapt to the swift and unexpected events. At the personal level, women were misled by the material brainwashing consumption-oriented media that leave them unable to grasp their real dimensions. From the legal perspective, the women, ignorant, dependent, and obsessed with luxury, have settled for what is less than their legitimate rights though enshrined in the legislations initially meant to protect them. No wonder that society underestimated their demands and concerns! In other words, women suffer from three-faceted injustice: a self-induced one, another caused by the sweeping globalization laws that undermine man's dignity and finally, the injustice imposed by the strong on the weak.

If we are to tackle women concerns, we must then prioritize these concerns so as to find solutions thereto with the least possible loss and as soon as possible. In this regard, every society must first lay the foundations for a decent life and satisfied basic needs (the right to food, shelter, education, work, and protection). As for the other needs, they are just relative luxuries that evolve with society's needs, values, and classes. For instance, the luxuries of the rich classes match their class concepts and outer appearances.

Thus, the affluent categories, the first to lose the cultural and heritage legacy, distance themselves from popular concerns - a feature recently embraced by the Saudi society with its openness to the West and compliance with its dictates in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks. As for the middle-classes, most often composed of professionals and intellectuals, their luxuries are closer to the proletariat's, who struggle to live decently. The destitute poor classes, for their part, are often contented with the basics when available. They pass on the cultural heritage over generations and preserve traditions, attached as they are to the land away from mingling with different cultures.

Hence, the Saudi women concerns must be classified according to social classes. Otherwise, all efforts in this direction will remain unrealistic. For it is implausible that homeless and jobless women endeavor to drive a car they can't even dream of owning. Therefore, we must question women's right to drive: Which categories are entitled to drive? Is this right a luxury or a basic need? Can the destitute woman ask for luxuries? Can the affluent women eager to change their societies understand and sympathize with their hardworking peers, who represent the majority in any society?

When we manage to grasp the requirements of our society as a whole, when we work in tandem to satisfy them, only then we can cautiously set realistic priorities towards promoting the social awareness we lack at this critical moment in our history. We need to be more resolved and methodical in diagnosing our problems instead of downplaying our troubles, the outcome of the intellectual chaos we are embroiled in.

With no doubt, numerous institutions, committees, conferences, and round tables have pored over many of our priorities, mainly the issues that concern the youth viewed as the largest and most dangerous and influential category in development. Such pressing issues are related to education, unemployment, void, ignorance, and fear of the future in the absence of social institutions likely to advance positive solutions in the form of enforceable sustainable programs, for the consuming society to become productive based on values and concepts that would restore social stability.

Therefore, such critical issues need to be seriously tackled as social and media priorities worthy of specialized conferences and appeals if we really want to spare our society the looming social, economic, and security dangers.