RIYADH — Former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland, who is also the Special Envoy on Climate Change for the United Nations Secretary-General, visited Saudi Arabia last week to speak at the Global Competitiveness Forum. Brundtland spoke to Arab News about the condition of Saudi women.Brundtland is seen as a left-wing version of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. She was the Norwegian minister for environmental affairs from 1974 to 1979, and became Norway’s first — and to date only — woman prime minister in 1981. Her Cabinet was renowned internationally for having eight women ministers out of a total of 18.
Empowering women in Norway was not enough for her. “My perspective is always global. It was not only what Norway should be doing in Norway but also what we should be doing to other countries,” she said.
Brundtland is aware of the happenings in the Middle East and the talk of reform in Saudi Arabia. In terms of democracy and bettering women’s conditions in developed countries, the UN can play an important role in opinion making, she said. However, she strongly believes that change should come from within.
“There is no one outside that can force change on Saudi Arabia. The change should come from Saudis themselves,” she said, adding that young Saudis could start change by asking difficult questions.
In her global outlook, change is necessary and urgent in developed countries, even from an economic point of view. She said she was shocked to learn that only 16 percent of Saudi women work. She compared that to Norway where 75-80 percent of women work, saying that this was due to the efforts and strategies of the government. When she was a young minister, she and other women pushed economists, who said that it was impossible to increase the numbers of working women. Giving women opportunities is the key to advancement in all societies.
Speaking about Saudi Arabia, Brundtland believes that religion does not hinder change and does not prevent women from having equal opportunities.
Brundtland believes that the problem lies with the tradition and culture that people have been brought up with and which “might be hard to break out from.” She added that positive change would come “because we live in the era of globalization and learn about other societies.”
At the UN conference on population in Cairo in September 1994, she aroused the ire of Muslims and Catholics by calling for abortion to be decriminalized and accusing religious opponents of hypocrisy.
Knowing that Saudi women cannot undergo surgery in hospitals without their guardians’ approval, Brundtland said it is “outrageous that women are treated as if they were children.”
She also expressed her deep shock at the case of the Qatif Girl, who was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison by a Saudi court before she was granted a royal pardon.
“I find it hard to understand if a woman is in a place where her brother or father is not there to protect her, then what happened to her is her fault. What kind of logic is behind this?”
She said that her participation in the Riyadh Global Competitiveness Forum is all about creating a society full of energy.
“If you keep women down, society will never be as productive as you want it to be,” she said, adding that the United Nations could play an important role in dealing with oppressive societies.
“There are countries who signed international treaties but don’t comply with them and there is a lot of pressure than can be put on them,” she said, adding that international help would take longer if change does not come from within.
“You don’t need to spend 100 years to make that change in Saudi Arabia. It will happen if there is simmering discussion and criticism.” Her last word to Saudi women was a wish that the next generation will have better opportunities.
- Ebtihal Mubarak, Arab News
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