Saudi Arabia: Academics applaud latest reform, but demand more

By Duraid Al Baik, Associate Editor, Gulf News

Dubai: Saudi women on Tuesday praised the reform measures undertaken by King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz this week, including the appointment of a female deputy education minister for the first time in the Kingdom.

In what is considered to be the largest government reshuffle in the Kingdom since King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz took charge in August 2005, 180 men and 1 woman were appointed in senior government posts, including 81 new members in the Consultative Assembly (Majlis Al Shura), 4 ministers and heads of the Supreme Judiciary Council, and the Senior Scholars Commission, as well as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (religious police).

Dr Fawziyah Abu Khalid, professor of Social and Political Studies at King Saud University in Riyadh, told Gulf News, that Saudi women, who have been involved in public service for more than 30 years, deserve more than such decorative appointments by the government.

"The appointment of Dr Noora Al Fayez as deputy education minister for women's education department is a small step in the long way to recognise the input of Saudi women in fields of national and private development in the Kingdom," Dr Fawziyah, a poetess and author of several books on social science, stressed.

The outspoken Saudi opinion writer and poetess, said she was disappointed with the naming of just one woman in such a big reshuffle.

"The very fact that the Majlis Al Shura was modernised in November 2000 and continued to function for five legislative chapters with no single woman representation is a matter of concern. The council was expanded four times for no justifiable reasons," she said.

Dr Fawziyah said women are the most under-represented section in the society, in both government as well as private businesses in the Kingdom. "Women were very optimistic with promises of reforms that marked the dawn of the King Abdullah era, but the [optimism] was shortlived," she said.

She said if someone looks at the empty part of the glass, the appointment of a woman in a government post - even though it is not even to the level of a minister - is definitely good, but is not what women in Saudi Arabia are looking for. We have waited too long to take such a small step forward and time is running ahead of us in many aspects.

She said women should not be looked down when they go out in public. "They need to feel they steer their lives by themselves. This is not happening in Saudi Arabia and the reason is not what the government blames on social norms. Many people in the society have no objection to women assuming leading roles in public life, but it is the government that always comes up with unfounded excuses to delay such an interaction.

Dr Hatoon Jawad Al Fassi, professor of History of Women at King Saud University, feels society is undergoing major changes and the government ought to keep pace with the changes.