Life for Saudi women is in a constant state of contradiction

Eman Al Nafjan is a Saudi woman living in Riyadh who blogs under Saudiwoman's Weblog and wrote the following piece for the Guardian (UK news outlet).



What's it like being a Saudi woman? A common question I've come to expect from outsiders – even fellow Arabs. The restrictiveness of the guardianship system, gender segregation and a persistently sexist culture add up to create an exotic and mysterious lifestyle that is difficult to not only explain but also to comprehend.

How do you explain the ingrained paradox of the driving ban on women? The point of the ban is that women avoid situations that lead to them mixing with and meeting men. However, the ban then leads to the necessity of hiring a strange man and getting into the car with him on a daily basis.

How do you explain the huge amounts of money the government spends on educating and training women, so much so that 60% of college graduates in Saudi are women – educating and training all these women, despite the fact that gender segregation laws makes employing them virtually impossible.

How do you explain that this is the way of life that the average Saudi wants for his or her country, when anyone getting on a plane leaving Saudi cannot help but notice how quickly the Saudi passengers abandon their abayas and conservative mannerisms?

A country of contradictions; Saudis have coined an Arabic phrase to explain the unexplainable that translates into "Saudi exceptionality". This past week Saudi exceptionality did not disappoint.

After years of Saudis campaigning and petitioning the king to lift the women driving ban and ease the restrictiveness of the guardianship system, King Abdullah decreed last week that women would be allowed as full members of the Saudi parliament and would be allowed to vote and run in future municipal elections. In bafflement, we celebrated the decree.

Then, within a couple of days of the decree, a Saudi woman was sentenced to 10 lashes for driving her own car. Although women are banned from driving, they have never been sentenced to physical punishment for it. The usual is signing a pledge and in extreme cases paid suspension from their jobs and prison sentences that are never more than a few days.

Local political analysts believe that this lashing was some sort of reaction from the judicial courts to the king's decree. A national and international outcry soon followed and the woman was later pardoned but the contradiction still stands. So in 18 months' time a Saudi woman can be a member of parliament providing that her male guardian allows her to and she finds a man to drive her there.

How do Saudis explain that? It depends on where they stand concerning women's rights issues. Those for women's rights commend the wisdom of empowering women at the highest levels of decision-making so that their voices will trickle down to create real change in the everyday life of the average Saudi woman.

Women members on the Shura council will help bring issues such as child marriages and the unemployment rate for women to the forefront. However, those who oppose the decision see it as the government bending to international pressure. To them, the recent campaigns by organisations such as Amnesty International and Change.org have pushed the government to go against the will of the people.

Either way, the end result is the same, another paradox. Another item to add to the list of things that make explaining what it's like being a Saudi woman difficult; another illogical milestone in Saudi history. The only consistency is "Saudi exceptionality".

The Plight of Women in Saudi Arabia

There are several injustices, issues, and hurdles facing the women of Saudi Arabia today. In the year 2011 women are not treated equally, they are not treated fairly in this society. Over the next few blog posts I will try to organize and explain how this is so, and hopefully how it is also changing.

Personally, how do I feel being a western woman captive in a society so freely exercising human rights infringements against my sex? Shitty and thankful. Thankful that I know when I return home I will have all my freedoms back, instantly, no questions asked. Shitty because I see how this society is keeping the women in a place not equal to the other sex.

There are so many unfair rules of engagement. Men can do whatever they want. Women can not go out in public without being covered. They cannot leave the country without the written permission of their guardian.  (For all intents and purposes the hospital is my guardian, saying when I can and cannot leave). Women cannot work in the presence of men for fear of seducing them with their womanly ways and distracting them from their jobs, and of course the woman are the only seductress and temptress in this situation. They cannot drive and they cannot vote. Sometimes when I look at these women swishing down the hallway or around at a store they seem like a black shadow. Do they know they could have more? Do they feel this is unfair? Is it religious? Cultural?

I have been here for about 8 months only and even I can feel myself changing and having a different perspective. I think when I first came it was all very new, exciting and different. I was quicker to accept the difference as differences in cultures. But now I feel more and more strongly that this is not fair and this is not right. Women are not treated fairly at all. I'm not really even talking about the abaya, covering. It is much much deeper than that, it is lack of freedom (voting, driving, guardianship, working, etc.). Recently I saw a picture on a news site of a woman in a blue burqa in Afghanistan, and my first thought was “BLUE! How very liberal Afghanistan must be!!!” What?!! Afghanistan liberal? Wait a minute, here I was thinking because they can wear a different color than black the women of Afghanistan must be liberated more than the black clad women of Saudi Arabia. Oh a year of learning and exploring in thought and culture.

Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, where I live is apparently the strictest of all the cities in the Kingdom. I met a couple of coworkers who are Saudi women (women and men can work together in the hospital) and they are from Jeddah and Dammam (the 2^nd and 3^rd largest cities in KSA). When they arrived to Riyadh to start working they were going through culture shock. Shocked by the strictness of this city and the lack of outlets, particularly for Saudi nationals. Both these women said they felt suffocated and out of place in Riyadh, wishing to return to their home cities or more normalcy. Nearly all Saudi women in Riyadh cover their faces. There is not really anywhere to go for women (except the shopping malls). There are no parks or beaches here like the other towns have. Side note, geography lesson: Riyadh is in the middle of the country, middle of the desert; Jeddah is on the Red Sea; Dammam is on the Persian Gulf. So it is interesting to me to hear that women who spent their entire lives in this country were just as shocked by the strictness of Riyadh.

Another interesting fact I have noticed since I've been flying in and out of Riyadh fairly often. As soon as you leave Riyadh and arrive at a new destination it seems a transformation has occurred. Women are no longer covered, showing their faces or even off with the abayas all together. It seems to be an inconsistency of values. But let me tell you, I am for sure one of the many high flying transformations, but again covering isn't one of my values, I am only another lady following the rules, or grudgingly trying.

JORDAN :)

                I just spent two wonderful weeks in Jordan with my parents!  We had a fabulous time together exploring everything Jordan has to offer from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea to nature reserves and Petra.  We experienced Arab hospitality and drank lots and lots of sweet hot tea Jordanian style!

                The Dead Sea is the lowest place on Earth at 1340 feet below sea level.  It was hot there, but also a desert so it didn’t seem that strange.  It also didn’t seem like below sea level, but I’m not really sure what that is supposed to feel like.  Hot I suppose, closer to the center of the Earth.  The Dead Sea has an inlet from the River Jordan (which is severely dried up since all the water is being diverted on both the Israel and Jordanian sides of the banks for agriculture) there is no outlet from the Dead Sea.  Apparently the soil is quite fertile given a little water; however, looking out at this arid desert, sandy land covered with rocks, one would not expect anything to grow.  But alas with a little hard work food grows quite readily.  The rift valley where the Dead Sea is located has it’s own green house effect because of the sea and the low altitude and high rising mountains surrounding it.  The Dead sea at is 31% salinity, 9 times saltier than the ocean.  It also has high levels of bromine, calcium, and magnesium.  All this makes it an unfriendly environment for life, thus the Dead Sea.  The water levels are severely decreasing, shrunk by 30% in recent years due to the potash industry on both Isreali and Jordanian sides of the sea as well as increased evaporation (global warming).  The potassium containing compounds isolated from the sea is often used to make fertilizers.  There is a proposal of possibly bringing in water from the Red Sea to compensate for water loss, an expensive and possibly ecologically devastating project.   

We did take a dip or rather a float in the Dead Sea!  It was one of the strangest experiences yet!  It didn't feel any different walking into the water, but as soon as you lift one foot off the ground BAM you are floating, and there is no effort involved or stopping the floating force.  It is just so strange, we could not stop laughing.  Also as warned, you can tell where there are cuts you didn't know existed in your skin, oh the burn!  They also say not to get it in your mouth or eyes.  Well stupid us, we were so excited each of us ended up with a little Dead Sea in the mouth, it tasted like poison.  On the skin, other than the burning cuts/abrasions, it felt oily.  Bitumen used to rise to the surface of the lake and was harvested for a variety of uses including mummification by Egyptians.  Since we had to experience the healing properties of the Dead Sea mud we each had a mud wrap while at one of the fancy spas by the sea.  Oh what luxuries!

We stayed in a chalet nearly completely surrounded by the Dead Sea, right out at the end of a jetty.  We could watch as the sun rose onto the mountains turning them pink in the early day, across the sea in Isreal.  At night we sat on the porch and star gazed, having very little light pollution since the Dead Sea is thankfully preserved and not built up hardly at all.  The stars littered the sky, just beautiful!  On my dad's 60th birthday we sat at a high restaurant with a view (actually about sea level) and drank beers from Mexico, listening to old American hits, sitting in Jordan at the Dead Sea and watching the sun set over Palestine and Isreal!  Really he said in 60 years he didn't expect this for his birthday, and it was wonderful, very thankful we were all together to share this moment!

There is an organization in Jordan called the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) that is striving to conserve and protect the beauty and nature that Jordan has to offer.  Actually while we were visiting Jordan a radio station was traveling around Jordan and hitting up each of these protected areas trying to promote tourism and awareness of their actions.  We didn't see them but some travel buddies did and said it was quite a to-do, radio broadcast at 7am and some fancy Jordanians coming from Amman (the capital).  At any rate we did visit quite a few of the RSCN areas and the beauty was astonishing!!! 

Wadi Mujib was the first stop.  This was an unexpected thrill for all of us!  We walked about ankle to knee deep in water the whole way in the canyon back to a huge powerful waterfall!  The canyon walls must have been about 300 feet in height but only about 20 feet wide.  It was crazy to think how this was ever created.  The beauty of this canyon was unreal!  To get back to the waterfall we had to climb over small to medium sized cascades over rocks and use ropes to get up.  It was a fun adventure, really nice to go up with other folks and figure out the route together!  Good times!

Next, we visited the Dana Reserve, also part of the RSCN.  This was at a much higher altitude and got pretty chilly at night.  Since I've been living in Saudi Arabia (hot desert with hot desert breezes) it was a really nice break and I may have bundled up a bit too much (with a hoodie and scarf!) just because it was such a shock, a very welcome change!  Another fantastic view of Dana Wadi, a huge canyon that was covered in green trees and interesting rock formations.  We did some hiking around and saw some fantastic views.  All the way from a high point you can see down to the plains!  Such great visibility!  One day I walked down through the whole of the Dana Wadi to the far town on the other side with a British couple who were planning to hike 4 more days on to Petra.  On the hike down the wadi we walked through 5 different biospheres!  It was pretty amazing, high forest to arid desert and everything between!  On the way we stopped with a Bedouin sheep herder who offered to make us tea.  The Bedouin people are the traditionally nomadic people of the Arab peninsula and into Jordan.  They live in camps, tents made of canvas which are surprisingly very airy and refreshing underneath.  At any rate this Bedouin man made us sweet hot tea as we took a rest with him and his flock of sheep under the shade of a small tree.  He actually even made up some tea from sage that he found right by us in the wadi, said it was good for the stomach, great!

Petra!  Oh my goodness!  Petra was actually the place I had heard about before I traveled to the middle east from a Jordanian doctor I used to work with at my previous job.  I remember looking at pictures and being stunned by it's grandiose and beauty and thinking I had to go there.  So finally here we were at Petra!  It is an ancient city, over 4000 years old, carved into rock walls.  We walked through the mile long Siq (long narrow canyon) as horse drawn carriages rushed by.  The siq alone is beautiful  and opens up to the most notorious and one of the most detailed and preserved relics, the Treasury.  These creations carved from pure stone are so enormous it is baffling.  Really only pictures can describe the size and being there can only describe the force of the magnetism of this place.  The people selling trinkets and camel/donkey rides work pretty hard!  With a bit of humor they offer "happy hour" deals, air-conditioned donkey rides, arab taxis, and try to entice you to buy using a bit of Arab congeniality.  Or in our case, a 13 year old girl with perfect English chatted us up and flattered us to no end, correcting the wrapping of my headscarf for me, and whispering about how beautiful my mother was, and how we needed things from her "shop" (a table on the side of the path).  Too cute!  So at the end of a long day walking about 12 miles in the desert heat, we needed a cool place to rest.  AHH the cave bar!  First century cave serving draught beers and shesha!  Yes, perfect Arabian experience!  Lovely!

Wadi Rum is a very beautiful diverse landscape of desert dunes and huge rock formations jetting out of the sand in the south of Jordan very close to the Saudi boarder, also a RSCN.  We arrived and were immediately invited into a guys home to share a glass of "Bedouin Whiskey", too bad it was less like whiskey and more like hot sweet tea that left only a warm sugary high, but lovely all the same.  By the twentieth cup of this in 3 days I think I had met my quota!  Wadi Rum was a great experience!  We stayed in a Bedouin camp, had tents to sleep in, ate sitting around the floor family style, and had arab style toilets!  I had a few beautiful desert runs (sunrise and sunset) magical really!  So free to just run where ever I wanted.  Kind of reminds me of how very strict Saudi actually is when something so simple feels so good!  At any rate, in Wadi Rum we had a jeep tour around the White and Red Deserts and to T.E. Lawarances home.  He was the British guy who helped the Arabs during the Arab revolt in the early 1900s when the whole Middle East split into countries.  Basically the Bedouin lifestyle, living and roaming the desert, creates a relaxed atmosphere with plenty of time to lay around, drink tea, and visit!  There is no reason to be rushing around in the desert in the midday heat, just sit back and relax, enjoy the beauty that is all around and the peacefulness and quietness of it all!  While in Wadi Rum we also engaged in the obligatory camel ride!!!  Hilarious!  And actually not bad, comfort-wise.  They are just slow and steady animals.  But apparently there are racing camels that can go 30-60mph (so they say), once back to Saudi, I actually did witness a camel race on Arab TV, so it does exist!  They are very quite movers, hardly making a sound as they trod around in the desert or even on harder surfaces.  The pads of their feet are very soft and kind of smoosh down and flatten out as they walk.  While staying at the Bedouin camp the guys cooked for us a Bedouin BBQ!!  So awesome and delicious!  They dug a hole in the sand and two layers of raw food on a wire rack - chicken, vegetables, potatoes, etc.  At the bottom of the hole was coals and then the food was covered with a lid and a ton of sand was placed over top of the BBQ for instillation, an hour and a half later, a beautiful and delicious dinner was ready!!!  YUMMMY, not to mention brilliant!!

In Aqaba, the last city in the south of Jordan, right on the Red Sea we put on our swimsuits and went snorkeling!  Beautiful, unreal, and breathtaking.  I hate to compare nature to a cartoon, but really it was like swimming inside the movie of Finding Nemo!  Spectacular colors of fish and coral, sea life I didn't even know existed!  There was a blow fish that got mad and puffed out to his full potential, hilarious!!  His face looked like "oh no not this again!"  We saw octopi, star fish, huge schools of neon colored fish, sea cucumbers, and countless different types of coral!  This trip really makes me excited to become dive certified and to explore the life under the sea!  So as it turned out, we were on the Dead Sea for my Dad's birthday and at the Red Sea sipping beers for my Mother's birthday!!  This trip will not soon be forgotten!

So as a note to food lovers, I'm a big fan of any country where you eat hummus for every meal!  Jordan is such a place!  They served many delicious salads with cucumbers and tomatoes.  Many of the places where we stayed the meals were served family style so we had the chance to chat up other travelers.  Apparently tourism is down about 75% in Jordan this year.  The economic troubles the world over combined with the "Arab Spring" in the Middle East and particularly in Syria these days is contributing to this decrease.  It used to be very popular to visit Syria and then down into Jordan.  Also Palestine and Israel are often unstable, having held the UN council meeting while we were in Jordan where Palestine asked for statehood went over with no hostilities felt from our perspective.  My parents were surprised by the amount of roadside checkpoints throughout Jordan with uniformed guardsmen holding automatic riffles and large tanks/trucks with riffles fixed to the back end.  I guess I feel this is pretty normal for the neighborhood.  I've seen quite a bit of this in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Eritrea.  Actually, there are a couple such trucks position on at least two sides of the building I live in.  We weren't given any trouble, just let on through these checkpoints.  Jordan however, is not having uprisings as the other countries have.  Jordanians say they love their king, his pictures is plastered all over the country.  It is the many faces of the King, here is the king in traditional Arab wear, here he is in a western business suit, there he is a soldier, or going for a weekend of fishing, hanging out, etc.  A man of the people!  It is pretty entertaining!

Traveling in Jordan with my parents was such a great treat!  Thank you both for making the long journey to the Middle East and experiencing this area of the world in a way not many get the chance!