The decision by Saudi Arabian King Abdallah to allow women the right to vote and be voted for in municipal elections starting from 2015 has been hailed as a new beginning for women in the country.
The king said women would also be appointed to the consultative Shura Council, his formal advisory body. “Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with Sharia,” he said, “we have decided, after deliberation with our senior clerics and others... to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from next term.”
Although there has been widespread jubilation by women and rights activists across the country and beyond, it needs to be pointed out that this reform is coming after decades of campaigning for greater women’s rights in the country.
Not everyone knows that Saudi women are not allowed to leave the country, or even drive, without being accompanied. Most prominently, a Saudi woman only identified as ‘Shema’ was this past week sentenced to 10 lashes after being found guilty of driving in Jeddah in July. There are surely many others we don’t know about.
Yet King Abdallah had the gall to tell the world that he and his kingdom “refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with Sharia”. Does it mean that Sharia is against women driving and travelling unaccompanied?
But whatever way you look at it, the decision is still a step forward. With the Arab Spring spreading across the Middle East, human rights reform in Saudi Arabia appears to be moving in only one direction. The king has no other choice.
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