Head to Head - Do Arab Men Hate Women?

Talk to Al Jazeera: Why Arab Women Still ‘Have No Voice’ (April 2012)

Amal al-Malki, a Qatari author, says the Arab Spring has failed women in their struggle for equality.

Head to Head: Do Arab Men Hate Women?

With one question, journalist Mona Eltahawy unleashed a harsh critique of women's rights in the Arab world.

Saudi Head of Religious Police Criticises Agents for Handling of 'Nail Polish' Row
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The head of the Saudi religious police has criticised agents for clamping down on a woman who was wearing nail polish, after the video went viral, attracting more than a million hits on YouTube.

The three minute video posted on May 23 shows members of the religious police telling the woman to "get out" of a shopping mall. But she refuses to comply, saying "I'm staying and I want to know what you're going to do about."

In an interview with the daily newspaper al-Watan, Sheikh Abdullatiff Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh, said: "The world is manufacturing airplanes and we are still telling a woman 'leave the mall because you've got nail polish on your fingers'."

“I was very disappointed by what I have seen. The matter has been exaggerated and negatively exploited,” Sheikh Abdullatiff, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, later told the AFP news agency.

“The way the member of the commission behaved was not right, even if the girl had gone too far. He should have offered her advice and left instead of arguing with her and escalating [the matter]."

The video has been viewed more than one million times, but her behaviour attracted scores of negative comments online.

One posting said she had "no shame" and accused her of "prostituting" herself. Another called her a "slut" and a "whore." » | Thursday, June 07, 2012


Related »

Saudi Woman Makes a Stand against Feared Religious Police

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A YouTube video of a Saudi woman defying orders by the notorious religious police to leave a shopping centre because she is wearing nail polish has gone viral, attracting more than a million hits in just five days but thousands of negative comments.

The three and a half minute video posted on May 23 shows members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice telling the women to "get out of here"[.]

But she refuses to comply, saying: "I'm staying and I want to know what you're going to do about."

"It's none of your business if I wear nail polish," the unidentified woman, who is not seen on tape, is heard shouting at bearded men from the feared religious force.

"You are not in charge of me," she defiantly shouts back, referring to new constraints imposed earlier this year on the religious police banning them from harassing Saudi women over their behaviour and attire.

"The government has banned you from coming after us," she told the men, adding "you are only supposed to provide advice, and nothing more". » | Monday, May 28, 2012

Qatari Women Prepare for Olympic Début
Competing at the Olympics may almost be taken for granted by athletes in some countries, but for others they simply have not had the chance to get there before. That is now changing in Qatar, which will send female athletes to the London Games for the very first time. Al Jazeera's Rhodri Davies met one of them, Nada Arakji, a member of the Gulf state's national swimming team.

Why Arab Women Still 'Have No Voice'
Amal al-Malki, a Qatari author, says the Arab Spring has failed women in their struggle for equality.

Olympic Outrage at Saudi Ban on Women Athletes

THE OBSERVER: Ex-Olympics minister Tessa Jowell voices anger after report reveals discrimination against women in sport

Saudi Arabia has been accused of breaching the spirit of the Olympic movement by discriminating against women in sport and failing to bring a female team to the 2012 London Games.

Tessa Jowell, the former culture secretary and Olympics minister – who is now a member of the Olympic Board – said the Saudis were "clearly breaking the spirit of the Olympic Charter's pledge to equality" with their attitude to women in sport and the Games.

The Saudi government, which closed private gyms for women in 2009 and 2010 and severely limits their ability to undertake physical activity, is under mounting international pressure to adopt a more liberal approach.

Jowell spoke out after a report by Human Rights Watch highlighted the way in which Saudi Arabian women and girls are denied the right to sport.

The report found that, despite pledges to open up more sporting opportunity to women, "the Saudi government continues to flagrantly deny women and girls their right to practise physical education in schools and to practise recreational and competitive sport more generally".

Based on telephone interviews with Saudi women, the report says that, having introduced schooling for girls in the early 1960s, the country "never added physical education classes to the girls' curriculum".

Those fighting for change have faced opposition at every turn. "Opponents of sports for women and girls put forward the 'slippery slope' argument that, once women start to exercise, they will shed modest clothing, spend 'unnecessary' time out of the house and have increased possibilities for mingling with men," the report says.

"Others propose endless conditions for women and girls practising sport (for example that they must wear modest clothing and engage in sports away from the prying eyes of men)." » | Toby Helm | Saturday, February 25, 2012

Restrictions on Women in Saudi Arabia
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A woman has been arrested in Saudi Arabia for driving a car, an activity that is restricted to men only.

There are several limitations on what a woman can do in the conservative Muslim country: » | Monday, May 23, 2011

The Saudi Women Taking Small Steps for Change
BBC – NEWSNIGHT: Before I flew to the Saudi capital Riyadh to make a film about the position of women in the kingdom, I met a Saudi woman studying in the UK who told me, "Saudi Arabia is the biggest women's prison in the world".

Can I quote you? I asked. "You can quote me," she said, "but you can't name me."

I heard that same sentiment and request to remain anonymous repeated during my 10-day stay in the kingdom.

Few dare criticise the 
country openly, though the restrictions on women are scarcely believable in the 21st Century. A woman can't drive and she is not allowed to work or travel without the permission of her male guardian, father or husband.

Customs such as arranged marriages, under-age marriage and polygamy still prevail.

Workplace revolution

The on-going battles to bring about change tend to be small ones.

Twenty-year-old Dina, with her heavily kohl-rimmed eyes and diamante cuffs on her abaya (the burka of Saudi Arabia), is a revolutionary in the workplace. She sits in the Jeddah studio at Radio Mix FM with a man.

Up until a few years ago, men and women were not allowed to work in the same room and broadcast journalism has so far proved one of the very few exceptions.

But, beyond that, Dina's message is hardly revolutionary. She acts as a kind of agony aunt for the station's young audience.

A 17-year-old girl sends in an e-mail complaining of boredom. Dina tells her to take up a hobby like painting or photography which, because an unaccompanied girl is not allowed to leave the house, she will have to do at home.

If an 18-year-old wrote in asking how to meet a member of the opposite sex, Dina says she would respond by saying, "It is not possible and [you] must accept it - it is our culture".

At the end of her shift, her boss accompanies her down on to the street and waits until her brother's car pulls up to collect her.

"You present your own radio show and yet you can't drive?" I asked. "It's normal," she said, and closed the car door.

She has to watch what she says. The radio station receives angry calls from the country's religious conservatives who are appalled that women like her are allowed to sit in the same room as an unrelated man.

Any false step or unguarded remark could see the station closed. (+ video) » | Sue Lloyd-Roberts, BBC Newsnight | Monday, March 28, 2011

Women, Art and Revolution in Saudi Arabia

Women of the Revolution Discussion
Tina Brown, Dr. Nawal El Saadwi, Zainab Salbi and Sussan Tahmasebi

THE TIMES: The voice of Britain’s most feminist Muslim: ‘In other countries women are fighting to take off the veil’ » | Stefanie Marsh | Monday, March 21, 2011 [£]

On a Visit to Saudi Arabia, Doing What the Saudis Do
THE NEW YORK TIMES: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” is a maxim derived from advice that St. Ambrose is said to have offered to St. Augustine in the late 4th century.

It’s still a pretty good idea, which would partly explain why Karen Post said she went shopping not long ago for an abaya, the robelike dress worn by some Muslim women. Ms. Post, who is a branding consultant, was headed for Saudi Arabia on a business trip.

“Online, I found a company that sells Islamic clothing,” she said. “For like $49, I found a really nice black abaya that fit perfectly.”

Late last month, she flew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to give a talk on branding to about 400 executives and marketing employees with Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Now, doing as the Romans do is one thing. Doing as the Saudis do, especially for a woman, is something else.

A State Department travel warning advises American citizens to take precautions in the country, where laws against alcohol and even playing music in public are strictly enforced. Women are especially restricted. State Department guidelines note, for example, that the religious police can “pressure women to wear” the full-length black covering known as an abaya, “and to cover their heads.” Women can’t drive in the country and are strongly advised not to appear in public without an approved male escort.

Nevertheless, Western female business travelers do venture these days into Saudi Arabia. Like Ms. Post, they make it a point to learn the drill. » | Joe Sharkey | Monday, March 14, 2011

Web Extra: For the Love of the Leader - Libya
Moammar Gadhafi and the female bodyguards who protect the "Mad Dog" of Tripoli are interviewed. Produced by Jane Kokan, freelance reporter and documentary producer based in Vancouver

Photo of Saudi King with Women Could Lead to Reform
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A photograph of the king of Saudi Arabia surrounded by a large group of professional women may mark a breakthrough in the country's society and politics.

The photograph shows King Abdullah and his brother and heir apparent, Crown Prince Sultan, alongside 40 women dressed in abayas. Photograph: The Telegraph
The photograph, showing King Abdullah and his brother and heir apparent, Crown Prince Sultan, alongside 40 women dressed in abayas appeared with little explanation in several newspapers with close ties to the royal family.

The women were described as participants in a "National Dialogue Forum on Society and Health Services".

But the real importance of the picture was its timing. The country is in the middle of a major debate about the future of rules previously strictly enforced by the religious police banning the sexes mixing in public.

The royal family is already believed to have intervened in the argument once.

When the head of the religious police in Mecca gave interviews saying he saw nothing in Shariah outlawing mixing, he was sacked. Two hours later he was reinstated, after, it was rumoured, the direct intervention of a ruling prince.

The photograph of the king "mixing" unabashedly with a group of smiling professional women is all the more important because of two extra pieces of symbolism.

The presence of the crown prince suggests that the king's promotion of the rights of women has the backing of the royal family and is likely to continue after his death.

The king, who is 85, last year opened a science university in his name where mixing is specifically permitted, and appointed the country's first woman minister. >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Sunday, May 02, 2010

Number of Saudi Women Runaways Up
ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH – The numbers of Saudi women running away from their homes is increasing according to studies done by the International Muslim Organization for Women and Family (IMOWF) in Jeddah.

Khalid Bahaziq, who has a Ph.D in psychology and works for the IMOWF, said police do not provide statistics on runaway girls, citing confidentiality, so the organization's estimates are drawn from the number of cases that have been brought to it.

“We had to depend on individual cases that we have received since 2005,” said Bahaziq. “We used to receive one case a month and now we are receiving more than 10 a month.”

Bahaziq said that while Saudi runaway girls may have legitimate reasons for feeling the need to escape, they make their situation worse by fleeing on their own.

“They don't plan their next step, so they end up going to the dark side of the world,” he said. “Some sell their bodies to provide food and shelter. Others deal drugs.” >>> Rima Al-Mukhtar, Arab News | Sunday, April 18, 2010

Rumblings of Discontent in the Kingdom: Saudi Women Start Agitating for More Rights

Photocourtesy of the BBC

KUWAIT TIMES: More and more Saudi women are speaking out against preachers in their country. Fatma Al-Faqih, a columnist at the daily Saudi Al-Watan accuses preachers (April 17) of "denigrating women" and "inciting discrimination against women." "Day in day out, our preachers flood us with accusations against women and beg men to defend the virtues of society that women corrupt," Al-Faqih writes. This "anti-woman culture", Al-Faqih continues, causes women to feel mentally and psychologically inferior, "like a quarrelsome child who must be constantly supervised, intimidated, and punished into performing her duties." Anti-woman culture (more) By Dr Sami Alrabaa

Mark Alexander

Muslim women (Muslimatoon) hold conference in Haifa on their lives as lesbians

Photo courtesy of HAARETZ

HAARETZ: The first conference of Israeli Arab lesbians was held Wednesday in Haifa by the organization Asawat ("Voices").

The discussions dealt with homosexuality in the Arab public and the so-called "triple discrimination" of being women, lesbian and Arab in Israel.

News released in the past two weeks of plans to hold the conference aroused bitter opposition in the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, members of which demonstrated Wednesday outside of the Haifa auditorium where the conference was planned.

At the conference, participants discussed the difficulties faced by Arab lesbians in dealing with their identities and coming out of the closet. First Israeli-Arab conference of lesbians convened in Haifa

Mark Alexander