Just in case you have ever wondered why women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive in that country, a group of Saudi men recently gave an answer. It formed part of a submission to the UN’s Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.
(If you are really keen, it’s available online.)
“With regards to the issue of driving, in the early stages of Islam, there were no cars, and women rode camels or donkeys, and participated in all walks of life. This was history, and could not be forgotten. The matter was not related to Sharia. However, the problem was not related to the laws of the State, it was a matter for society. When people and the mentality were ready, then women would be allowed to drive cars. Once there was a need for women to drive, then it would be permitted. The Government was worried about women, and this was why those who were responsible were against the idea of women driving cars.”
So:
- We don’t want you to think badly about us. We have not always been against women travelling. They used to do it on camels and donkeys.
- It has, apparently, got nothing to do with Sharia. We wouldn’t want you to think badly about Sharia.
- It isn’t about law, but about attitudes in society.
- When society changes, we will allow it.
- The government cares about women, and for their own good, we want to keep them out of cars.
My own observations:
- If they could ride donkeys in the past, why can’t they drive cars now? Is it about the greater freedom and independence that cars would give them, which would be a threat to male control?
- I don’t know enough about the details, but isn’t part of it to do with Sharia and being in an enclosed space with another person of the opposite gender. After all, it is obvious that any Saudi woman is going to pick up the first available male en route and commit acts of indescribable indecency with him as soon as she is allowed out of the garage. Thank goodness there are laws to stop this happening. (Just in case you don’t get it and want to take the preceding literally, I am being sarcastic here.)
- How will attitudes change unless restrictive practices are relaxed and individuals allowed to do different things. Once people realise that women driving doesn’t lead to Armageddon, then they may change their views on the topic over time.
- If the male government really cared about women it would be doing everything it could to promote their interests, to enhance their liberty, to redress thousands of years of subjugation. Keeping people in a prison of dogma is not real care. Whatever the motives of the gaoler, he is still the gaoler.
- What do the women think about this? Those that have dared to challenge this ruling have been imprisoned.
(Sources: The BBC, New Humanist Blog.)
I note that the report to which you helpfully provide a link ends with the statement “For use of the information media; not an official record“. It is thus difficult to know how accurately it reflects the dialogue between the Commission and the Saudi Delegation.
While the issue of women not being allowed to drive is an easy one to pick out (we in the West seem to be particular obsessed with it), it is only one element among many others, some of which are, to me at any rate, even more troubling.
Give the caution with which I began, I am reluctant to draw any hard and fast conclusions from the report but when I read it, I found alarms bells ringing in my mind on numerous occasions. (e.g. Why are women not allowed to study Geology - because they would have to go on field trips with men? If Guardianship is a mere formality, why does it need to exist at all?)
Ultimately, what is important is less what the Saudi delegates say than what the Saudi government and its various organs do. I may be wrong, but I sensed from the questioning that members of the Commission were not entirely happy with this latter aspect and it seems to me that the delegates were seeking to say “the right thing” rather than to report the actual state of affairs in their country. I emphasise that that is an impression which I readily accept could be wrong.
SilverTiger You wrote: … it seems to me that the delegates were seeking to say “the right thing” rather than to report the actual state of affairs in their country. I agree. I gained exactly the same impression.
You wrote: I note that the report to which you helpfully provide a link ends with the statement “For use of the information media; not an official record“. It is thus difficult to know how accurately it reflects the dialogue between the Commission and the Saudi Delegation. I am presuming that the Saudi’s agreed to the contents of the information to be released to the press, so therefore it presumably reflects what they want the world to think about them, even if that differs slightly or significantly from the presentation to the Committee?