In the Middle East, the issue of women’s rights is increasingly taking hold in public discourse and, according to The Economist, there is some tangible progress being made. Most prominently, in Saudi Arabia, a country with some of the must discriminatory gender practices, the monarchy is beginning to seriously reconsider its treatment of women.
Laws forbidding violence against women are now being drafted. Women are now allowed to stay in hotels unaccompanied. The government has given initial approval for the establishment of the first Saudi women’s rights body. And the first women’s football match was played in the eastern province earlier this month, with men excluded from the stadium entirely. There are even suggestions that an infamous ban on women drivers may be lifted later this year. Such improvements are slight, but welcome. And they reflect marginal improvements elsewhere in the Middle East.
As the region’s most conservative state, Saudi reforms are prompting changes beyond its borders as well. In Kuwait and Qatar, for example, over half of college students are now women and large numbers are also active participants in the workforce. Meanwhile, women can vote in nearly all Arab countries. These are substantial changes from a few years ago, and the trend provides a reason for optimism.
The most interesting question, of course, is what is causing this transformation. Is it international actors? Domestic players? Or something else entirely? The Economist, for its part, argues that while international and domestic pressure has certainly played a role, the rise of “businesswomen” is also a noteworthy force for change.
The presence of powerful businesswomen—still a rare breed—in some of these groups helps get them heard. Businesswomen are often from privileged backgrounds and rise through family businesses. But their emergence reflects a broader trend of growing participation by women in the formal economy over the past 15 years.
It’s an interesting idea, although not particularly convincing. To get some more concrete answers, I got in touch with John Burgess, a former Saudi-based Foreign Service Officer and the editor-in-chief of Crossroads Arabia. As expected, he had some interesting things to add. In his email, he highlighted the influence of Arab and international media outlets and the fact that their coverage of women’s rights violations is resulting in greater empowerment – and a degree of protection – for those who dare to protest.
With the considerable loosening of bonds over the last decade, more local audiences get energized over stories they wouldn’t have heard of under earlier dispensations. The people start taking notice and realize that particular abuses are not unique to them, that the whole country and region have the same problems. And then they start militating for change on the local and national level.
…[In addition,] global media means that small stories become known to the world. But outside reaction to those small stories–as in the case of the Qatif Girl, which had been covered in local Saudi media for years–also becomes global. Instead of one Saudi embassy getting letters and calls, all Saudi embassies get them.
As Burgess alludes to, the facts surrounding the case of the Qatif Girl — subject of a brutal gang rape in Saudi Arabia and subsequently sentenced in court to 90 lashes for “being alone with a man” — support the notion that the media is playing a very important role in curbing women’s rights abuses. In the midst of the controversy, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation ran a highly-anticipated interview between the woman’s lawyer and a Saudi Ministry of Justice consultant. The report was widely viewed in Saudi Arabia, as well as in the rest of the Arab world, and helped to broadly publicize the case.
Numerous articles in regional and international press outlets followed up the LBC report, calling the case an illustration of the backwards nature of the Saudi state and shaming the country’s hard-line leadership. Human Rights Watch and the State Department issued condemnations, as did presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Under tremendous pressure, and with his country’s reputation badly tarnished, King Abdullah ultimately decided to weigh in and issue an unprecedented royal pardon. The outcome was a huge victory for women’s rights, and a sign that opinions about a woman’s place are beginning to change even in traditionally-conservative countries like Saudi Arabia.