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gregory999
Joined: 29 Jul 2015
Posts: 372
Location: 999
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 Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:31 pm Post subject: Saudi Arabia's women vote in election for first time |
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Saudi Arabia's women vote in election for first time
"Women in Saudi Arabia have cast their first votes in the country's history, in municipal elections.
Women were also standing as candidates, another first, despite the conservative kingdom being the only nation where women are not allowed to drive.
A total of 978 women have registered as candidates, alongside 5,938 men.
Female candidates have had to speak behind a partition while campaigning or be represented by a man. Turnout was high, state media reported.
Quiz: Life as a woman in Saudi Arabia
"About 130,000 women registered to vote, officials said. That figure still falls well short of male voter registration, which stands at 1.35 million. "
Salma al-Rashed was the first woman to register to vote. "It felt really good," she told the BBC. "Change is a big word but the election is the way to make sure we are really represented."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35075702 |
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BajaLaJaula
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 267
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| Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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Don't get your hopes up for any change....
This is purely symbolic...it is not like elected officials have any power to pass laws without the royal Mafia.
Allow them to drive and the choice of whether or not to cover their hair.....there is a long list of much needed reforms that would actually make a difference...this not one of them.
Yet...let us pretend for a minute.....Hooray....you go Girl! |
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pooroldedgar
Joined: 07 Oct 2010
Posts: 181
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| Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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I don't share your belief that this is purely symbolic. Or I guess I don't share your belief that symbolism isn't real.
This strikes me as a step towards progress. A baby step. But a step nonetheless. |
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BajaLaJaula
Joined: 25 Jan 2007
Posts: 267
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| Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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Edgar,
You are probably right that there will be some progress eventually...but I doubt that it will be any time soon.
I am usually a glass half full type of person...but I have been hearing about women getting the right the drive in Saudi for the past 20 years....and yet, still...nothing has changed.
I hope for their sake...that I am wrong...and that some real changes take place there soon. |
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plumpy nut
Joined: 12 Mar 2011
Posts: 1652
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| Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:15 pm Post subject: |
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| It would need to have an effect on the education in Saudi Arabia for it to do any good. If the smart women that get elected can institute reforms because not all of us want to dress like nuns and not all of us feel like we should be owned by our male family members then maybe the KSA will progress. I think the women's role will have to be persuasive, because I don't think there is any legislative role for anyone in the KSA. Maybe women will as time goes on be able to be more outspoken in the educational institutions (that is if there is any). As it is now I think most women in Saudi Arabia think there position in society at the moment is the correct one. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 9:10 pm Post subject: |
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| I used to meet Saudi women who were doing IELTS exams. Some remarkable people. There is a huge potential there. |
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gregory999
Joined: 29 Jul 2015
Posts: 372
Location: 999
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| Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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| plumpy nut wrote: |
| It would need to have an effect on the education in Saudi Arabia for it to do any good. If the smart women that get elected can institute reforms because not all of us want to dress like nuns and not all of us feel like we should be owned by our male family members then maybe the KSA will progress. I think the women's role will have to be persuasive, because I don't think there is any legislative role for anyone in the KSA. Maybe women will as time goes on be able to be more outspoken in the educational institutions (that is if there is any). As it is now I think most women in Saudi Arabia think there position in society at the moment is the correct one. |
Why do you want to impose your values on the Magic Kingdom's culture?
Why don't you leave the women of the Magic Kingdom alone, unspoiled by the Western cultural baggage that will ruin their culture and their way of life?
This is a reflection of wrong of ethnocentrism. |
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pooroldedgar
Joined: 07 Oct 2010
Posts: 181
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| Posted: Sat Dec 12, 2015 11:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Scot47, this was outside of KSA presumably? |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Sun Dec 13, 2015 9:35 am Post subject: |
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| In Khobar and Jeddah. A few were veiled. Most were not. |
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veiledsentiments
Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA
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sicklyman
Joined: 02 Feb 2013
Posts: 930
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| Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2015 9:22 am Post subject: |
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| pooroldedgar wrote: |
| Scot47, this was outside of KSA presumably? |
Doing IELTS examining in Dammam, I was always blown away by the fact that not only was I allowed to be in a room privately with an unrelated, unveiled Saudi woman whose face and eyes I had to focus on to rate her English, but that I was being paid for it too.
One of the stranger cultural experiences I've had... and I had it a lot in the two years I did IELTS there. |
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