Job Discussion Forums

[Cleopatra]

[veiledsentiments]

[sheikh radlinrol]

Dear Cleoptra
Nowhere did I use the word ''plight'' to refer to Saudi women being unable to drive. Nor did I say it was a major injustice and I certainly didn't suggest that not being able to drive was comparable to what people suffer in places such as North Korea or Zimbabwe.

[trapezius]

Cleopatra, it is intellectually dishonest to ask people if they have ever talked to a Saudi woman or not before they earn the right to stick up for them.

Let me ask you this: How many disadvantaged Saudi women have you talked to? How many Saudi women from tiny tiny villages have you talked to? How many Saudi women have you talked to who are not allowed to work, marry or travel by their greedy "mahrams"?

ZERO.

And only because you don't have access to such women. So what if the women at the universities you have worked at don't view themselves as "victims"? Those are arguably the privileged ones. They can study, go to cafes, have a driver, go shopping, etc.

Then again, those aren't the women we are sticking up for.

The ones which DO matter, neither you, nor us, have acess to them to talk to them. I would love to go talk to these women, but I don't want to end up in jail.

But thankfully, Arab News does the job for us by interviewing these women who:

1) Are prevented from getting married by their fathers/brothers because these male relatives would lose access to the women's salaries. Or they are prevented because the women's chosen potential partners are from another tribe/social class.

2) Are divorced for no reason at all, even without them being informed.

3) Lose access to their small children after divorce. Even if the court grants them visitation rights, those rights are never enforced, and the *beep* ex-husbands withold access.

4) Are prevented from travelling abroad to study on a government scholarship because they are not married (they don't need to be married per se; they just have to have a male relative travel and live with them!).

5) Are held hostage by medically insane or drunkard/gambling/druggie fathers/brothers/uncles who prevent them from marrying, studying, or going outside the house. Some of these women are beaten or abused. And when the police is called on them and arrive at the door, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, the police can't do anything, because when the police knock on the door, the man refuses to answer the door and the women answer, and in this country, apparently the police can't come in to investigate unless the man answers the door! Even if the women are being beatn inside and that is known for a fact!

How many more such cases/ills you want? Read Arab News, the local page, and you will see hundred of such cases reported every year, which means thousands upon thousands go unreported.