"Once a harlot came upon a dog dying of thirst. Without a second thought she took off her leather sock, tied it to her veil, got water from a well nearby, and saved the animal's life. For that one act of kindness she was absolved of all her ill deeds. Indeed every deed of kindness toward living beings shall be rewarded." The Prophet Muhammad, as reported by Abu Hurairah
The other day I was going through one of those "laha" "hiya" "maha" "sama" "whatever arabic woman magazines...The cover catched my eye... first because of the superficial pose the girl had and second by the title " The First Saudi Woman to..."
ok let's take a look back at the last couple of months here in Saudi...There has been some major changes and when I say major i mean M-A-J-O-R..The most important one of course is our new king...Abdulla...He gave a great opportunity for saudi women to be more... hmmmm let's say "out there"... and God knows they weren't asked twice!!!!...BUT it is one thing to be more physically involved in the media and newspapers..It is another to be claimed the first saudi woman to do the " Lotus position"..I mean people that just sounds retarded...
and even if the major she is working in IS a new one...did the statistics actually checked the 22 million citizens (which only half of them are saudis) to know if she is actually the first saudi woman in saudi arabia (cause some of them have major careers abroad) to actually invent, invest, work, create, drive that sort of thing????...probably not...
That might come to some of you as a shock but saudi women do work...and they have been doing so for more than 50 years...in different fields..in different majors..and in different careers...Some of them have offices in different societies or positions in the biggest universities of the world...and some lucky ones have their name published in reviews or journals...But as most middle eastern women they are quite reserved about it which is a positive thing I guess...First of all it gives her a certain feminity...(She is doing all the work..job, house ,children but oh my god how could she manage without her dear amazing hard working husband?;);););)...which of course gives the men a certain ego that preserves their manhood...
and second as strong believers of the evil eye (since a lot of eyes are on us in this particular time)...we don' t want our "brains" suddenly disappearing like in Irak..do we????
The other MAJOR change was the voting for women driving in the country...(I think that was an actual international news..and the west LOVED it!!!!)..I can see them now going like: oh my god!!!! they are suffocating..it is a discrimination.. they are prisonners and dependant on their men...how can they live those poor - miserable-slowly dying -not equal with their partners women ...how could that be???? blablabla..lol...
ok I admit this is a funny one we have two women pilots but no women drivers...although we (the hajiris and other bedouin families drive in the desert all the time)...But the hilarious part is that 60% of the voters against the issue were women...lol...
It actually made me think...deeply...why??? well i guess some of them wanted to be driven around by drivers and not have to pick up chores..park..fill up the tank..change a wheel...get stuck in a traffic... while for others it is a better chance to spend more time with their husbands..he picks her up...puts her down...take her to her sis...then her mom...then her friend...then the kids...then...you got the picture...
hmmmm why not? I mean if it makes her happy...
which reminds me of an incident happening to me with a friend who just got married recently..had to meet her at the hairdresser where she goes three times and a half a week...two times for her hair and one and a half for manicure/pedicure/hammam/fatla/waxing/henna tattou..(yes it is every week...and yes it is very normal for us)....anyway...3 hours later she pops in...
I was in " kill you" mood... had 3 coffees and my hair and make up began to melt..(we had to go to a party together)...The point is I was having a nervous breaking down...
" Where have you been????"...
" on my way habibti (meaning darling).."
" three hours on your way????"
" We got lost Mo did not know the way!"
" why didn't you show him you practically LIVE here!"
" NOOOO WAYYYY!!!" she responded in shock " I made myself I did not know either!"
no comment...
8 comments:
You are absolutely correct. The Saudi media has blown everything out of proportions. It started with a couple of truly admirable women who deserve recognition. Then, when the media realized that this subject sells well, they started to get carried away.
I disagree with the sentence that those women are 'lucky' to have their names published for investing or inventing or whatever. There are tens of articles and documentaries under way every month and they are dying to have more women showing up. The public are 'bored' of the same faces. If you really want, you can published with a snap of a finger. If you are a saudi woman and you are doing anything REMOTELY different than the mainstream, you will find someone wanting to write about you.
I think it is embarrasing to stroke one's ego so blatanly, especially if you are not as impressive as the other women who really deserve recognition.
On the other hand, there is the normal journalism that happens everywhere. For example, if a girl or a group of girls did something interesting like a project or participating in a conference, it is good to say your opinion. This is normal, every newspaper in the world quotes people who participate in any event. The difference is that the media here focuses more attention on THE SAUDI GIRL/S WHO DID x rather on the subject itself. Quite annoying...
Sorry for the long comment, but I just wanted to share my opinion in this subject as well =) Great post!
btw, I didn't get it. What was your friend trying to prove again??? LOL
Women should be given the choice to drive ??
If she wants then she should be allowed too if she doesnt then its her choice. But come on.. i mean no matter what there is just no logic behind no allowing women to drive !!!
I remeber years ago when it was tabboo for women to drive in Qatar. People thought that the fall of society would come at the hands of women driving. Unfortuantly as arabs we worship traditions, we hold our traditions and ways of living to be so sacred that any attempt to break out is seen as good enough reason to be punished...
reminded me of kuwaiti politics, women got their right to vote here and some also ran for ofice, but no one succeeded even though kuwaiti women outnumber men in most areas, why?
well, women just voted against the women candidates and opted for men, its ironic really...
baroque - kuwait's a different issue. One of the major reasons women didn't vote for other women is becuase 6ab6abaei' afta ina women in the parliment is 7aram. So they voted for men even though a few women were good candidates to not contribute to 7aram. Another thing to consider is the fact that it is the first time, everythings shaky, but the results were quiet good. I believe the number of women voters and candidates were good considering the time they had to prepare and to learn about politics. 7atan bilnadwat you can see the good turnout of women. And the third reason/issue is well..prejudice, not voting for someone because of their backrounds.
I guess the issues Kuwait went thru is what every third world country would have to go through in the begning to actually make a difference.
Like Abdulla said, the problem with arabs is that they stick to their tradition too much wether they're logical or not. The scary thing is that the younger generations stick to what the generations before them - they actually embrace it, which makes it hard to make any huge difference in any area.
Nevertheless, things are changing to the better, oo enshalla khair
Sorry for the long comment :P
I am loving this..especially when you people write long post to show exactly how you feel..keep it up love you all x x x x
sunshine: so true...and i think my friend wanted to stroke his ego..lol I guess it worked!!!
abdulla: Its true there is no meaning behind it... but being in qatar a couple of months ago..some families still consider driving for their girls smth shameful..
baroque: followed the debate from the beginning..there was some amazing candidates..I guess the voters were more shallow in their reasons for voting..too bad maybe next time?
dishevelled: the new generations still stick to old principles because they are educated that way..although there are a lot of changes going on..."and there was light" lol..
nameis: the lebanese issue right now is the joke of the century..regardless of the prisoners..the only dead we see are women and children..I don't consider it a war but pure terror..maybe hollocoast part II...isn't it ironic don't you think???
well before you drive, make sure you can finish this.
http://www.107.peugeot.co.uk/peugeot.swf
:D
Sunshine said : "The Saudi media has blown everything out of proportions."
As if it's like no other media does the same thing. :p
thank you nameis..for your diplomatic comment..lol..this time you have a comment just for you..keep on reading and remember..enjoy!!!!xxxxx
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