New Delhi
21 January 2006
When Dr Afaf Jamil Khogeer, associate professor of English literature at Umm Al-Qura
University in Makkah Al-Mukarramah (or Mecca, as it is popularly known) rose to speak
on issues considered taboo in Saudi Arabia, she shattered many a stereotype about
Saudi society in general and women in particular.
Although the largely male gathering which had assembled for the "National Dialogue"
was not condescending, the millions who watched it live on national television were not
quite prepared for what they heard. "Did you really say that? I was asked. People
couldn't believe it," she recalls.
In that singular act of standing up for herself, the world may have seen the Saudi woman
turn a corner.
For Dr Afaf, who studied in the United States, women's empowerment is not about
mundane issues. "The Hijab is not an issue, whether women are allowed to drive or not
is also not an issue. Those are not obstacles in women's progress," she says. The
Saudi woman, she believes, is playing for higher stakes like freedom, choice and
opportunity.
Fatin Yousef Bundagji can't agree more. She and six other women did something
extraordinary when they decided to run for the municipal election in 2003. Women
contesting an election is Haraam in Islam, they were told. "We decided to justify our
presence nevertheless," she recalls.
In India as part of a delegation comprising members of Saudi civil society, Ms Fatin
does not rue that they did not get elected; instead, she is proud that she and the six
other women succeeded in getting the government to agree to women's participation in
the 2009 election.
"That," she says referring to their collective courage, "was the critical tipping point." Ms
Fatin is the director of women empowerment and research department at the Jeddah
Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She has helped 150-odd women set up their own
home-based businesses.
"Economic empowerment of women through employment and business creation, access
to the same choices and opportunities as men ... that is needed. There has been
resistance from scholars, so change needs to be brought about as subtly and gradually
as we can," says Ms Fatin. She is willing to wait.
Besides becoming entrepreneurs, many women have taken to art and design in a big
way and some like Nabila Al Bassam run an art gallery. An artist and designer, Ms
Nabila was born in Pune and has studied in Mumbai. She is a founding member of a
businesswomen's group.
Ms Nimah Ismail Nawwab's is an "English" writer, poet and photographer. She delivers
lectures internationally and edits a magazine. Unlike Nabila Al Bassam or Fatin Yousef
Bundagji, she grew up in Saudi Arabia. ("Growing up in Saudi Arabia was wonderful," she
wants you to know.)
The first Saudi woman poet to be published in the United States, Mr Nimah's poetry has
been translated into numerous languages and taught at schools and colleges in Saudi
Arabia, the United States and Japan. She has written a book, The Unfurling, and is
currently working on two anthologyies on women and youth.
However, this mother of two teenaged children chooses to describe herself as a person
who is in the business of documenting change. "There is so much change happening in
my country [that] there is a need for recording this change. I document the change [in my
work,]" she observes.
She agrees a licence to drive is not the main issue. She will concede Saudi Arabia are
Qatar are two countries where women still need to be chauffered but she assures you it
is employment, poverty and the population of the aged (and the aging) that are at the
core of the debate on women's issues.
Having progressive women in the Royal family has helped but, as she and Dr Afaf
explain, the opposition to reform from within women themselves is no less virulent than
the resistance offered by menfolk or scholars. "There are parents who do not want
daughters to drive or work," they say.
There is another issue that is troubling Ms Nimah: Young people and their aspirations.
"Their voice is not being heard," she observes. "Kids are global and politically-minded;
they have internet, technology; they watch MTV and satellite television," she adds for
that reason, welcomes the recent idea of hosting a "Youth Forum".
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