Saudi Clerics Hit More Rights for Women

[Pert_UK]

"RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Prominent Saudi clerics and academics warned Wednesday against calls for equality and increased rights for women, saying such efforts aim to make Muslim women more like ``infidel'' Western types.

Efforts to give women greater rights are part of an anti-Islamic campaign spearheaded by the United States, said 130 Saudi sheiks and academics in a statement obtained by The Associated Press Wednesday.

Women in Saudi Arabia are segregated in public places, they cannot drive cars, and they must be covered from head to toe in public in this strict conservative society...

``Any calls for absolute equality is an illegal and illogical call,'' the statement said. It said allowing women to drive, a repeated request in the kingdom, would lead to ``many evils.'' "

Full article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3132970,00.html

Here's a problem for you - the US, arguably, would like societies like Saudi Arabia to embrace more equality for women. However, societies like Saudi Arabia hate Bush so much that they will actively fight against any measures that even look like they're aligned with US wishes.....I'm not saying that Muslim countries would automatically grant equality to all their population if it weren't for Bush, but it's very easy for hardliners to object to progress by painting it as the interference from the West.

[Nottingham]

1. How about letting them VOTE!

:bounce:

[sasquatch]

2. Sorry there isn't any democracy in Saudi Arabia

That would be to risky for Bush's Oil Buddys.

[flamingyouth]

3. Or DRIVE!

Crazy concept for them, I know!

[Shanty Oilish]

4. Arabian women were oppressed before there was any West

And they're not resisting equality because of the West.

[Pert_UK]

6. I know + that's not what I said........

I meant that it's an easy (and arguably popular) way of rejecting equality if you can paint it as being the goal of your enemy.

That's not WHY they won't do it, but it's a good excuse which means that they look like they're rejecting Western imperialism.

[JCMach1]

5. Most women in the UAE embrace the 'Gulf' traditions

and at the same time fully participate in most of the same rights women have in the West.

Traditions and freedom can walk hand-in-hand, the Saudis just haven't figured that out yet.

[DesignGirl]

7. Women in Iraq

Before we invaded Iraq, the women there had more rights than most Muslim countries. I remember seeing a program on "Worldlink TV" some time ago.

[emad]

8. There are nearly 3 million unemployed Saudis at the moment,

mostly relatives of the royal Bin AbdulAziz clan, whose head is King Fahd, an ailing, aged conservative nutter who has bribed his kith and kin with mega handouts from Saudi oil revenues that are considered his personal property. The country is a theocratic dictatorship employing massive foreign labour at pittance wages, mainly from the Indian sub-continent, to work in the service sector and as menials tending to Saudi nationals' whims.
Saudi women are treated very much like women in the US State of Utah - brainwashed from birth into believing they have inferior religious and human status - and therefore life expectations - condemned to participating in state sponsored adultery - ok they call it polygamy - and prevented from having any public voice.

Like Mormonism, fundamental Islam relies on perpetrating male myths of female worthlessness in order to justify abuse and cover up denial. Young males who might be tempted to stray off-message are promised handouts in the afterlife as a means of controlling any challenge to the status quo - and therefore any collusion with female protest.

Saudi is a time bomb waiting to explode. Utah is more back yard, but has no oil, so I guess no one is going to do much by way of women's rights in either place.....

[JPace]

9. Even U.S. female troops..

were made to wear the traditional
(cover everything) clothing when
they went out into the public.
There have been lawsuits over it.
So much for our government supporting
womens rights when it comes to choosing
between that and Saudi oil!

[prolesunited]

10. Interesting how don't hear

very much about this abuse — and sorry if someone is offended by this harsh term, but repression is a form of abuse IMHO — of women in Saudi Arabia in light of the fact that they used it as a selling point in Afghanistan. Well, actually, I'm not surprised. More hypocrisy from the right.