Saudi Arabia Shuns Women Once More

Will Hillary Clinton dare notice this disregard for women?

Recently American Secretary of State Clinton visited Egypt and Tunisia to offer advice on their democratic transitions. Clinton, or so we're told, has been seeking to use her status and vested influence to promote women leaders around the world and wanted to press her opinion, all well and good, that women be appropriately included in the transition process. “The United States will stand firmly for the proposition that women must be included in whatever process goes forward. No government can succeed if it excludes half of its people from important decisions," she stated at the time.

women in riyadh 11 QHveh 19672

From Cairo and Tunis, thanks for the advice. But as I wrote at the time: All well and good, but does she not recognize the absurdity of pressuring Egypt and Tunisia, both nations which already have established some measure of women’s right and the latter commensurate with Western nations, while not saying anything about Saudi Arabia?

The problem with American foreign policy is that its spokespersons adopt lofty principles and then shrewd politic...in the same region and then expect nobody to notice. Any feminist declarations from a government that considers Saudi Arabia to be a close and eternal ally are palpable empty and simply asinine.

Clinton wants to ensure a representative political role for women in Egypt and Tunisia, but in Saudi Arabia there is hardly a word about this recent news: "The head of the electoral committee charged with preparing for next month's municipal polls said the kingdom was not ready to allow women to vote."

Saudi Arabia established municipal councils back in 2005. Elections where held then where women could neither stand as candidates or vote. Half of the council seats are appointed by the regional emir, anyway. And they are not legislative bodies with any power, but termed "Shura Councils" or "Consultative Councils" which are there to offer meek words on policy issues while lacking any authority to even get a snot royal to listen let alone act. It is no different that the tribal channels that existed before and subject to House of Saud ukases. Simply put, they are more of a sham than the puppet parliaments of Banana Republics. There were only established to appease then U.S. pressure for some democratic cleft. The Saudi royals set them up but the people were not followed. Turnout was a no more than 20%. So Saudi Arabia held its first ever election where only one-half of the population could vote and only one-fifth of that half bothered to show up because they knew that these were hollow chambers and half of those standing idle were appointed by Saudi royals, to boot.

These silly and futile councils were supposed to be up for reelection in 2009, but the Saudi royals simply decreed a mandate extension. But in the face of democratic upheaval the royals are keen to raise new standards in empty gestures to appease a increasingly restless populace. So the council seats will finally have a new election later this Spring. But the prohibition on women remains. But where is Feminist Clinton to decry that this democratic process, forgot about not doing enough to represent women, explicitly denies women any role?

Is this not more offensive than the interim cabinets in Tunisia and Egypt with too few women officials? At least there are some, at least they'll be able to run for office, and at least they can vote. And this is a transition process. There is no bar for women in Tunisia and Egypt that they cannot work to overcome. But Saudi Arabia? There is the royal and Wahhabi boots on the necks of women.

Forgot about a vote, most Saudi women would be happy simply to be allowed to drive. But Clinton would dare not take up their cause. It is this blatant hypocrisy that ensures that America has no credibility in the region when selective support for human rights, and especially when emphasizing the rights of women.

Saudi Arabia said that women will vote next time. When that next time will be? To give you an idea, these councils were themselves first announced in the 1950s. So things move slow. Women cannot even turn on the ignition let alone cast a ballot. Next time ... my sandy ass.