For the first time in modern history, women will have the right to vote in Saudi Arabia. This development was announced in a speech on state television yesterday by Saudi ruler, King Abdullah. Women will also be permitted to run for office in municipal elections, King Abdullah said. “We refuse to marginalize the role of women in Saudi society in every field of work, Women have the right to submit their candidacy for municipal council membership and have the right to take part in submitting candidates in accordance with Shariah.” These changes will go into effect during the elections of 2015, a full four years from today.
Saudi Arabia enforces a strict policy of gender segregation in many areas of public life, including schools, public transit, and some types of employment. Saudi treatment of women has long been a subject of strong criticism from both the “western” and “eastern” worlds, particularly given the Saudi judicial system’s history of gruesome punishments for women who challenge or offend the patriarchal structures of the current establishment.
Whether suffrage alone will prove a significant step forward for women under a government where other elementary rights (such as the right to drive a car, or travel abroad without male permission) are not secure, remains to be seen.
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First women’s suffrage, then freedom to drive, travel, etc. It’s a step in the right direction, rejoice!!
Though of course elections are largely meaningless in autocratic Saudi Arabia, and there’s a strong argument to be made that the ability to drive has a much greater practical impact on a person’s life than the right to participate in sham elections. I might be cynical, but I only see this as nervous hedging on the part of Saudi autocrats rather than actual reform.