Behind their high-tech veil, Saudi women speak freely

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Since the meeting was all about them, Saudi women were allowed to be heard, but not seen, at a three-day forum this week.

The King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue invited 70 prominent Saudis, half of them women, to the holy city of Medina to discuss the role of women in society.

Men sat in one room, women in another. They shared their views through video conferencing, although the men faced a blank screen in deference to bans on women showing their faces in public.

The forum was covered by state television and by the private Saudi-owned station Al-Arabiya, which focused its cameras on the men as it aired the voices of the women.

One woman criticized rules that keep Saudi women from teaching boys. Another said working women should be allowed to do more than teach. Still others called for more rights for divorced women.

The forum ended Tuesday with vague calls for women to be given more opportunities to participate in public life, and a pointed reminder that their role as wives and mothers was "an essential job."

Still, it was "a good first step," said Nawal al-Rashid, who recently was elected head of the new national press union in Saudi Arabia.

"The importance of the discussions is that they highlighted women's issues and made them part of the public debate," al-Rashid told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

Participants criticized Saudi laws banning women from traveling without a male relative as a chaperone. Others called for laws to be amended so that divorced women don't have to seek their former husbands' permission to, for example, register their child in school.

From the conservative camp, Mohammed al-Arifi, a theologian, ridiculed calls for women to be allowed to drive or appear in public without "covering their heads properly."

The government has indicated it wants change for women, recently approving a plan to create jobs for women and address some of their grievances. Under the plan, the Labor Ministry has been given a year to develop a blueprint for a female work force. The plan also says only women will be able to work in shops catering to women, like lingerie and makeup stores.

On the streets of Riyadh on Wednesday, one resident indicated the forum was headed in the wrong direction.

"The people will resist having satanic values imposed on them," Abdul Rahman said. "How can we let our women drive or lift their veils or mix with men? What is next? Shall we see them one day sitting in a cafe and drinking tea together?"

World and national headlines

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright