Talwar, I. (2015). Saudi Women Take to the Political Arena – Even if It Means Sitting in the Back Seat. Solutions 6(5): 20–23. https://thesolutionsjournal.com/2015/5/saudi-women-take-to-the-political-arena-even-if-it-means-sitting-in-the-back-seat
Perspectives Saudi Women Take to the Political Arena—Even if It Means Sitting in the Back Seat by Ilina Talwar
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his December, Saudi Arabia will have its third round of elections in the history of its Kingdom and the first where women will be allowed to participate. Hundreds of thousands of Saudis are expected to flock to the polls, along with dozens of candidates and a flurry of international media, but only a few of these will be women. Women in Saudi Arabia face many obstacles, but merely getting to the polls in a country that forbids them from driving is their biggest challenge. Earlier this year, Wall Street Journal reporter Ahmed Al Omran voiced his frustrations on Twitter as he urged ride-share apps like Careem and Uber to provide free services for women to the polling booths.1 A few hours after his initial post, Careem promptly responded, saying, “boom, we’ll do it,” and just like that, what had started as an innocent comment on Twitter became a national campaign for women’s rights. Careem made their official announcement later that day, tweeting “Because #yourvoicemakesadifference, we will help you make a difference. For women, trips will be free to the election polls.”1 In Saudi Arabia, 80 percent of ride-share app customers are women. Restricted by laws governing their freedom, car services like Careem give Saudi women some independence and autonomy. Saudi has a long history of limiting civil rights. While other Arab nations underwent a limited process of democratization in the 1980s and 1990s by introducing liberal reforms to their legislature, Saudi Arabia lagged behind in granting such political freedoms.2
Ultimately, in 2005, citizens were given the right to vote under the rule of King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Following a policy of appeasement, he hoped to curb the increasing dissent over the lack of participation in the political arena. In this authoritarian regime, the municipal elections symbolized an ‘exercise in democracy’ that helped further the State’s agenda to portray Saudi Arabia as a progressive and liberalized civic society instead of a “closed and secretive society that fosters Islamic extremism” in a post 9/11 world.2
Contemporaneously, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud granted women the right to vote by a royal decree and included women in his Shura council. In a speech to the advisory board, speaking on behalf of the ulama (clerics) as well as political officials, he announced the inclusion of women in the following elections. “Because we refuse to marginalize women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama and others...to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from the next term.”4
The Baladi campaign, run by a group of pioneering Saudi female activists, rallied the masses in taking a strong stand against the exclusion of women.
However, failing to achieve this, coupled with a decision to exclude women—a clear reflection of pluralism and lack of separation between politics and religion in the state—Saudi’s image deteriorated even further. The next elections scheduled for October 30, 2009, didn’t take place until September 2011. The delay was allegedly to “expand the electorate and study the possibility of allowing women to vote” according to officials. Nonetheless, in 2011 the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs stated that women would not be allowed to participate “because of the kingdom’s social customs.”3
20 | Solutions | September-October 2015 | www.thesolutionsjournal.org
The ulama’s sudden change in stance could be attributed to mounting political pressures placed by King Abdullah, who grew wary of the fragile internal and external dynamics at the time. Inside the state, activists demanded that all 178 seats be elected through a democratic process. Furthermore, the Baladi campaign, run by a group of pioneering Saudi female activists, rallied the masses in taking a strong stand against the exclusion of women. Outside the state, revolutionaries overthrew regime after regime, toppling ruthless dictators and gaining freedom for their country. Fearing Eisenhower’s Domino Theory, King Abdullah made