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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > SAUDI WOMEN GET RIGHT TO VOTE FOR WHOEVER THEIR HUSBANDS TELL THEM TO VOTE FOR
SAUDI WOMEN GET RIGHT TO VOTE FOR WHOEVER THEIR HUSBANDS TELL THEM TO VOTE FOR
September 26 2011
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – There is no doubt, none whatsoever, that the suffrage movement across the world has changed the face of the globe. A hundred years ago, there were no women elected to leadership roles, but there are today. Add in the sheer increase in the number of votes and there is little doubt, though the results would be incalculable, that many leaders across the world simply wouldn’t have been without those extra ballots.
Of course, that movement hasn’t taken off all over the world. There are a number of nations that still will not allow women to vote, never mind actually run for office. Saudi Arabia, yes that Saudi Arabia, is no longer one of them.
King Abdullah announced a sweeping change for his country on Sunday, stating that all women across the country will now have the ability to run for office and even vote following the municipal polls this Thursday. That change will undoubtedly mark a dramatic shift in the nature of Saudi politics, though the specification that women will only be able to vote for whom their husbands dictate may moot that just a little bit.
“Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior clerics and others decided to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from next term,” the King said in a speech. “Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote.”
It’s believed very unlikely that any women will actually gain office, unless of course the husbands of voters decide that is to be the case.
Activist groups had been pushing for such changes for more than twenty years, and many are very happy with the success and even the limitations of the effort.
“This is a great day for the women and the country of Saudi Arabia. This a long time that we have been doing this, that we have been advocating this, and now the day has finally arrived. We are very pleased with these results, and even more pleased that our husbands are happy that it has happened,” said one advocate who was told to remain nameless. “This is a brand new day for the people of this country and one we will not soon forget. Now we will be able to further the causes of the country and be able to accompany our husbands when they go to the polls, which has long been our dream. This is a great victory.”
Women will be forced to use separate polling stations from men.
“Now it is time to change the country. Women have begun to drive and some have even begun to decide what to cook for dinner. This is a great period for the women of Saudi Arabia and that will make us all much happier wives for our husbands,” said another advocate. “It makes us very happy to have this day and to be able to further the cause of women in this country. Now we will be much happier and that will make our husbands much happier and that is a great thing.”
The women we spoke to had permission.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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