Saudi women can now stay in hotels alone

[uppityperson]

Source: Yahoo

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Women in Saudi Arabia can now stay in a hotel or a furnished apartment without a male guardian, according to a government decision that comes as the country faces increasing criticism for its severe restrictions on women.

The daily Al-Watan, which is deemed close to the Saudi government, reported Monday that the ministry issued a circular to hotels asking them to accept lone women — as long as their information is sent to a local police station. The decision was adopted after a study conducted by the Interior Ministry, the Supreme Commission of Tourism and the religious police authority known as the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Saudi women, under strict Islamic law, suffer severe restrictions on daily life: They are not allowed to be anywhere with an unrelated man, cannot drive, appear before a judge without a male representative, or travel abroad without a male guardian's permission.

The paper interviewed some Saudi women who complained that they had been severely inconvenienced by the rules banning them from staying in the hotels alone. It quoted a woman identified as saying that she once arrived late at night at King Fahd airport on an internal flight and was denied a hotel room because she was alone. Another woman, Fatima Ibrahim, said her son-in-law quarreled with his wife and daughters and threw them out of the house. When they tried to get a hotel room, they were asked to get a permission from the police.

Saudi Arabia has come under intense international criticism, including from its ally, the United States, especially over its treatment of women in the kingdom's legal system. King Abdullah pardoned a rape victim last month after her case sparked international outcry because she had been sentenced to lashes and jail time for being in a car with a a man who was not her relative.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080121/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saudi_women_2

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About time. Next, getting them the ability to drive or travel abroad.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Without a permission slip from their husbands, fathers, brothers, sons,

fathers-in-law, brothers-in-law, male cousins, uncles, etc.?

[uppityperson]

3. Not sure about permission, and must tell local police.

the ministry issued a circular to hotels asking them to accept lone women — as long as their information is sent to a local police station.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[gratuitous]

4. Let freedom reign!

Wow, and the Bush administration is scaling back their foreign policy goals?

[Demeter]

5. I Knew a USAF Fly Boy Who Thought His Daughters Would Be Safe in Saudi Arabia

I heard his wife finally divorced him, and he may have taken the eldest to Saudi Arabia. Pray for all women at any man's mercy or in any man's power. And that includes every female in the USA.

[uppityperson]

7. oh damn, wtf was he thinking?

Of course, taking them there, he will have absolute control over them. Poor kids, poor mom.

[Demeter]

15. He Was Pathologically Afraid of "Drugs", "Sex", and Maybe "Rock n Roll"

The Evangelical infiltration of the Air Force was in full swing in the 80's already.

[struggle4progress]

6. Saudi women's tales horrify UN (18 January)

STEVEN EDWARDS, Canwest News Service
Published: Friday, January 18

... Marking Saudi Arabia's first appearance before the panel, the team seemed oblivious to the fact the testimony flew in the face of internationally declared standards ...

"We can travel on our own. For instance, for me, I have permission from my husband, so I can move freely and go wherever I want." ...

Saudi Arabia ratified the 1979 women's rights treaty that the committee oversees eight years ago - but with the proviso that Islamic Sharia law would prevail if there were conflict between the two ...

"Instead of sending massive delegations to the UN to pretend that Saudi women are not treated like chattel, Riyadh should focus on reforming the kind of discriminatory laws that sentence women rape victims to lashes," <Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based monitoring group UN Watch> added.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=adf94999-f9b1-426f-b86a-35c26e6dcbaa

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. If any country treated a racial minority the way Saudi Arabia treats women

they'd be subjected to worldwide sanctions. But it's "just women," so it's okay. :eyes:

[uppityperson]

9. If you have oil, you can do anything.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Unless you don't show proper respect for the U.S. government and

your name is Chavez.

:evilgrin:

[superconnected]

20. Let's not forget that every country on Earth that supresses womens

rights kills gays.

[Occulus]

11. We need to throw money at research into Bussard's IEC fusion reactor design

$200M to build a working prototype reactor which will generate a net energy output. For those who don't know about this, yes, it does work, and in fact his design is apparently the only one that can work.

It would free us from oil in large part, and we'd eventually be able to tell the Saudis yo go screw themselves- something long overdue.

For more information, Google "Bussard IEC reactor", and go to Google video and search for the phrase "should Google go nuclear"- it's a 1 1/2 hour talk given by Bussard himself prior to his death detailing his fusion reactor design.

I think it's the real deal. "His" lab is reproducing his results, and those results are about as promising as possible, from what I understand.

[YDogg]

12. "as long as their information is sent to a local police station"

whatever.

[shain from kane]

13. I'm betting no HBO or Cinemax. n/t

[CreekDog]

14. Somebody defend their "culture", you know, the same way some defend bullfighting

:hi:

[Stewie]

16. And somewhere Mike Huckabee throws a newspaper down in disgust.

[nonconformist]

18. ....

:spray:

[KansDem]

17. Great! Now they can stay in the hotels while their husbands fly jetliners into US buildings...

As long as they notify the police and as long as it's Iraqi women who are punished!

:sarcasm:

[superconnected]

19. FUCK what a backwards country. How lucky women are now to be

trusted to be alone. It's absurd it's even an issue.

[JBoy]

21. I don't think I could sleep if I was a Saudi woman alone in a hotel room

I'd be afraid some hotel employee would come stone me in my sleep.

[Douglas Carpenter]

22. If I contrasted the first time I was in Saudi Arabia in1986 to the most recent time in Nov of 2007

the changes have been revolutionary - albeit gradual and they still have quite a long ways to go.

21 years ago I recall reading the most prominent local English language newspaper. And frankly it was like a joke. All articles relating to the government or the society itself were filled with nothing but praise. Everything was great and getting better. The local media was only one step above Radio Albania in the outrageousness of its own propaganda.

Now I can pick up the same newspaper and read open although admittedly somewhat restrained criticism of the government and of the society itself - but articles and openness that would have been unimaginable 21 years ago. Opinion pieces by Saudi woman calling for more rights for woman are now in the paper all the time. Articles calling for more openness from the government and criticizing the state for a lack of openness don't even raise an eyebrow any more. Articles criticizing the society itself and the excessive influnce of religious hardliners are normal. They are so common now. Even the former Israeli Knesset Member Uri Avnery's column - calling for the two-state solution and a mutual acceptance between Israel and the Arab world is now a regular in the same paper which once wouldn't even mention that columnist country's name.

More importantly is the dramatic changes in human consciousness. 21 years ago most Saudis seemed barely aware of the world just over the hill. Collective awareness outside their own tribe and province was minimal. Now most younger generation Saudis can converse and debate rationally and critically not only about the affairs of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East - but show an awareness of International issues and debate that I doubt most young Americans have.

Is the change happening fast enough? No! Do they still have a long ways to go especially when it comes to issues of woman rights? Absolutely! But they are making progress. They are moving forward. And I would dare say that they have moved forward more in the past 21 years than many societies have done over centuries.