Voting Will Have to Wait... 'til 2009

Saudi election officials have declared that at last women will be allowed to vote in municipal elections... in 2009. One female candidate standing for election, Hatoon Al-Fassi, a professor at Riyadh's King Saud University, is not happy:

We are so disappointed that the push for women to vote will take another four years. We don’t think that the committee took the right decision. We believe that they don’t have the legal right to take that decision.

Another female candidate, Najat Al-Shafie, seems more upbeat at the news, though underscored the importance of elevating women in Saudi Arabian society:

Women still have a good chance to be appointed and we are optimistic about still having a chance to vote. Meanwhile, there should be a committee to pinpoint and solve the problems and the difficulties that women may face in the voting process, as well as problems that elected women may encounter... Women are very worried and feel excluded due to this elimination, because females are half of the society. Women are the mothers and the ones responsible for bringing up our children. Therefore, it is important that they be part of the political process to be able to teach their children the importance of political participation.

The struggle for basic civil rights for women in Saudi Arabia continues. As the old civil rights anthem goes, "We Shall Overcome... Someday."

UPDATE: The website SaudiElection.com offers a fascinating opinion piece by a young woman entitled "Women in Saudi Arabia Too Have a Dream." Here's an excerpt:

I am a Saudi citizen, I am over 21, I am educated; I am positively contributing to society by educating hundreds of university-level Saudis every year, and I am patriotic. Yet, I am not eligible to vote in my country...  My crime is too unforgivable. My handicap is beyond help. I am a woman... I would like to say that while my voice has been muted, I am still here. I may not be able to vote today, but I will continue the struggle to be heard simply because, in the words of Martin Luther King, “I have a dream.”

The author of this piece, Mody Al-Khalaf, has produced a moving appeal, inspired by the American civil rights movement. Read the whole thing.

Comments

[Tadalafil Discount]

i really like the info at this post thanks!!!