A Saudi Woman’s Viewpoint: ‘A Veiled Reading of Islam that Saudi Women Still Pay For’
It would be hard for me to picture the tents of an election campsite set up for a woman running for any public or political office in Saudi Arabia. Four years from now in Riyadh, would such a site be possible? Who is going to run them? Who is going to vote? Fund-raise? Make donations in the first place?
I remember when I entered the Million’s Poet competition in Abu Dhabi, male contestants set up to collect donations and booked hotel ballrooms to promote themselves and attract more votes. In my case, my male relatives were bashfully voting for me in the privacy of their homes, finding great embarrassment in mentioning me in majlises.
Likewise, male non-relatives made sure not the slightest mention of me was made in conversation with any of my relatives - to avoid any awkwardness.
Read on for an exploration of the psychological hurdles that must be dealt with, as Saudi Arabia establishes the vote for Saudi women.
There is so much entwined here, from the religious aspect, as well as centuries-old tribal society types of things. This will be a slow process for Saudi Arabia; these folks are facing obstacles we in western cultures have no understanding of.