Green Energy
Led Zeppelin, as in that'll go over like a lead balloon:
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - For the first time ever, a group of women in the only country that bans female drivers have formed a committee to lobby for the right to get behind the wheel, and they plan to petition King Abdullah in the next few days for the privilege.
The government is unlikely to respond because the issue remains so highly sensitive and divisive. But committee members say their petition will at least highlight what many Saudis — both men and women — consider a "stolen" right.
"We would like to remind officials that this is, as many have said, a social and not a religious or political issue," said Fowziyyah al-Oyouni, a founding member of the Committee of Demanders of Women's Right to Drive Cars. "And since it's a social issue, we have the right to lobby for it."
Committee members want to deliver their petition to the king by Sunday, Saudi Arabia's national day.
The driving ban applies to all women, Saudi and foreign, and forces families to hire live-in drivers. Women whose families cannot afford $300-$400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor's.
The last time the issue was raised was two years ago, when Mohammed al-Zulfa, a member of the unelected Consultative Council, asked his colleagues to think about studying the possibility of allowing women over age 35 or 40 to drive — unchaperoned on city streets but accompanied by a male guardian on highways.
The suggestion touched off a fierce controversy that included calls for al-Zulfa's removal from the council and stripping him of Saudi citizenship, as well as accusations he was encouraging women to commit the double sins of discarding their veils and mixing with men.
And, we're supposed to find a way to compromise with the Muslim world. What is their to compromise with?
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Fucking Igor Stravinsky himself could not have composed a more dischordant symphony had he sonically incarnated the cognitive dissonance in this article, as Saudi women respond to a United Nations poll: Saudi Women respond to UN Questions on Rights...
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Green Energy
Led Zeppelin: Saudi Women To Petition King Abdullah For Right To Drive
Led Zeppelin, as in that'll go over like a lead balloon:
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - For the first time ever, a group of women in the only country that bans female drivers have formed a committee to lobby for the right to get behind the wheel, and they plan to petition King Abdullah in the next few days for the privilege.
The government is unlikely to respond because the issue remains so highly sensitive and divisive. But committee members say their petition will at least highlight what many Saudis — both men and women — consider a "stolen" right.
"We would like to remind officials that this is, as many have said, a social and not a religious or political issue," said Fowziyyah al-Oyouni, a founding member of the Committee of Demanders of Women's Right to Drive Cars. "And since it's a social issue, we have the right to lobby for it."
Committee members want to deliver their petition to the king by Sunday, Saudi Arabia's national day.
The driving ban applies to all women, Saudi and foreign, and forces families to hire live-in drivers. Women whose families cannot afford $300-$400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor's.
The last time the issue was raised was two years ago, when Mohammed al-Zulfa, a member of the unelected Consultative Council, asked his colleagues to think about studying the possibility of allowing women over age 35 or 40 to drive — unchaperoned on city streets but accompanied by a male guardian on highways.
The suggestion touched off a fierce controversy that included calls for al-Zulfa's removal from the council and stripping him of Saudi citizenship, as well as accusations he was encouraging women to commit the double sins of discarding their veils and mixing with men.
And, we're supposed to find a way to compromise with the Muslim world. What is their to compromise with?
- Saudi "morality Police" Chief Says Ban On Women Driving Not Part Of Sharia
Yeah, right, that's what he says: Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving is not mandated by any text in Sharia, the Islamic legal code which forms the basis for most Saudi law, the head of its morality police told Reuters on Thursday. Sheikh Abdulatif...
- Human Rights Watch: Saudi Women Treated Like Children
This is a major admission for a liberal "Human Rights" organization. I would go a step further and say that Saudi Arabian women are treated as SLAVES. The fact that they don't have the right to make basic choices about education, whom to marry, when...
- Saudi Women Have All The Freedom In The World ... As Long As Their Husbands Allow It
Fucking Igor Stravinsky himself could not have composed a more dischordant symphony had he sonically incarnated the cognitive dissonance in this article, as Saudi women respond to a United Nations poll: Saudi Women respond to UN Questions on Rights...
- Women Are Too Dirty To Walk On Saudi Sidewalks
From Omri at the Astute Bloggers: The Saudis are now segregating sidewalks so their men don't get icky girl cooties: Saudi Arabia's religious police are insisting that authorities of Medina, one of Islam's holiest cities, should build separate...
- Women Achieve Equal Rights In Saudi Arabia !!! Human Dignity Alert !!!
Tired of male domination, 5 Saudi women change sex RIYADH (Reuters) - Tired of playing second fiddle to men in conservative Saudi Arabia, five women decided if you can't beat them, join them.Al Watan newspaper said the five women underwent sex change...