The Son King: Reform and Repression in Saudi Arabia by Madawi Al-Rasheed

Author:Madawi Al-Rasheed
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Social & Cultural Studies, Middle East, International Security, Nonfiction, Political Science, International, History
ISBN: 9780197580516
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2021-01-31T21:00:00+00:00

6

WOMEN AND RIGHTS

I Am My Own Guardian.

Twitter hashtag by Saudi women in support of abolishing the guardianship system

Arguably, Saudi women have been excluded from the nation both as citizens and in ways specific to their gender identity. In recent times, many observers have expressed doubt over whether the country actually has a feminist movement. In the 2010s, however, a diverse, complex and evolving independent feminist movement began to define itself and represent its hopes to society in academic work, lectures, art, literature and films. Central to this is the context of historical, systematic and ongoing exclusion of women. Unfortunately, the movement quickly came to be defined as a threat to national security simply because it operated outside state-controlled feminism. Women activists engaged in successful mobilization that bypassed the state and the entrenched tribal, sectarian and regional cleavages described in the last chapter. The struggle for women’s rights not only united women across those divides but also enlisted men in the struggle for equality. This important aspect of the Saudi feminist movement alerted the authoritarian regime to its potential to threaten the very foundation of Saudi rule. The regime feared that the new feminism would undermine its deliberate policy to segment the population along ancient primordial divides and ideological schisms, for example between Islamists and liberals. The most threatening crime of feminism from the perspective of the state is to engage in national politics in the pursuit of legitimate rights.

The movement now has its own named activists, cherished by some but despised by many others. Women who mobilize not only on Twitter, Facebook and other social media but also in person are increasingly considered by the government and its security agencies as a menace. They are subjected to harsh repression, slander and detention. In official traditional and new media, women who are believed to have gone too far in criticizing the status quo are named and accused of being agents of foreign governments, serving Western agendas, and undermining the reputation of the new kingdom under the rule of Crown Prince Muhammad ibn Salman. Those women who voice reservations about the current social openness are labelled sympathizers with terrorism.

Since 2017 a contradictory situation has emerged in Saudi Arabia: specific women are honoured and ‘empowered’ while others are imprisoned. In general, the social reforms of the crown prince have raised the threshold of aspirations among women. But both Saudis and the rest of the world are left trying to understand the contradiction between empowering women and detaining them at the same time. There are no easy and convincing answers as to why several women campaigners have been jailed since 2018 while many other women are enjoying unprecedented visibility and new opportunities. The struggle of some Saudi women and their ability to mobilize others, uniting them by a simple message—gender equality for women—astonished both outside observers and Saudis themselves.

While many women are appointed to high positions in the political, social and economic apparatus of the state, others—writers, artists, academics and professionals—have been detained. In

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