Saudi Arabia takes baby steps to a whole new level. This week, a leading Saudi newspaper reported that women in the desert kingdom are now free to ride bicycles.
Female riders must still wear head-to-toe coverings, be accompanied by
a male guardian, and ride in restricted areas and only for purposes of
“entertainment”—not transportation. But don’t sweat the small stuff,
right? The feminist revolution has begun.
It’s hard to beat Saudi Arabia’s dismal record on women’s rights. The kingdom enforces gender apartheid, forbids women from traveling without a man’s permission, and bans them from driving cars.
Lest one thinks Saudi Arabia is medieval in its thinking, the
government uses the most modern technologies to treat women as
second-class citizens. Automatic text messages are now sent to male
guardians if a woman tries to leave the country.
Shortly before President Obama met King Abdullah in 2010, famed Saudi
women’s-rights activist, Wajeha Al-Huweidar, penned an open letter to
the U.S. president: “As I’m watching the Gulf of Mexico, birds which are
totally covered with black oil stain—I can relate to their suffering as
a Saudi woman. These birds can hardly move: they have no control over
their lives, and they cannot fly freely to go to a place where they can
feel safe. This describes Saudi women’s lives. I know that kind of pain.
I have been living it most of my life.”
Can biking help change this? On condition of anonymity, one of Saudi
Arabia’s leading bloggers told me, “Saudis are mocking the announcement
as an April Fools’ joke. The government wants to keep the people busy
from the real problem of corruption. There is so much corruption. They
are really smart in distracting people from the main issues. Who the
hell needs to hear about women riding bikes now?” What would he have
preferred to hear, I ask. “As a start, that women don’t need male
guardians.”
Al-Huweidar agrees. “The guardianship system law is a slavery law
which is applied on women,” she told me. “That law made men masters and
women their servants. Men control all aspects of women’s lives from the
day they’re born until the day they die.”
Most Americans would never know this from the Saudi-American
lovefest, which has everything to do with oil and arms and little to do
values or human rights. At times, it seems that no Saudi action, no
matter how draconian, will bring about serious American pressure.
Last
March, the government-appointed grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh
Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, called for all churches in the Arabian Peninsula
to be destroyed. In December, the religious police arrested 41 people
for “plotting to celebrate Christmas.” Hamza Kashgari was jailed for a
few tweets questioning religion, Khaled Johani was imprisoned for giving
an interview to the BBC and weeks ago two of the most famous human
rights activists were locked away on trumped up charges. Saudis could
not even object freely as the government passed a new amendment banning
any criticism of the “good reputation” of political and religious
leaders.
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