[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Anything He Can Do... She Can Do Better
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2005 06:25:45 +0100
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Friday, 25, November, 2005 (23, Shawwal, 1426)
Anything He Can Do... She Can Do Better
Lubna Hussain, lubna@xxxxxxxxxxxx
I happened to meet with a foreign journalist the other day who had never
visited the Kingdom before. As always, I wanted to know what she had felt about
the place and the people.
"I must say," she effused, "it's not like how I'd imagined it to be at
all."
"Why is that?" I questioned having premeditated her response based on
many typical conversations I have had with first-timers.
"Well, everything is just so modern and developed. The roads and the
buildings are great. When I was coming in from the airport I thought it looked
more like LA than Riyadh. And then the women I have met here have just been
awesome! I mean I couldn't believe that I was in Saudi Arabia. So many of them
speak their minds and are just really..."
"Strong?" I filled in.
"Strong. Yes. And confident. And really with it. Do you know what I mean?
They're just like us in so many ways. I thought they would be like from another
planet," she confessed rolling her eyes. "I wondered how I'd get a good story
if I wasn't able to really communicate with them. I was standing in a shopping
mall and was kind of worried about approaching these ladies to ask them
questions, but they were really happy to help even if they didn't speak
English. Some of them even got other shoppers to translate for them."
I can't say that this was a novel response, because I have heard it
innumerable times. There are still people who associate this region with the
romantic notions that characterized it through the epic movie "Lawrence of
Arabia" and believe that we still inhabit tents among the shifting sand dunes
with camels constituting the transport of choice.
Indeed, the outside world's grim impression of Saudi women can be
directly correlated to the stereotypical media coverage that we receive.
Whenever there is a report to be filed from this country, most archival footage
retrieved from libraries at major networks is limited to a few clips of
amorphous women covered from head to toe in black either milling around in
shopping centers or trudging across the desert in mindless aimless drudgery.
It's really not that surprising to meet people who have never visited the
Kingdom and yet have imbibed this perspective from the little that they do see
of us, courtesy of the wonders of celluloid, truly convinced that the Saudi
woman is wholly repressed, devoid of ambition and walks 10 paces behind her
husband.
However, what is startling, and for me at least, depressing, is the
number of people who have lived within our society and have still not benefited
from having their outlook vis-a-vis the better half of it altered. Many
expatriates in this country I have come across persist in their perceptions of
us as being backward, regressive and impenetrable. The fault does not lie
entirely with them as they are rarely presented with evidence to the contrary.
Our culture is such that the very existence of women is barely acknowledged, so
wherefore the opportunity to give recognition to their achievements? Most Saudi
men never even talk about their "wives," "sisters," "daughters" or "mothers" in
a specific manner preferring to use the generic term "family" instead, as it is
seen as an invasion of their closely guarded privacy. A side-effect of this is
that outsiders rarely catch a glimpse of this important element of society and
in the absence of any interaction or contact with the fairer sex tend to base
their views on what they see and hear in the popular press.
I was riffling through some old papers of mine the other day in an
attempt to discard part of my mountain of accumulated rubbish and stumbled upon
some notes that I had written for a presentation to a group of British ladies.
Even though much of my script was indecipherable, I could still make out some
of the bullet points and remembered just how astounded the assembled group was
at the facts that I had regaled them with.
I myself had been amazed through my research for this talk at just how
talented, hard-working and impressive women are here. But then again, Islamic
history is filled with examples of female icons. The very first convert to the
faith was the Prophet's wife and employer, Khadijah, an intelligent and
successful businesswoman in her own right. Some of the first martyrs to Islam
were women and there are tales of important female warriors and commanders of
armies who fought in battles as valiantly and effectively as men. Islam has
always defended, and, more pertinently, championed the rights of women. The
suppression of women that we witness today has nothing to do with religious
precepts but is more attributable to male insecurity and often implemented
under the guise of "protecting" women. From what, you may ask? From the very
men who misinterpret the religion in the first place, perhaps. I had read an
opinion piece in one of the Arabic dailies a while ago in which the writer was
appalled at the prospect of women driving. "What," he bemoaned, "will be our
role if they allow women to drive?"
What I managed to impart through my speech that day is that Saudi women
are an incredibly talented, resilient, tenacious and perseverant lot who have
made phenomenal strides in spite of the strictures that work against them.
Irrespective of the fact that they can't drive, need permission from their male
guardians to work, travel, rent a place, undergo surgical procedures, get ID,
sell their own personal effects etc they have managed to achieve the impossible.
It is a Saudi woman who was asked to perform eye surgery upon the late
King Fahd. It is again a Saudi woman who controls one of the country's Top 100
companies and was featured as Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in
the World. It is a Saudi woman who manages some of the largest investment
portfolios in the region. It is a Saudi woman who holds the highest-ranking
position held by an Arab in the UN.
Whereas the last few decades of our history were about oil, I believe
that the future wealth and prosperity of this nation will be based on our most
precious resource, women. What we have achieved against all odds is nothing
short of remarkable. Now that things are opening up for us, there seems to be
no shortage of opportunities that we can avail ourselves of. I think it's about
time that there was more public recognition for what the Saudi woman truly
represents.
Hopefully the new initiatives outlined vis-à-vis empowering women will
make a much-needed difference in all our lives. Charlotte Whitton once said,
"Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men in order to be thought
half as good." Luckily for Saudi women this is not that difficult.
* * *
(is a Saudi writer. She is based in Riyadh.)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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