- Constitution that enshrines gender
equality
- Make it easier for women to file
for divorce
- An overhaul of the education
system
- Reform of social services, such as
introducing independent women's refuges
- Increase women's freedom of
movement by removing necessity for male chaperone
However, some of her remarks are incendiary to the
masses living here
For example, the masses of people love the Prophet
Muhammad and take his words and deeds seriously. For us, Islam is a way of
life, a way prescribed to us by the divine which is better than all human
systems. For somebody to mock the words of the Prophet as "wasting time on
learning quotations" is obnoxious
I agree that there should be educational reforms to
keep at par with the world; however, that should not be at the expense of
watering down our own values and beliefs. We will not allow that to happen.
Islam believes in separation of responsibilities of men and women and that
ensures a healthy society. When this institution is broken, we see broken
families, incoherent societies, old age homes etc as evident in many countries
With regards to a woman travelling with a chaperone,
it is a universal law applicable even today. It is for her safety and
protection
One piece of advice for Basma. Please read and
analyse the divine texts without any preconceived biases to be able to come to
a right conclusion. You are trying to superimpose Western secular liberalism on
Islam and trying to push that as a system here which, in my opinion, is
unreasonable
Hassan Mahfooz, Jeddah
Real injustice is drivers' wages
I live in Saudi Arabia, and Princess Basma's comments
are not totally accurate to the realities of the country. Women frequently do
move around without male chaperones, to go shopping or to travel to and from
work or school. Whether or not they are allowed to is largely irrelevant,
because they do it and nobody stops them. The second point is that, yes, they
cannot drive, but the overwhelming majority of Saudi families have a driver to
whom they pay a pittance. Even if women could drive by law, they mostly
wouldn't. The real social injustice in Saudi is the disgustingly low wages paid
to family drivers who are on call 24/7 and are treated like slaves by their
employers
Paul, Riyadh
Women have more freedom now
The princess's comments give a somewhat blurred
picture of the current situation in Saudi Arabia. I am an expatriate living in
this country since my childhood days. What I am seeing now is a totally
different scenario, in terms of women's education and rights. Saudi women today
are enjoying and practising their (allowable) freedom ever more than before.
They are getting a good education, starting to work and are constantly
developing. I agree with the princess on the issue of women driving; Saudi
society is just not prepared for that ethically and traditionally
Vasic Soton, expat living in Jeddah
Don't take religion out of education
Yes, the educational systems will benefit from a
revision and development plan, but I strongly disagree with the limitation of
the religious courses. Islam in its golden times was never against creativity
or tolerance, and the examples on that are many. Decreasing the amount of
religious content in the curriculum is not the way to improve the quality of
the educational system product, but infusing more sciences and applying new
models of education is
Saudi Arabia spends somewhere between one-quarter and
one-third of its budget every year for the last seven years on education and
training, giving scholarships to thousands of students every year to study
abroad. The latest statistics indicate that there are more than 130,000 Saudi student’s
abroad, studying languages, doing undergrad or graduate degrees, with around
17,000 in the UK. Chances in these programmes are given to both men and women
Yes, of course, the picture is not always pretty and
rosy, but I think that there is a lot of progress there that deserves looking
at. I come from a relatively conservative family but that didn't stop any of my
sisters or female cousins (and they are many) from getting their higher
education completed, and working in different institutions and being
independent caring mothers and loving spouses
For a country that was torn apart by tribal conflicts
and harsh living conditions less than 90 years ago, only those who have
witnessed the dramatic change can give a good perspective
