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Saudi Arabia's dynamic culture
Everyday life in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's dynamic culture
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Breaking Tradition: Women of Saudi Arabia
Traditions have been passed down for generations, hardly ever changing. If changed, it doesn't effect the purpose of the tradition, but more of how the tradition is carried out. Such as if you celebrated Easter over at grandma's house but she passed away, you might celebrate it at another family member's house. Saudi Arabia is notorious for having one of the most influential traditions that affects all members of their society. Based on a strict interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism, women are expected to stay at home tending to the house while men work to support the family. Wahhabism places restrictions on women making them dependent of their male relative. The sexes are strictly segregated in order to prevent unmarried, unrelated men and women from mingling (Sullivan 1). This tradition has been the law of the land in Saudi Arabia for centuries. Despite small reforms, this tradition is strictly enforced throughout the land. While this tradition has been an influential part of Saudi Arabian society, a time for change has come. A rising generation of Saudi women are fighting back against their extremely conservative religious society. Women are protesting and creating social media pages and blogs in order to draw attention to this ongoing issue. The government has drawn attention to these issues presented and has already started making reforms to give women equal rights. While some unequal rights stay the same, the upcoming generations of Saudi women and the ongoing support from their local government has caused tradition to change.
In Saudi Arabia, women are required to wear a black cloak which conceals their entire body as well as a head covering. The only part that is visible on ...
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....” Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles, CA] 27 Oct. 2013: A.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
Harding, Luke. “Text Alerts Tell Saudi Men if Women Leave the Country.” Guardian [London, England] 24 Nov. 2012: 41. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
Hubbard, Ben. “Women Taking on Jobs and Testing a Saudi Taboo.” International New York Times [Paris, France] 4 Dec. 2013: 8. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 23 May 2014.
McManus, Doyle. “Change in the Kingdom.” Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles, CA] 25 Dec. 2011: 32. SIRS Interactive Citizenship. Web. 28 May 2014.
Sandels, Alexandra. “Signaling Their Anger.” Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles, CA] 18 June 2011: 1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 May 2014.
Sullivan, Kevin. “Saudi Women, Educated but Jobless.” Washington Post [Washington, DC] 13 Nov. 2012: 1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 28 May 2014.
Los Angeles Times: A.1. Aug 30 2013. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. The Web.
Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 2008. Print. The. Mahdi, Salah. A. Taha. How Do Females Stand In The Saudi Labour Market?
Western, David. “Islamic ‘Purse Strings’: the Key to Amelioration of Women’s legal Rights in the Middle East” Air Force law and Review Vol. 61. 0094-8381(2008): p79-147.
Women’s rights in the Middle East are being restricted, therefore there are many different reactions. Some people were in favor of women having equal rights while there are some who are against women to have the same rights. Since before times, many countries in the Middle East have been taking women for granted and minimized their rights by telling them they can't do something or selling them as if they were prized. When women were treated as prizes it was a practice in Afghanistan called Ba’ad that used women as the compensation, for example a story of a girl named Sakina. She was a consolation prize so that her brother could marry a woman and the Jirga system told her she had to marry a 80 year old guy when she was like 18. This tells me
San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, CA). 05 Jan 2010: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web.
...enging Myths of Muslim Women: The Influence of Islam On Arab-American Women's Labor Force Activity. Muslim World, 92(1/2), 19. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
"Report: The Women in the Middle East Workplace 2011 - Survey." National Council for Research on Women. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
In the book, Women in the Middle East, a Saudi Arabian proverb states, "A girl possesses nothing but a veil and a tomb" (Harik and Marston 83). The key words, "veil" and "tomb" lend evidence to the fact that many Middle Eastern women lack identity symbolized by the “veil” and lack the right of ownership except for their veil and the tomb. This statement further enforces the notion that many women in the Middle East are expected to serve and tolerate the oppression of the men in their lives throughout their lives on this earth. Moreover, it confirms that many of these women do not get the opportunity to obtain education, join the work force, and even participate in the political affairs of the country. This arrangement further helps the Middle Eastern men to view women as their properties, servants, or even as slaves. Ultimately, there are three main reasons why Middle Eastern men engage in the act of oppressing their women.
The place of women in Saudi society is determined by a deeply conservative culture, vindicated by a narrow interpretation of religion, and enforced by law. That place it would appear is at home, subservient to and legally dependant on their male guardian. Saudi society suffers from pervasive segregation along gender lines and women's freedom of movement is impeded, forcing them to rely on male chaperons.
The Bahrainis had a tension between traditional and modern beliefs, values and lifestyles towards women. It was not just only by men but also by women who were afraid to alter views they understand and with which they have been brought up all their lives as this example: one of the women in the office changed the way of dressing after getting married although her husband did not request.
The Women of the Middle East have played substantial roles for their corresponding countries since the advent of colonialism in the region. Middle Eastern women have worked in all types of fields including medicine, education, agriculture, government, private sector, and even defense. They have kept roofs over their family’s heads while their husbands were away in wars, or even in foreign countries to work in jobs that they could not find in their own countries. The roles of women in the countries of Yemen and Oman are no exception, but while they still find ways to contribute to their country, they care constantly stereotyped, discriminated, and ridiculed by men who are known and unknown to them. This paper will discuss the individual contributions of the women living in Yemen and Oman, and will discuss in further state laws and cultural norms that are affecting the women living in these countries today.
In 2007, as written on The Washington Post, Bill Gates said that Women are the key to Saudi Arabia’s Economy. Gates was speaking in a business seminar that was held in Saudi Arabia at the time, Gates, was asked by one of the members of the seminar if he thought that Saudi Arabia could meet its goals of becoming one of the worlds leading economies by 2010. Bill Gates replied by saying: “Well if you’re not fully utilizing half the talent in the country, you’re not going to get too close to the top.” What is Discrimination? Discrimination is the degradation or exclusion of a minority group within the society. There are many different grounds to discrimination such as race, color, gender, citizenship, age, disability and so much more. This essay will focus on gender-based discrimination that are most common in the MENA Labor market discussing possible causes and remedies for this problem.
The Web. The Web. 7 Feb. 2012. Krause, Wanda C. "Gender: Gender and Politics." Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa.
To understand the situation in Saudi Arabia better, you need to know about the social traditions and how people live. Saudis believe women are not supposed to reveal their bodies and only reveal their faces. That is because Islam says so. However, more and more teenagers in public, even in the highways, are harassing women which led to the establishment of the religious police. Religious police's role is simply to make sure no one harasses any woman and the roads stay safe.
In today’s globalized world, women’s studies is emerging as a fast growing discipline which is not restricted any more to the academia but is significantly capturing the attention of the civil society. The way civil society responded to “Nirbhaya” gang-rape case of December, 2012 in Delhi; the way people came on the streets in protest against this horrific and barbarous crime committed against a 23 year old woman; this people’s movement has undoubtedly engineered the emergence of a new consciousness among us about the need for a realization of women’s honour and dignity in the society. There have been serious debates on the issue of whether more stringent laws (in the line of Shari’a law) be implemented in our Indian society so that such heinous crimes against women can be prevented. However, the aforesaid incident is only one among many hundred other such crimes happening everyday in almost every corner of the globe. Many such incidents of crime are either suppressed or do not come to limelight. The following analysis is a humble attempt to deal with the status of women (especially in Islam) in a globalized world.