Saudi Arabian women voted for the first time on Saturday (December 12) in local council elections and also stood as candidates, a step hailed by some activists in the Islamic patriarchy as a historic change, but by others as merely symbolic.
"As a woman, I need some services, some needs in my neighborhood, like nurseries for longer time. I need social centers for youth and retirement, like this. So maybe the woman can concentrate more than the man on those needs," said Fahda al-Rwaili after casting her ballot at a women-only polling station in Riyadh.
The election, which follows men-only polls in 2005 and 2011, is for two thirds of seats on councils that previously had only advisory powers, but will now have a limited decision making role in local government.
This incremental expansion of voting rights has spurred some Saudis to hope the Al Saud ruling family, which appoints the national government, will eventually carry out further reforms to open up the political system.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in which women cannot drive and a woman's male "guardian," usually a father, husband, brother or son, can stop her traveling overseas, marrying, working, studying or having some forms of elective surgery.
"Of course, I came to support one of the female candidates. This is great news. It gives us hope for the future, that women can participate in all sectors in Saudi Arabia," voter Jawaher said.
Under King Abdullah, who died in January and who announced in 2011 women would be able to vote in this election, steps were taken for women to have a bigger public role, sending more of them to university and encouraging female employment.
However, while women's suffrage has in many other countries been a transformative moment in the quest for gender equality, its impact in Saudi Arabia is likely to be more limited due to a wider lack of democracy and continued social conservatism.
Only 1.48 million Saudis from a population of 20 million registered to vote in the election, including 131,000 women, the widespread apathy partly the product of a poll with no political parties, strict laws on campaigning, and in which only local issues are at play.
Before Abdullah announced women would take part in this year's elections, the country's Grand Mufti, its most senior religious figure, described women's involvement in politics as "opening the door to evil."
"I came to practice my natural right of choosing a representative that can speak on my behalf in my neighborhood or my council. Of course I looked at the roster of female candidates and without knowing them personally, I voted for the candidate I feel will be able to speak on our behalf and achieve our demands," said Thuraya a-Ghamdi after casting her ballot in Riyadh.
The pace of social reform in Saudi Arabia, while ultimately dictated by the Al Saud, is also strongly influenced by a tussle between conservatives and progressives over how the country should marry its religious tradition with modernity.
REUTERS
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