About the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) . The Women of Saudi page 1
Playing: MoghramYaLil
All my personal comments/ notes are in maroon italic type.  /  Pictures to open: 12

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For all the women who have dedicated their lives to working in a country dominated by men,

I salute EACH you!!

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With great pride I present the following Saudi woman:

 

Arabian Business magazine Feb. 1-12, 2005 The World's 50 Most Powerful Arabs At #4 -- Lubna Olayan is the executive of the Olayan Financing Co. (OFC), the holding entity for the Olayan Group's operations in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. OFC operates or actively participates in more than forty companies, not only one of the richest women in the world, as ranked by Fortune magazine but also by far the top female corporate executive in Saudi Arabia. copied from the magazine 'Arabian Business'

More from the article:

At the Jeddah Economic Forum in 2004, Olayan gave a speech that was reminiscent of Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.

" My vision is of a country with a prosperous and diversified economy in which any Saudi citizen, irrespective of gender who is serious about finding employment , can find a job in the field for which he or she is best qualified. Leading to a thriving middle class and in which all Saudi citizens, residents or visitors to the country feel safe and can live in an atmosphere where mutual respect and toilerance exixt among all, regardless of their social class, religion or gender."

Olayan was indirectly blasted by the grand Mufti, who also denounced all calls for greater women's rights, declaring the mixing of unvelled women with men at the Jeddah Economic Forum as a violation of Islamic teaching. Still this has not belittled her power or influence.

She earned her BSc in Agriculture from Cornell University and her MBA from Indiana University.

Arabian Business magazine Feb. 1-12, 2005 -- The World's 50 Most Powerful Arabs.

Read more about Lubna online:

A Saudi Vision For Growth -- Lubna Olayan's Keynote Address -- Lubna Olayan / Jeddah Economic Forum/ 17 January 2004  http://www.saudi-us-relations.org/newsletter2004/saudi-relations-interest-01-21.html

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Do Saudi women work?

  Most definitely they do, a simple example, who do you think teaches the girls in 'sex-regated' schools? Also many families are finding that with the shrinking economy, both partners must work to provide for their growing families. My sister-in-law (a Saudi) has worked since she was married and isn't happy about it but is happy to help out.

  There are women working in all women bank branches, women's educational institutions and colleges and women only clothing stores. The one job that allows women to work openly with men is in hospitals, it's a very hard job if your a female doctor, the hours are endless if you have children as well!!

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BEYOND THE VEIL Hoda el-Salem is a young reporter with a good idea: She wants to write about what the teen-age boys in her city do with their idle time after school. She knows it's a big problem. She sees them herself, hanging out in parking lots, getting into trouble. And she knows the government is worried. Officials have proposed some new after-school recreation centers. http://www.cjr.org/archives.asp?url=/01/5/saudi.asp

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How Women Contribute to Make Saudi Arabia a Better Society
The status of women and their essential contributions to society have always been important topics in Islam. In recent years, as Saudi Arabia develops into a modern nation, there has been considerable controversy about the roles women can and should play in public and private life.  www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=25764

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The Veiled Life of Saudi Women
Fearing that the mutawa, religious police, had come to throw them in jail for being in public without a male relative, they hastily grabbed their long black scarves and covered their hair and faces as they cast wary looks around them. The mutawa did not show up, but the women decided to leave. Their outing had been spoiled.  www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/saudwmnx.htm

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The doctor, is a female physician who makes house calls. The scene reflects how gender roles are slowly changing in the medical profession—women not only work elbow-to-elbow with men, but treat them too. http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0310/feature1/

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FEMALE CIRCUMCISION -- Female circumcision is a custom followed from Mozambique and the Ivory Coast to Syria and Saudi Arabia. It is followed by hundreds of thousands of Coptic Christians, Catholics and animists as well as Muslims. It is even practiced by some emigrant communities in Europe and the United States.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/background/briefings/42924.stm

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IS THERE ANY AUTHENTIC TEXT IN THE PRIMARY SOURCES OF ISLAM WHICH REQUIRES FEMALE CIRCUMCISION FOR RELIGIOUS REASONS?
No mention of female circumcision is to be found in the Qur'an either directly or indirectly. There is no known Hadeeth which requires female circumcision. Some argued, however, that one Hadeeth, while not requiring female circumcision, appears to accept it: "Circumcision is a commedable act for men (Sunnah) and is an honorable thing for women (Makromah)." [5]
http://www.jannah.org/genderequity/equityappendix.html

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Different forms -- Some confusion occurs in discussing this topic as there are several distinct practices that are all generally referred to by this name.
In some cases, no actual genital surgery occurs, though it is simulated with a knife as part of a ceremony. Those that actually involve surgery, are usually divided into three major types.
--Type I or clitoridotomy (also sunna circumcision) is the most limited and involves the removal of the clitoral hood. The term "sunna" refers to tradition as taught by the prophet Muhammad (but not included in the Qur'an).
--Type II or clitoridectomy is more extensive and implies the partial or total removal of the clitoris, and sometimes also the labia minora.
The most complete form of female circumcision is
--Type III, which is also referred to as infibulation or pharaonic circumcision. It involves clitoridectomy, the removal of the labia minora, the cutting of the labia majora, and then sewing together the cut labia majora to cover the vagina, leaving an opening to allow urine and menstrual blood to pass through. The sewn together labia majora are opened by the woman's husband before intercourse.
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Female-circumcision

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More articles about female circumcision:

http://www.emro.who.int/Publications/HealthEdReligion/CircumcisionEn/Chapter2Pharaonic.htm

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/32/020.html

http://www.honors.sbc.edu/HJSpr03/Conrad.htm

http://www.dhushara.com/book/orsin/rites/rite.htm

http://www.circumstitions.com/FGM-defended.html

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No Women Drivers: In 1965, when my sister and I arrived into Jeddah with our father and mother, we learned that foreign women had been driving in Saudi for many years, but rumors were that a foreign woman killed a Prince in a car accident and women were then banned from driving.
Lately, we have been hearing that allowing women to drive is being considered, we have 'heard' about this since 1996 and each year passes with no actions. One reason to 'allow' women to drive, is to lessen the third-world men drivers, consider that each home of the middle class has at least one driver but most have more! Another reason is to have a responsible person behind the wheel, it's my car and family so I'm certain to be more cautious and careful!!
There have been guidelines considered before allowing women to drive, she must be over a certain age (ie. 35) and drive between certain hours, say 6:30 am till 7 pm. We have also heard that foreign women would be the first to drive, this I guess is to let the nerves of the local men get use to women behind the wheel, paving and easing the way for the Saudi ladies! We, the foreign ladies, will have to put up with all the advances from the men during this trial time....... oh well, it comes with the territory!

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Driving While Female   By Maureen Dowd
   Inspired by the American troops — including female soldiers — 47 women from the intelligentsia went for a joy ride to protest Saudi Arabia's being the only place where women can't drive.
   "We were very, very careful to plan it correctly not to be too antagonistic to the culture," recalled one of "the drivers," as they are still known. "We were mothers, well covered, nothing anti-Islam."
Using international licenses, the women took the wheels from their brothers and husbands and drove in a convoy until police stopped them.
   At first, the drivers were exhilarated. But then the clerics pounced, blaming "secular Americanist" ideas and branding the women "whores" and "harlots." They were publicly harassed, received death threats and lost their jobs. "People would make threatening calls to our homes saying `you bitches,' " recalled one woman. "They put out fliers all over the country saying horrible things about us." Their husbands' jobs were jeopardized; their passports were revoked; they had to sign papers agreeing not to talk about the drive.
http://gaspig.com/saudiwomendrivers.htm

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Ms al Fayez is confident that she will be among the first women government ministers in the next 10 years. But she is also aware of how far Saudi Arabia has to go. Women form only 4% of the workforce. "We developed the infrastructure, but we did not develop the mind," she said. http://fletcher.tufts.edu/news/2003/10/bandar3.shtml

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Miss Jeddah.... a joke.

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Saudi women to get ID cards:  Saudi Arabia, which still bars women from driving cars or eating alone in restaurants, is expected to start issuing civil identity cards for Saudi women for the first time.
www.metimes.com/2K1/issue2001-48/reg/saudi_women_to.htm

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Arab Honor's Price: A Woman's Blood  By Douglas Jehl
ESAIFAH, Jordan -- It took six years for the al-Goul family to hunt down their daughter Basma. She had run away with a man, afraid for her life after her husband suspected her of infidelity. Her husband divorced her and, in hiding, she married the other man. But back in this overcrowded, largely Palestinian village, where a woman's chastity is everyone's business, the contempt for her family kept spreading.
www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/chastity.htm

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Schools for girls in Saudi are completely enclosed with 3 meter (9 foot) walls, any open courtyards are covered, not to stop the beating sun but to prevent anyone from looking into the school from the roof or higher floors of the surrounding homes.
  If girls travel to and from school by private car then the driver must have a school stamped ID, NO ONE other that this one man is allowed to take her from school. The girls must begin wearing the abyah at age 12, earlier if her father dictates.
  NO cameras are allowed into the schools and no male's are allowed into the schools. It was such a tragedy about the school in Mecca losing so many lives of girls because the firemen and other males from the surrounding homes were not allowed into the school to help. To read that story, click here.
 Any functions in the school, this includes graduations, is never recorded on film and only females can attend. When my daughter graduated from the local college, KAAU, with her degree for General Medicine I went to the ceremony. At the door to the school I passed through a check point, my purse was snatched and I immidiately told the Filipino woman that there is a way to 'ask for' my purse, I got an apology with a shy grin. Not allowed in were cigaretts, lighters, cameras and cell phones. No receipt was issued, we just claimed what was ours on our exit from the school.

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Liberation Of The Veil:  Muslims believe that God gave beauty to all women, but that her beauty is not be seen by the world, as if the women are meat on the shelf to be picked and looked over. When she covers herself she puts herself on a higher level and men will look at her with respect and she is noticed for her intellect, faith ,and personality, not for her beauty. www.jannah.org/sisters/index.html

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Women been a big issue in Saudi Arabia. I been getting so many emails about women in Saudi Arabia and how come they don’t work. I have to change those stereotypes immediately because Saudi women work.    Defiantly they have schools, colleges and universities. In fact they are really educated and when it comes to Saudi women I think they are really unique and special in many cases.    All my aunts are working and all my female family members are educated. Saudi women can be doctors, nurses, TV/Radio speakers; work in privet offices or anything dose not have as effect on her body. They can own their own shops or business and role men.   www.virtualtourist.com/m/tp/bbe99/