CAIRO - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has taken a significant decision by giving Saudi women, for the first time, the right to vote, to run in municipal elections and to be appointed as full voting members of Majilis al-Shura (consultative council). "The Muslim women must not be marginalised in opinion or advice," said King Abdullah in his speech addressing Majilis al-Shura, noting that involvement of women in politics and the socio-economic affairs of the state agrees with the Sharia (religious law) and traditions of Islam. King Abdullah's move gained the praise of the world media that considered it a small step towards ending different forms of discrimination against women in the Islamic kingdom. In contrast to the image of women's conditions in Saudi Arabia widely propagated in the world, they are not as bad as some people might think. It is true that women are deprived of the right to drive their own cars, but they still enjoy freedom of movement in the city, having private drivers or a male relative drives them. It is no joke that some Saudi men have been calling for allowing women to drive their own cars so as to lighten the men's load in driving their daughters, sisters and wives to universities and shopping centres etc. Most importantly, Saudi girls enjoy better chances of education up to university level than in many other oriental societies and form up to 58 per cent of college graduates. They have also started working in different fields in the country. Actually, the presence of women at the top in business councils and economic institutions bears witness to the progressive advances the Islamic kingdom has made in recent years under the leadership of King Abdullah who had promised to implement gradual reforms in the society. This reforming trend has started to influence the Saudi women themselves as they have become more willing to express their demands and reject some social traditions that have no grounds in Islam, such as being dressed in black from head to toe. Because of its extremely hot weather, the women of Mecca and Medina dressed in white during the early days of Islam. However, the extremist Wahabbi clerics who are determined to keep Saudi women in shackles, have forced women to dress in black. Once, a Saudi woman asked her husband why he chose a white car instead of the elegant black one. To her surprise, he answered that in that desert climate they are living at it is not appropriate for the car to be black! The woman immediately wondered how is it that men realise the adverse effects of sun and extreme heat (absorbed by black and reflected by white) on metal cars painted black, but not on their wives and daughters, who are made of flesh and blood, in being forced to wear black?! King Abdullah's recent decision to allow women to enter political life might also be the start of their getting out of wearing black, which is intended to marginalise their role in the society. These radical change in the Wahabbi practice makes one wonder how it will reflect on other countries deeply influenced by this extremist Islamic ideology that Saudi Arabia has been exporting to many other Muslim countries in the region, such as Pakistan and even Egypt. Pakistan has enjoyed the support of Saudi Arabia since its existence as an Islamic state and has been greatly influenced by the Saudi extremist vision of Islam. The condition of women has also been harmed by discriminatory Hindu traditions, which have continued to influence Pakistani society that used to be part of India before partition in the mid-20th century. In both countries, India and Pakistan, girls suffer from different forms of discrimination not only in the chances they have of education and health care but even in having a chance of life in the first place. In India for example, a recent survey warned of the growing trend of the Indian women to abort pregnancies if they suspect the foetus is female. Accordingly, the ratio of girls to boys has dropped in India from 933 per 1,000 in 2001 to 914 per 1,000 in 2011. The survey, which was recently published in the Daily Telegraph, revealed that Indian girls with heart disease are being denied treatment by parents who prefer to spend money on sons and/or fear surgery will harm their daughters' marriage prospects. They fear any surgery will leave scars, which will cause "matrimonial problems" later. "Parents would not mind, if the girl dies due to such disease," Dr Amal Kumar Banerjee, the former president of the Cardiological Society of India, told the British newspaper. The Indian women's rights activist Flavia Agnes commented on the survey saying: "The bias is at every stage. First, the parents kill their [daughters] even before the girl is born. If she is allowed to live, the girl gets less attention when it comes to primary healthcare, food, schooling, love and is always seen as a burden". Examples of discrimination against women and different forms of abuse could be found in many societies of the world whether in Muslim or non-Muslim societies or in poor or even rich countries such as the domestic violence recorded against women in the West. However, what people ignore is that the divine religions, mainly Islam, came to end this state of inequality and discrimination against women. They also overlook that all we need to do to end this state of injustice is to revive our great religious values and remember always that our Creator does not differentiate between man or woman, white or black, only according to their good or bad deeds. If this is the Divine rule that has been sent to us from Heaven we should ensure that we make it our rule on earth.
