# Women in Saudi Arabia 'to vote and run in elections'



## GAP (25 Sep 2011)

Women in Saudi Arabia 'to vote and run in elections'
25 September 2011 Article Link

Women in Saudi Arabia are to be given the right to vote and run in municipal elections, the Gulf Kingdom's King Abdullah has announced.

He said they would also have the right to be appointed to the consultative Shura Council.

The news will be welcomed by activists who have long called for greater rights for women in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

The changes will take effect from next year, the king said.

King Abdullah announced the move in a speech at the opening of the new term of the Shura Council.

"Because we refuse to marginalise women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama [clerics] and others... to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from next term," he said.

"Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote."
More on link


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## SeaKingTacco (25 Sep 2011)

Wow.  This moves them firmly into the 1920s....


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## medicineman (25 Sep 2011)

I wonder how far they'll make them run during the elections...gets kida hard in those black over dresses.

MM


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## Bruce Monkhouse (25 Sep 2011)

Next they might try something really radical,..like letting them drive.

Seriously though, it is a large step forward.


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## Spanky (25 Sep 2011)

I wonder if the "Arab Spring" got some of the royal family to thinking.


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## Sythen (25 Sep 2011)

Spanky said:
			
		

> I wonder if the "Arab Spring" got some of the royal family to thinking.



Wonder if the threat of the EthicalOil campaign has anything to do with it?


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## GAP (25 Sep 2011)

They can vote/run in the next election just not the one that occurs in the next week or so......... :


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## cn (25 Sep 2011)

GAP said:
			
		

> They can vote/run in the next election just not the one that occurs in the next week or so......... :



Better late than never.  Good to see (baby?)  steps in the right direction.


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## Old Sweat (25 Sep 2011)

Call me cynical, but this right can also be taken away at any time.


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## GAP (26 Sep 2011)

Trial of Saudi woman for violating ban on female drivers reveals limits of king's reform drive
By: Maggie Michael, The Associated Press 09/26/2011
Article Link

CAIRO - A Saudi activist will stand trial for defying the kingdom's ban on female drivers, a lawyer and rights advocates said Monday, revealing clear limits on how far the conservative Muslim land is willing to go to grant women greater rights.

Just a day earlier, King Abdullah, who is regarded as a reformer by Saudi standards, decreed that women would be allowed for the first time to vote and run as candidates in elections for municipal councils starting in 2015. He also promised to appoint women after two years to the Shura Council, the currently all-male consultative body with no legislative powers.

Activists in Saudi Arabia and abroad welcomed the changes as a step in the right direction, while urging the kingdom to end all discrimination against women. Some also pointed to the case against Najalaa Harriri as evidence of how far the kingdom still has to go on the path of reforms.

"Saudi Arabia is moving far too slowly," said Amnesty International's deputy Middle East director, Philip Luther. "Ultimately, it is no great achievement to be one of the last countries in the world to grant women the vote."

Harriri was among the dozens of Saudi women to challenge the country's longtime ban on driving in a campaign that began in June. In a nod to the power of social media, the campaigners posted video of themselves behind the wheel on the Web, drawing international attention at a time of great tumult across the Arab world.

She was summoned for questioning on Sunday by the prosecutor general in the western port city of Jeddah, according to attorney Waleed Aboul Khair. She will stand trial in a month, joining several other women currently on trial for driving.

Activists say the trials reveal a gap between the image the kingdom wants to show to the outside world and the reality on the ground in the ultraconservative nation.
More on link


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## AERO2012 (27 Sep 2011)

Spanky said:
			
		

> I wonder if the "Arab Spring" got some of the royal family to thinking.



I wonder if the "Arab Spring" will get the royal family.


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## Bruce Monkhouse (27 Sep 2011)

Well I see that 'progress" isn't all its cracked up to be,........10 lashes for having the audacity to drive a car.


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## a_majoor (27 Sep 2011)

Too bad we can't take the Saudi ambassador and give him exactly the same number of lashes these women are going to receive.

Having a televised flogging of the Saudi Ambassador on Parliament hill would send quite the message to everyone....

Plan B would be to do as much digging and drilling as humanly possible and flood the world market with cheap Canadian Oil, and see how they like our "Canadian Spring" as we knock the economic foundations out from under them.


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## AERO2012 (28 Sep 2011)

Bruce Monkhouse said:
			
		

> Well I see that 'progress" isn't all its cracked up to be,........10 lashes for having the audacity to drive a car.



Being an Arab-Canadian, I would  refrain from using in the same sentence "progress" and " royal family", a bunch of billionaires with negative IQ.


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## Old Sweat (28 Sep 2011)

The editorial cartoon in today's Ottawa Citizen had three burka clad women at a polling station. A traditonally robed and bearded male is asking them for their drivers licences.


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## The Bread Guy (28 Sep 2011)

Old Sweat said:
			
		

> The editorial cartoon in today's Ottawa Citizen had three burka clad women at a polling station. A traditonally robed and bearded male is asking them for their drivers licences.


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