Tags
Related Posts
Share This
More than meets the eye
Our names are Areej and Nouf. We are two Saudi Arabian women studying at Trinity Western University in preparation for graduate programs. The government of Saudi Arabia has provided us with full scholarships to improve ourselves and become active women in our society. For this reason, we are thankful first, to God and second, to our king who gave us this opportunity to be here. Canada is a great country and we are enjoying our time here, although we miss our country and families. Since coming to Canada, we’ve noticed that the style of living is different than in Saudi Arabia. Being that we have this opportunity to study here, we would like to share with you a bit about our lives both here and in Saudi Arabia.
You may have heard that women don’t drive in Saudi Arabia. The reason behind that is our country’s tradition. It should be noted that women in villages, along the seaside and in compounds are allowed to drive. The traffic in these areas differs from the traffic in major cities like Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam – traffic, which causes frequent accidents and sometimes death. The government is working on fixing this problem so that eventually women will be allowed to drive in these big cities. In any case, women have cars with drivers, so they can go anywhere without bothering themselves with the stress of sitting in traffic jams or dealing with other drivers.
Saudi women – like all Muslim women – wear hijab and consider it a part of their religious identity. While hijab may mean “to veil” or “to cover,” it has more to do with modesty than just wearing a veil on the head. For instance, while some women will wear a knit hat to cover their hair and others a veil, women who wear hijab focus on modesty of the whole person. This includes wearing longer shirts and loose-fitting clothing. Hijab is not an obstacle to study, work or even free time; rather, it is an expression of modesty that women can employ anywhere.
Different from hijab is the abaya. The abaya is a traditional Saudi dress for females. It includes a long, flowing robe that is soft and light for the summer and made with warmer materials for the winter. Unlike the hijab, which is part of religious observance, the abaya is a cultural dress worn by Saudi women as well as women in other Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates when they are in public or in the presence of strangers.
In regards to work, in modern Saudi society, women have varying occupations such as teachers, doctors, nurses, secretaries, professors, accountants and businesswomen. Several large companies are run by intelligent and educated women.
In addition to the workplace, women are respected in their homes. They share their opinions freely and are beloved by the men in their lives – their fathers, brothers, sons and husbands. While financially, men are responsible to provide everything a woman needs, a woman has the right to keep her money for herself, even if she is rich. They also have housemaids, drivers and everything to help them live comfortable lives.
Saudi women have a strong sense of style. They are concerned with fashion and being chic. This is not only the case with some of the fashionable clothing that Saudi women wear among their friends and family, but also extends to the style of their homes. Saudi women want to keep their houses beautiful in design and up-to-date in colour. Along with fashion, Saudi women take interest in art, music, sports and fitness.
We are so proud of our country, culture and religion. We as women play an important role in the Saudi society and we hope that we can be good representatives in such an amazing country as Canada.
What a great article. Thanks for giving us a window into your lives at home. Much of the article was new information to me, but the fashion thing – you guys are so stylin’ – that came as no surprise! God bless you both in your studies and lives here in Canada.
This is an awesome article– I second what Maren has said, I really appreciate articles likes this, they broaden my view of the world!
when money talks, ethics moral standards , and sometimes brains might be forced to shut up. Thank you zaki rateb
Zaki and Ziko – have you no class! Mean-spiritedness and obvious discrimination shows small-mindedness. Nowhere in the bible does love your neighbor equal judge and bully.
thank you madam suzi
Quite contradictory!!! An this is not just an isolated case. How many books, articles, or other publications, that talk about controversial issues, have been banned from Saudi Arabia? Is it possible that you are unaware of what’s going on in your own country? I get it! I come from a country that used to be under communism, which made everything they possibly could to portray a perfect image of the country to the outside world. Discrimination is not about fashion or makeup, that’s only used to overcompensate bigger issues.
A copy of a recent article from The Times
From The TimesFebruary 7, 2008
Religious police in Saudi Arabia arrest mother for sitting with a man
A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia’s religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh.
Yara, who does not want her last name published for fear of retribution, was bruised and crying when she was freed from a day in prison after she was strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the Kingdom’s “Mutaween” police.
Her story offers a rare first-hand glimpse of the discrimination faced by women living in Saudi Arabia. In her first interview with the foreign press, Yara told The Times that she would remain in Saudi Arabia to challenge its harsh enforcement of conservative Islam rather than return to America.
“If I want to make a difference I have to stick around. If I leave they win. I can’t just surrender to the terrorist acts of these people,” said Yara, who moved to Jeddah eight years ago with her husband, a prominent businessman.
Her ordeal began with a routine visit to the new Riyadh offices of her finance company, where she is a managing partner.
The electricity temporarily cut out, so Yara and her colleagues — who are all men — went to a nearby Starbucks to use its wireless internet.
She sat in a curtained booth with her business partner in the café’s “family” area, the only seats where men and women are allowed to mix.
For Yara, it was a matter of convenience. But in Saudi Arabia, public contact between unrelated men and women is strictly prohibited.
“Some men came up to us with very long beards and white dresses. They asked ‘Why are you here together?’. I explained about the power being out in our office. They got very angry and told me what I was doing was a great sin,” recalled Yara, who wears an abaya and headscarf, like most Saudi women.
The men were from Saudi Arabia’s Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a police force of several thousand men charged with enforcing dress codes, sex segregation and the observance of prayers.
Yara, whose parents are Jordanian and grew up in Salt Lake City, once believed that life in Saudi Arabia was becoming more liberal. But on Monday the religious police took her mobile phone, pushed her into a cab and drove her to Malaz prison in Riyadh. She was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to sign and fingerprint a series of confessions pleading guilty to her “crime”.
“They took me into a filthy bathroom, full of water and dirt. They made me take off my clothes and squat and they threw my clothes in this slush and made me put them back on,” she said. Eventually she was taken before a judge.
“He said ‘You are sinful and you are going to burn in hell’. I told him I was sorry. I was very submissive. I had given up. I felt hopeless,” she said.
Yara’s husband, Hatim, used his political contacts in Jeddah to track her whereabouts. He was able to secure her release.
“I was lucky. I met other women in that prison who don’t have the connections I did,” she said. Her story has received rare coverage in Saudi Arabia, where the press has been sharply critical of the police.
Yara was visited yesterday by officials from the American Embassy, who promised they would file a report.
An embassy official told The Times that it was being treated as “an internal Saudi matter” and refused to comment on her case.
Tough justice
— Saudi Arabia’s Mutaween has 10,000 members in almost 500 offices
— Ahmad al-Bluwi, 50, died in custody in 2007 in the city of Tabuk after he invited a woman outside his immediate family into his car
— In 2007 the victim of a gang rape was sentenced to 200 lashes and six years in jail for having been in an unrelated man’s car at the time. She was pardoned by King Abdullah, although he maintained the sentence had been fair
Source: Archives
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3321637.ece
I like yours article. Here is another article was written by an American women, who had lived in Saudi Arabia. This is the link
Written by Tanya C. Hsu
Saturday, 19 July 2008
http://www.i-mag.org/content/view/252/1/