EDITORIAL: Saudi Arabia denies women the vote

[Spiraling Leopard]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/26/saudi-arabia-denies-women-the-vote/

King’s suffrage decree was merely a PR stunt

World headlines blared on Monday that women in Saudi Arabia had been granted the right to vote. This is exactly what the kingdom’s hard-line Muslim rulers wanted. It diverts attention from the fact that women will still be banned from voting in this week’s elections.

On Sunday, Saudi King Abdullah decreed that women would be able to participate and run in local elections in 2015. They also would be allowed to participate in the advisory Shura Council, whose 150 members are appointed by the king. The decree, however, is mostly important for what it does not say, which is that women are still banned from voting in the elections scheduled for Thursday. This election was originally scheduled for 2009 but purportedly was delayed for two years so the government could review the question of women’s suffrage. The decision to continue the ban on women voting in the current election cycle came down from the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs in March, making the king’s announcement nothing more than a public-relations ploy.

The royal fiat doesn’t actually mention voting. It says, “Women are entitled to nominate themselves for membership in municipal councils, and they are also entitled to participate in the nomination of candidates, according to the parameters of the true law.” It states women would be able to participate “in the Shura Council as members in the next round, according to legal parameters.” Caveats about legal parameters refer to enabling rules to come later from Saudi ministries, which aren’t guaranteed to cooperate with alacrity. The next election could be delayed like the current one, or the decree could be annulled at the king’s whim at any time.

Voting in the kingdom is hardly empowering for anyone. Elections are only held at the local level in the 178 Saudi municipalities while national policy is tightly controlled by the palace. There is no concept of individual rights or freedom of expression as Westerners understand them, and individuals are subordinated to the strictures of Shariah law.

In Jeddah on Sunday, female activist Najalaa Harrir was questioned by authorities for the crime of driving after being videotaped behind the wheel of a car. Driving restrictions have become a symbol of the countless indignities and discriminatory laws to keep Saudi women down. Despite a few democratic trappings, Saudi Arabia is still a hard-line Islamic autocracy where women have to bow, fully covered, to “the will of Allah” - and Abdullah.

[Rubystars]

In Saudi Arabia women will never be able to have rights until Islam itself is rejected. Islam is the problem that makes them into the equivalent of animals in the Saudi mind and only when Islam is gone will they have any real hope of having a voice or to be recognized as human beings with feelings and rights.

I want to add a few words about this concept as it applies to the USA...

I know that "suffrage" was tied to the dangerous feminist movement in the USA however I think you can't really have a representative government at all if you don't let more than half your population have a direct political voice.

Women have always had influence in non-voting ways such as how they raise their children to believe things, how they influence their husbands, etc. but to deny over half the people in a population the right to vote makes no sense if you're going to have voting at all. So I think in general for that reason women's suffrage is a good thing.

It was necessary to bring about some reforms although not all the results have been good I think that's more due to liberals targeting women for propaganda and trying to create a divide between men and women than the female nature itself. I do think women are less likely to be in favor of war.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

I know that "suffrage" was tied to the dangerous feminist movement in the USA

Who are the most fanatical supporters and defenders of Islam in our society if not for the feminists, Rubystars?

They think that the danger is "white male Christian patriarchy" and that Muslims are "victims" of this patriarchy too.

[Rubystars]

Who are the most fanatical supporters and defenders of Islam in our society if not for the feminists, Rubystars?

They think that the danger is "white male Christian patriarchy" and that Muslims are "victims" of this patriarchy too.

You're absolutely right about that. The thing about liberalism is that it's all based on emotion, no logic, no internal consistency. Feminists love MLK (who was notoriously abusive), but hate Sarah Palin. They talk about women's rights but don't care about the little girls (or boys) murdered in abortion. They say hating women or discriminating against women is wrong but have no problems when more deserving men are shut out of jobs or discriminated against.  It's a real sickness.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

They rail against discrimination against women but they have no problem with discriminating against conservative women, or in hiring an unqualified black or Muslim over a white woman.

[Rubystars]

They rail against discrimination against women but they have no problem with discriminating against conservative women, or in hiring an unqualified black or Muslim over a white woman.

You're right about that too. Also they hate women who genuinely enjoy raising families and homemaking.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

They even hate "career women" if they are against abortion.

[Rubystars]

They even hate "career women" if they are against abortion.

Yeah they do. I think they worship at the altar of abortion.