Read Online Strangers by Carla Banks - Free Book Online

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    Article from
New Societies
magazine, posted by Red Rose, 1 Shawwal 1425
    Veiled Knowledge
    Ayesha Chamoun
    The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is shortly to hold elections for the first time in forty years. Women have been banned from the poll. What is the view of Saudi women about this election?
    Times are a-changing for women in the Kingdom
.
They are beginning to make their way in areas that have traditionally been closed to them–in academia, in the media and in industry. The role of women within the wider society is no longer a taboo subject. But does this debate–and a few minor reforms–mean that women can expect to make real progress in gaining significant rights?
    The decision to exclude women from the poll has come as a blow to the fledgling movement for democratic reform. In the last year, leading male liberals have been imprisoned, and the news that prisoners would be allowed to vote whereas women would not, has angered many who hoped that Saudi Arabia was at last moving forward
.
    But these voices are in the minority. For the majority of Saudi women, the concept of ‘rights’ is not an issue they even think about
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see the way you live in the West, and it shows to me that women’s lives are very hard if their society does not look after them, ‘ says one student at Riyadh’s King Saud University
.
    These attitudes, instilled in women by their education and by the way they live, are hard to uproot or challenge. All her life, a woman has a male guardian–her father, her husband, her brother or her son. She must have his permission before she can be educated, travel or go to hospital. It is difficult for a woman even to leave her home without a male escort…
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    At first, Roisin thought that their life in the Kingdom was going to work. They moved their stuff into the house they were renting–characterless, but comfortable enough, with more roomsthan they could possibly use–and tried to fight off the jet lag by exploring the compound where Roisin would spend all her time when she wasn’t working.
    It was small but adequate. The streets were an uneasy pastiche of small-town America, a residential suburb with the sunlight reflecting off the road and sidewalks, off the pale stucco of the houses. There was a library, a gym, and a commissary where Roisin could get supplies. Inside the compound, Western rules and customs prevailed. She was allowed to wear what she liked, to drive, and to wander freely. Outside, she was restricted by cultural taboos that were rigidly enforced.
    On their first weekend, Joe organized a trip to the desert. I’m going to be busy after this,’ he said. ‘I don’t know when we’ll get another chance. If you only see one thing in Saudi, you should see the desert sky at night.’ He borrowed an SUV, and they drove west of the city, out into the open wilderness. They pitched their tent where a sandstone canyon formed a jagged edge along the skyline and watched the sun set as the cold of the desert night began to close around them.
    And the stars came out and blazed in their thousands. Roisin sat outside the tent, her hands wrapped round a mug of coffee, entranced by the icy, indifferent glory. Joe sat behind her and put his arms round her waist as they pointed out the constellations to each other. ‘There’s Orion,’ she said, surprised that she could see the sameconstellations that shone in the night sky over the northern cities. ‘The hunter.’
    She felt rather than heard him laugh. ‘Orion wasn’t just a hunter. He was the most beautiful man in the world. The gods sent a scorpion to kill him, and Diana asked for him to be placed in the sky so she could remember him.’
    They made love under the stars, and she lay awake for a long time afterwards, listening to the sounds as the desert, so dead during the day, came to life. And as she listened to Joe’s quiet breathing, she wondered about the goddess huntress who had had