Saudi women - a force to be reckoned with! | Small business news; tips; networking

Posted by CatarinasWorld under Global
From http://catarinasworld.com 668 days ago
Made Hot by: BradenM on August 23, 2011 3:48 am

Saudi law permits women to run a business but often this law is not enforced since government officials prevent it. But women-owned businesses are now increasing.

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Written by CatarinasWorld
666 days ago

Yoni, the passport I had when I was 19 years old expired a long time ago.

But I wouldn't go to the US with my current passport with stamps from Saudi, Kuwait, Lebanon, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. I would be detained for questioning upon the arrival at say, JFK and asked if I was a member of Al Queda and so forth.

That kind of profiling is unfortunate but it happens in many countries, unfortunately.

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Written by CatarinasWorld
666 days ago

Glad you like my article, Yoni.

Was in Isreal once when I was 19 years old. Haven't been back since.

By the way, have lived and worked all over the world. The most interesting country in a way is Saudi. Almost every day something happens that you have ever experienced before. Positive or negative.

Don't listen to all the Saudi bashing going on since 9/11. Saudis are human beings, just like any other people in the world. Little girls play with dolls and love pink clothes. Teenagers want to date and so forth. Saudi teenagers use blue tooth a lot to get in touch with each other, by the way:-9

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Written by yoni67
666 days ago

Catarina,

I suspect that most kids the world over want to play with dolls and live, grow, date, etc.

Here in Israel, there are 1/2 a million people who immigrated from the former Soviet Union. I have met many and speaking to them about the Cold War, those who were old enough, is eye-opening. None have ever spoke of hating the U.S. and the West as I was brought up to believe growing up in America. They wanted to live. They listened in secret to the Beatles and the Voice of America. They read Steinbeck and Salinger. Were they afraid of the U.S.? Nope. They were more scared of the KGB or NKVD coming in the middle of the night to whisk them away to who knows where. maybe the Lybyanka or a gulag in Siberia.

I suppose that wherever we live and grow up that most people are more like us than we tend to think.

I'm sure that most people in places like Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc. are kind good-hearted, hard-working people. There's always that radical fringe.

I guess it's the same in Israel. Most of the world is brought up to think that we are satanic! We are cold-hearted murderers and kidnap gentile children before Passover to mix their blood in the Matzah flour.

Also, how did you manage to get into SA with a passport stamped in Israel. I was told they would reject you as a Zionist spy?

Yoni

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Written by CatarinasWorld
667 days ago

Changing the kingdom will not be easy. But it's starting and slowly but surely it will happen.

Businessavante I know plenty of liberated women there and also fathers who make sure there daughters get educated. Change is starting from the top, as it always does in all societies and eventually it filters down.

Yoni, in reality women in KSA do much more than what you are able to read about. Rules are there to be broken and Saudi women do it all the time. Quite a few of them drive with almost black windows. And did you know that bedouin women have always driven in the desert and done whatever they wanted? Saudi women also decide a lot behind the scenes.

Understanding Saudi Arabia is almost impossible if you haven't lived there and integrated in society. Have had Saudi friends for 25 years and thought I understood the country. But when I lived there I realised I didn't.

Rome wasn't built in a day and that definitely applies to women in Saudi Arabia. But nothing is impossible, the impossible only takes longer.

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Written by yoni67
667 days ago

Catarina,

It is a very good and thought-provoking piece which you have written. I hope and bet it will become a Hot-Topic!

You are right in stating that small steps are heartening and inspirational.

I haven't been to Saudi Arabia, though it is visible, along with Jordan and Egypt, when I visit our southernmost Israeli city of Eilat.

It seems so far away, not in terms of distance, I think only 30 miles or so, but in terms of how Draconian it seems in certain ways.

You are right about Rome. I hope to read in the not so distant future about more strides being made!

Yoni

p.s. if you ever want to return to Saudi Arabia, never come to Israel! Not that we wouldn't mind having you, but once you have an Israeli stamp in your passport, you are banned for life from traveling to SA.

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Written by yoni67
667 days ago

I also just looked at an Al Jazeera article and saw that any paperwork that needs to be filed for a female-owned business, whether incorporation, taxes, hiring, etc., must be filed by a "mahram," a male guardian.

"Women are also forbidden to mix with men in public-including being in a meeting alone with a man."

"Most women cannot run a business in their own name."

Sorry to be negative, but it just makes me wonder.

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Written by yoni67
667 days ago

Catarina:

Human Rights Watch:

(sampling)

-Saudi women are forbidden from driving

-Saudi women are forbidden from voting

-Saudi women cannot testify against a man in court

-Unmarried Saudi women who wish to attend university abroad must be accompanied at all times by a male escort who serves as a "watcher"

-Saudi women are not allowed to speak in court...they must deputize a male family member who is then allowed to speak on her behalf.

The few high-profile women who run businesses in Saudi Arabia are window-dressing. P.R. Or, as I have just learned from a bit of online research, members of the inner-circle of the royal family.

Sorry to rain in the parade.

Yoni

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Written by businessavante
667 days ago

Thanks for researching, Yoni. I Binged Catarina Alexon - she worked in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia a few years ago. I'd like to read about her personal experiences there - how many liberated women she encountered.

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Written by businessavante
667 days ago

Catarina, maybe it's time for the new law allowing women to run businesses w/o men overseeing them to have some legal "teeth", like discrimination laws in the U.S. They may need a civil rights board to oversee it. Dare I say there's currently a "good ol' boy" system in place.

Duncan

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Written by yoni67
667 days ago

I guess I want to add, as a final comment, a vociferous agreement with Duncan. I think the Kingdom is best described by the late-great James Brown..."This is a man's world."

Until the men in charge allow women to become a part of society in a real way, it's not going to happen. But when it does, I'm sure the women will have much to contribute.

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