Intelligent, educated women in Saudi Arabia still have a struggle on their hands to be accepted in public life. Therefore women, especially those from the West, should learn as much as they can about Saudi history and social practices before going to live and work there. Hans Straub reports.

In January 2004, an unusual event occurred in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A prominent business woman stood in front of an economic forum in Jeddah and delivered an address to a largely male audience. This in itself would have been rare, but even more uncommon was that the woman was not veiled. She caused a scandal.

Lubna Al-Olayan was deliberately throwing out a challenge to the Saudi Arabian patriarchy to give women more opportunities in the economy, in education and training, in participation in public life of the country. She was immediately condemned by the ultra-conservative establishment.

Although the KSA signed the "Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women" in 2001, the interpretation and implementation of this document has left many women frustrated. Typically in such matters, Saudi Arabia takes two steps forward and one step back.

Allowing women to drive cars was discussed briefly, and then dropped just as quickly. A similar thing happened to the suggestion that women be given their own passports and be allowed more freedom to travel independently of male relatives. Some women expressed the wish to be permitted to wear coloured abayas, but the standardised long-sleeved 'black cloak' or kaftan remains the norm, even if it is by Christian Dior.

The lack of innovation in Saudi Arabian culture is largely the result of an inflexibility of the religious establishment that controls society from top to bottom.

It is true that in Saudi Arabia women are being educated to an unprecedented degree, but just what they are being taught remains questionable. It is also true that some are being trained as doctors (often abroad) and dentists, but at university men and women remain segregated as in the rest of society.

Female students need to communicate with male professors by closed-circuit TV. Still, women are grateful for these forward-looking steps, given the poor employment prospects for most Saudis in a stagnant economy.

Expatriate women who come to work in Saudi Arabia usually find employment in specialised areas such as nursing, teaching, and some secretarial functions. Those who come with husbands seem to fare better than singles, for there is not much to do for a single woman in a world where males dominate all areas of public life.

Accommodation for foreign women is usually in high-rise buildings in town, or on compounds where they have small houses or apartments. Life tends to be spent being transported to and from work, supermarkets, shopping malls, and the airport.

Women are restricted from going anywhere alone, but they can go to restaurants in groups or pairs where they may eat in the "family section" away from the bachelor crowd. In public they will need to be cloaked in the black abaya, but may leave their hair uncovered.

Should they be caught wearing short-sleeved blouses, short skirts, or other "provocative" attire, they risk arrest by the religious enforcers, the muttawan. Being in the company of men they are not married to is a criminal offence.

There are no public cinemas in Saudi, but cinemas do exist on large foreign compounds. Women can, however, rent videos, which tend to be censored of all references to religion, sex, and political, anti-Saudi statements. Only the violence remains untouched.

Women can shop till they drop in European and American chain stores where they can get virtually anything available abroad—even though they can't wear most or any of the clothes they buy in public. The Saudis have beautiful malls, some of them for women-only.

Modern banks for exclusively for women also exist as do women-only exercise clubs. Open-air swimming pools are restricted to men, unless on compounds, although some hotels have women's hours for indoor pools and saunas. The segregation of the genders may take getting used to, but there is no avoiding it and railing against convention will only invite trouble. Some expatriate women actually prefer this state of things as it creates a secure world for women-only.

What the expatriate woman ought to remember, however, is that she is not in the West. Democratic rules of society do not apply in Saudi Arabia.

One useful point to note is that handing and receiving things, especially food, should be done only with the right hand. The left hand is meant for toilet matters.

You should also know that women and men do not shake hands or have any physical contact in public, although I have seen Saudi couples holding hands in Jeddah. No hugging or kissing of male friends. Laughing out loud is unseemly, and smoking in public is taboo for women. Similarly, watch what you wear. Leave the crucifixes at home, wear only long-sleeved blouses at work; dress like your great-grandmother did. Defying convention won't get you anything except fired.

Since 9/11, Saudis have felt defensive against the criticism of the outside world. Those who used to see America and Europe as models of progress are now under pressure to rejoin the conservative tribe and reject the West. So, feminist-inspired criticism, even well-intentioned, is not going to find a friendly reception, even among Saudi women.

In point of fact, Arabs tend not to be as critical of their cultures as are Westerners who seem to be eternally complaining. Dumping on your homeland or its leadership can be interpreted as disloyalty or 'sucking up to' the Saudis. Your words should be considered before they leave the tongue, especially when it comes to politics.

In the current trouble of the Middle East, it is a mistake to think women and children receive some kind of special "religious" sanctions against violence. Any traditional protection once offered non-Muslim women and children has long ago gone out the window, as we know from attacks on compounds in Riyadh and Al Khobar. Foreign families who go to Saudi Arabia today are well advised to weigh the benefits against the risks not only of physical harm but of the emotional pressure of living in a state of siege.

Saudi culture is on the brink between the modern and the traditional worlds. Expatriate women would do well to learn as much as possible about Saudi history and social practices before they enter the country.

Insights into Islam offered by Dr. Fatema Mernissi (Beyond the Veil), and Elizabeth Nydall (Understanding Arabs), can be useful for knowing what to do and expect. Expatriated Westerners would also do well to look into the hadiths, the manners and morals of Islam, to avoid embarrassing themselves or besmirching the cultures they represent.

September 2004

Intercultural trainer Hans Straub has worked in Canada, Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia. He also teaches English for academic purposes (EAP) and English as a second language (ESL).