Sunday, 20 January 2008: JEDDAH - SAUDI businesswomen on Saturday spoke up in defense of Islam but blamed the society for the country's questionable record on gender-equality.

Saudi officials were questioned on Thursday by a UN expert panel on women's rights about numerous infringements on gender-equality that occur in Saudi Arabia, according to an account of the UN meeting published in Geneva on Friday.

Reacting to the questions raised by the 23-member UN committee of experts - most of them women - on Saudi norms that give men the right to twice the inheritance women are allowed, and make women obliged to have a "Mehram" (male guardian) accompany them for many of life's daily tasks, Dr. Amira Kashgari, an outspoken voice for Saudi women's rights, told Saudi Gazette: "Islam gave woman her rights 1,400 years ago but now we don't have these right just because of the society."

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is an expert body composed of 23 experts on women's issues from around the world, mandated to watch over progress for women in countries that signed the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which as of 2000 includes Saudi Arabia.

According to minutes of the meeting, one of the CEDAW experts asked the Saudi delegation: "What is the legal basis in Saudi society that justifies this guardian system? ... Is it necessary to maintain this system in the 21st century?"

"Without the presence of this tutor (guardian), a woman cannot study, access health services, marry, travel abroad, have a business or even access an ambulance in an emergency," the member noted.

In response, Dr. Lubna Al-Ansari, a woman in the Saudi delegation, said the questions were largely based on "misconceptions."

"Women are flourishing in different areas ... Whether she can have a passport and travel, the answer is yes. We can travel on our own ... For instance, for me, I have permission from my husband, so I can move freely and go wherever I want," according to a press release by UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights organization (NGO) founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter.

Kashgari told Saudi Gazette that most of the points reportedly raised by the committee were "right" ... "and we have to deal with them."

"We should not look at them as criticism and be ashamed of them."

Instead, the questioning "should give us a chance of being aware of our problems and solve them," Kashgari added.

The Saudi government has said in its written testimony to the committee that, "The Holy Qur'an and Immaculate Sunna [upon which Saudi law is based] contain unequivocal rulings in favor of non-discrimination between men and women, desiring that women enjoy the same rights and duties on a basis of equality."

The testimony also said "the laws of the Kingdom require redress for a woman if she is subject to discrimination or injustice."

Sawsan Shazli, a Saudi businesswoman, in comments to Saudi Gazette, was critical of the "guardian" requirement for Saudi women, without the presence of whom a woman cannot study, access health services, marry, travel abroad, have a business or even access an ambulance in an emergency.

Citing Islamic history, Shazli said: "Khadijah Bint Khuwalid was a successful businesswoman during the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and she collected wealth through hiring men to go on merchant trips, to sell - no guardian was required." Hence, she argued, "Islam is innocent of the way the society is dealing with women now."

"Our rights as women are not equal with men today, but that was not the case with Khadijah Bint Khuwalid and other Muslim women during and after the days of the Prophet," Shazli said.

Dr. Ali Al-Tawati, a political analyst here, agreed that the Saudi woman "must take her rights in all fields as part of women's empowerment or women's rights, and education is included in all that."

"Education in all fields is not gender restricted so we should not kill great talents just because they are women," Al-Tawati stated.

He cautioned against linking Islamic practices to societal norms today.

"We have improved now compared to 10 years ago," he said, "but we need to give more importance to women's empowerment while keeping in mind that we shouldn't mix between Islamic rules and practices of the society."

Hissa Al-Oun, one Saudi businesswoman, found the questioning about Muslim women's inheritance as unacceptable, saying, "We never interfere in any religious rules and we accept them as they are stated."

"Women are never asked to spend their money on men," she said in defense of the difference in inheritance. "Men are the people who should provide everything for a woman even if she is rich." The members of the committee also asked the Saudi delegation why Saudi women do not have the right to drive in their country.

In addition, they raised the case that made headlines around the world of a Qatif woman who had been convicted to six months in prison and 200 lashings after being gang-raped.

The woman was since exonerated by King Abdullah, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

By Maha Sami Aboulola

© The Saudi Gazette 2008