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King Abdullah Appoints Women to Shura Council

Politics, Saudi, Women 3 Comments

King Abdullah appointed women to the shura council (advisory council), a historic move in modern day Saudi Arabia, which was founded by King Abdulaziz who is known to have to call himself “brother of Nora”, his sister, a woman he often consulted for her wisdom, and recently had a university built in her name.

The role of women is steadily and surely increasing, and King Abdullah is making sure it happens as fast as it can, even though it might seem slow, but remember, it took us a while to get here. Women were given scholarships to study abroad, able to stay in hotels without needing a male guardian, now have more opportunities to work, and many more things that women regularly do and probably take for granted in other neighboring countries with similar conditions.

King Abdullah, Abdullah al-Sheikh, Saleh bin Hamid

Women now represent 20% of the shura council, and according to the pareto principal (the 80-20 rule, or the law of the vital few) let’s hope this 20 percent is more effective at targeting issues.

At least now their voices are being heard, and some of the names I read are very inspiring and influential in Saudi.

Of course this did not stop people from mocking the whole thing, sexism is alive and well in the most open of societies, ask Julia Gillard the Australian prime minister, or check American politics, no one is immune.

Whoever says this step is not huge, do not know what they are talking about.

When Defeat is Still a Victory

Fitness, Saudi, Women 2 Comments

The young Wojdan Shahrkhani became the first Saudi Arabian woman to compete at the Olympic Games, not just in London, but first ever.

While she did not win a medal, she did win what is no doubt more than a medal could. All athletes at the Olympics dream of medals, in Wojdan’s case, she won a place in history, her name will be a name to remember, and a medal would’ve just been the icing on the cake.

It is no doubt that pioneers get shot, get ridiculed, get humiliated, and in Wojdan’s case it was no different, racial and sexist slurs were hurled at her from many of her country men and women on twitter, but many more came out to defend her, and to my surprise, the minister of foreign affairs of the UAE sheikh Abdullah bin Zayid thanked Wojdan on his twitter account, understandably, none of our officials (at the time of writing this post) have made a statement on twitter, but allowing her to compete in the name of the country, is enough of a statement anyhow I guess.

What is funny and sad, is that Saudis do not want Saudi women to compete using religious reasons… which brings back the argument that most other Muslim countries have women competing in the Olympics, and the world keeps turning.

Saudi Women Climbing Mount Everest

Saudi, Women 0 Comment

Speaking of sports bras and what’s in’em, ten Saudi women are getting ready to climb Mount Everest in an effort to raise awareness of breast cancer.

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“Destination Mount Everest” is under the patronage of Princess Rema Daughter of Bandar bin Sultan AlSaud, in association with the ministry of education and health.

The effort comes after the guinness world record achieved by Saudi Arabia for the largest human awareness pink ribbon in 2010.

All of the participants are either survivors of breast cancer or have a close relative that is battling the disease.

One of my best friends lost his mother to breast cancer, another extremely good friend’s wife has been going through her own journey battling the disease, so the subject affects me deeply on a personal level.

They say 8000 new cases are discovered yearly among Saudi women, 50-60% of them in late stages.

Shout out to American Bedu who is going through her own battle with the disease and raising awareness through her own blog and activities.

Where Are The Sports Bras?

Where Are The Sports Bras?

Women 0 Comment

I am happy with the decision to let saudi women participate in the Olympics, I’ve been a supporter since the beginning on this blog, even though this stands against the original olympics where athletes (only males) would compete naked, plus, originating with the Greeks this event has pagan origins.

Now, looking back on this, where will they get females to compete? Not like athletes are made overnight, and It’s not like female sports are a favorite pastime for women (nor men, and we have an almost epidemic number of people suffering from obesity related diseases) and seeing how the millions spent on football (soccer) are a really good return on the investment, I am not really optimistic about women getting any medals… Unless they invent new sports of perseverance and ability, something many women all over the world are already champions in (ain’t that right John?)

Where are the sports bras is me making fun of the lack of women’s athletic apparel in Saudi, not the name brand expensive stuff, but the regular stuff you find in the cheaper stores.

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© Qusay 2013