Saudi Arabia allowed women to register and stand as candidates in local elections on Sunday, August 30. This is a historic first for the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, where women face a host of restrictions. It came after another first earlier in August, when women started to register as voters for the December local elections at centers run by all-female staff, separate from registration facilities for Saudi males. But while the move was welcomed as an important step forward, it also faced criticism from hardline conservatives and from rights groups who said it does not go far enough in providing women with equal rights. Saudi blogger Eman al-Nafjan, who has registered as a voter in Riyadh, told Agence France-Presse, “there are major obstacles that prevent women from participating, such as transportation.” Women in the oil-rich Gulf state, which applies a strict segregation of the sexes, are banned from driving and have to cover themselves in public from head to toe. They also have to obtain the consent of a male guardian to travel, work, apply for a passport, or marry.
Read about developments in Saudi women’s suffrage rights on Rappler.
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.