Saudi women hope for a voice in historic election
Date: 24-Sep-04
Country: SAUDI ARABIA
Author: Dominic Evans
The successful architect, who was one of a just a handful of women ready to take on a business in the ultra-orthodox desert kingdom 15 years ago, wants to stand in its first nationwide vote early next year for municipal councils.
Although no formal decree bars her candidacy, several officials have said women - who have few civil rights in Saudi Arabia - will not even get a vote, let alone a chance to run for office.
"I thought being a woman would help to get lots of people involved," said 37-year-old Bakhurji in an interview at her Riyadh home, filled with design papers, cloths and materials.
"Women are very much involved in society here. They have a main role. If it comes to the economy and business they are also becoming more important - we have a lot of women decision makers with financial control," she said.
Backed by a female academic who is trying to drum up women candidates from Saudi Arabia's eastern Gulf coast to its Red Sea shores in the west, Bakhurji has prepared a detailed manifesto focused on environmental, safety and architectural issues.
"I have lots of ideas about developing projects for the community," she said. "There are many concerns we should address - issues like safety, water conservation, getting children aware of their environment."
The elections, to fill half the seats for 178 municipal councils across the country, are part of a cautious programme of political reform championed by Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah.
They follow calls for change from domestic reformers and quiet pressure from Saudi Arabia's close ally the United States to create channels for peaceful political dissent in a country battling a 17-month Islamist militant insurgency.
Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, which carried out the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, is also behind the violence targeting the world's largest oil exporter and cradle of Islam.
While the tentative steps towards political participation have been widely welcomed, the kingdom's powerful Islamic authorities disapprove of any measure that encourages men to mix with women, who are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.
An economic forum in the Saudi city of Jeddah in January provoked protests from the Grand Mufti, the country's senior cleric, because of the prominent role of Saudi women, some of them barely veiled.
"50-50 CHANCE"
"Realistically speaking there's probably a 50 percent chance that we will be able to run for election," said Hatoon al-Fassi, an historian at Riyadh's King Saud University who is trying to rally women candidates.
"But we're working on the basis that we have 100 percent opportunity of running and voting."
Her optimism may be misplaced. Several officials have said women will play no role in the elections.
Others say privately that the government has left the issue open for now to allow time to gauge public opinion before making a final decision.
Fassi says she won't give up until there is a clear ruling.
"I'm dedicating all my time. Networking, writing, lobbying." She has written a blueprint for any woman who will stand as a candidate. As well as Bakhurji, a woman in Jeddah and another from the eastern town of Seyhat are ready to run, she said.
"I'm hoping for more. We've been working hard during summertime, defending the women's fort because it was during summer that all the rumours started of women not participating.
"The door is still open. There is still hope for us".
Women's participation is not the only grey area in the elections, which will be held in three stages from February to April.
Saudis say they are unsure whether the councils - which will be half elected and half appointed - will have any executive powers or just an advisory role to local authorities.
The confusion may dampen enthusiasm for the experiment.
"It's a new thing. The whole process of elections is new and people need to b
