A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced a woman to 10 lashes for breaking the country's ban on female drivers. The woman, identified only as Shema, was found guilty of driving in Jeddah in July. Women2drive, which campaigns for women to be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, says she has already lodged an appeal. In recent months, scores of women have driven vehicles in Saudi cities in an effort to put pressure on the monarchy to change the law. The sentence comes two days after the Saudi leader King Abdullah announced women would be allowed to vote for the first time in 2015. More to read here.
I know I must respect the laws of different countries. I do believe diversity is the spice of life. But I can't help feeling outraged, not just because this sort of thing can actually happen, but also because there's no formal protests. Maybe it all goes on behind the scenes. I do hope so.
I spent a long time in Sau'di. I think we shouldn't think of another country with the mentality of one who comes from another.
It only shows how certain backward medioeval creeds treat their womenfolks... The right to vote...??? Yeah.... There will be some hidden restrictions which will render it absolutely useless...
I've also lived long periods of time in other countries and cultures. Over 20 years in Japan. In a certain way I do understand and agree with what you're trying to say. But you would need to be a bit more specific on this one.
I will type a little in reply to your comment as well as a reply too to Micawber: Firstly, I think we should try not to judge them by our standards. Are our standards better or worse than theirs? I think our standards are better and worse. We could go on ad-infinitum about how theirs is worse in many aspects but then our society is much worse than theirs in many, many ways also. Many people in the UK often see the better aspects of our society and then highlight the downsides of other countries. IMO we should temper our ideas with a more worldly view. If we don't we will be heading down the Dedworth route. I spent over 22 years working in 44 countries and visiting many others also. I tried my best to always see the pluses and negatives everywhere I went. That is my viewpoint and one that I often brought up in the dark side.
Cultural relativism is something I have trouble subscribing to, I do judge other cultures by the same standard that I judge our own. To do otherwise is wrong (imo) and classes people into groups instead of as simpley people. However, I also look at a society like the ones in Arabia with a two focus viewpoint. One, the treatment of Women, homosexuals, none Muslims and other minorities is appalling and should be condemned at any opportunity. Two, the Arab sense of family and taking care of each other is something we in this country could and should learn from. The way Arabs make a fuss over a meal because it is where people really meet is something we are losing and I wish we would regain. Having said that, I also think we should mock the Saudi's for the treatment of women. Make jokes about them, anything that fosters some kind of change for the better. I think something that we will both agree on is how too many people judge a society or culture without taking the time to actually learn something about it. But to attack a concept or ideal from another society is justified if we also choose to do the same with our own (which we all do). I mean, the world is getting smaller, mass movements of people and ideas. We are losing the boundaries and distance between ourselves and other peoples. We need now more than ever before to learn from each other, criticise each other and grow together.
I'm happy to report that King Abdullah has overturned the sentence of 10 lashes. It seems that King Abdullah believes the country must take steps forward not backward. He took this action despite very strong oppostion from conservative and religious hardliners. Look, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that does not allow women to drive. But, apart from that, these issues are most definitely not about driving or about women. It's about power and control.
I think when the day comes that those vast oil reserves in Saudi Arabia start to dry up, they will soon realise they need their women to be more than stay at home baby factories (I know that sounds demeaning, but that is exactly what a saudi woman is)..
