Women are STILL banned from driving as of last month, in Saudi. I just spoke with the Saudi embassy because I needed to drive my dog to Abu Dhabi and was informed BY THEM that I could NOT drive myself, I had to have a male RELATIVE with me or I could hire someone from my husband's company to drive me. Now..that being said, I had a friend who I trust implicitly and my husband approved of and Saudi STILL would NOT let me go through its borders without my husband or company driver..much less ME driving. Women HAVE to cover completely there, regardless of their nationality or religion.
Your views on what women's rights are, are totally skewed. You are mistaking rights with absence of violent acts(read that CRIMES). As far as why America doesn't have a female president..well, after the slaves were freed in America after the Civil War, the black people got to vote 50 YEARS before women...but with protests, marches and appealing to the courts, women won the voting rights as well. Women back then were STILL considered property and had NO rights. Women's rights are still a work in progress every where in the world but the western world is still ahead of the Middle East in that respect.
Do I think women in the West have more rights than over here? yes...and I'll give you some very simple examples that I've personally experienced over here. When we were having issues with the bank over credit cards not working, hubby sent me to bank to fix it. Turned out that I was not ALLOWED to do so without him being with me, even though the account is in BOTH of our names. Back home there would be no question of that at all. A girl friend and I traveled to Oman for vacation and at the visa desk, we were asked "Where are your husbands?" The guy gave us such a hassle it took the fun out of the trip for the rest of the day.
I know women here in Qatar that are forced to cover with hajib, not because they WANT to but because their husband or father insists upon it. There is a HUGE difference in those that wish to cover for their own religious choice.
Those of you who are trying to enlighten this guy are battering your head against a brick wall. He's got his head up his anus and doesn't want to look at anything that might even resemble a logical conversation. If only God would put him in a female body for 12 months and place him back here in the Middle East for him to experience what its like, I would be willing to bet his tone would change dramatically.
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the main difference between a dog and man.
-Mark Twain-
Women are STILL banned from driving as of last month, in Saudi. I just spoke with the Saudi embassy because I needed to drive my dog to Abu Dhabi and was informed BY THEM that I could NOT drive myself, I had to have a male RELATIVE with me or I could hire someone from my husband's company to drive me. Now..that being said, I had a friend who I trust implicitly and my husband approved of and Saudi STILL would NOT let me go through its borders without my husband or company driver..much less ME driving. Women HAVE to cover completely there, regardless of their nationality or religion.
Your views on what women's rights are, are totally skewed. You are mistaking rights with absence of violent acts(read that CRIMES). As far as why America doesn't have a female president..well, after the slaves were freed in America after the Civil War, the black people got to vote 50 YEARS before women...but with protests, marches and appealing to the courts, women won the voting rights as well. Women back then were STILL considered property and had NO rights. Women's rights are still a work in progress every where in the world but the western world is still ahead of the Middle East in that respect.
Do I think women in the West have more rights than over here? yes...and I'll give you some very simple examples that I've personally experienced over here. When we were having issues with the bank over credit cards not working, hubby sent me to bank to fix it. Turned out that I was not ALLOWED to do so without him being with me, even though the account is in BOTH of our names. Back home there would be no question of that at all. A girl friend and I traveled to Oman for vacation and at the visa desk, we were asked "Where are your husbands?" The guy gave us such a hassle it took the fun out of the trip for the rest of the day.
I know women here in Qatar that are forced to cover with hajib, not because they WANT to but because their husband or father insists upon it. There is a HUGE difference in those that wish to cover for their own religious choice.
Those of you who are trying to enlighten this guy are battering your head against a brick wall. He's got his head up his anus and doesn't want to look at anything that might even resemble a logical conversation. If only God would put him in a female body for 12 months and place him back here in the Middle East for him to experience what its like, I would be willing to bet his tone would change dramatically.
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the main difference between a dog and man.
-Mark Twain-