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Sep 25, 2011 17:00

Women can (well, er, starting with the next term) become members of Majlis Ash-Shura!

saudi arabia

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Comments 14

burning_phoneix September 25 2011, 14:45:51 UTC
Don't forget municipal councils as well.

But I would care more if the Shoura and the councils actually had any sort of power :(

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inkedfeathers September 25 2011, 15:16:43 UTC


Yes, the best Shura can do is propose things... ^^;

But, it's definitely a step in the right direction, I think!

I want to be the tiniest bit optimistic, even if I'm not expecting much.

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flyboy_fox September 25 2011, 18:07:53 UTC
This sounds like good news, although I'm afraid I don't know enough about it to know HOW good. But progress for females in politics and work is generally and most often a good thing, so yay!

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inkedfeathers September 25 2011, 18:17:58 UTC
Yep!

It's not too grand, since the most people in Shura can do is propose new legislation, but they don't have the power to actually set anything in motion.

Still, it's progress, so that's a good thing! ^_^

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flyboy_fox September 25 2011, 18:31:38 UTC
Definitely!

I guess that's kind of the way I feel about the very recent removal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy in the US military, meaning that gay servicemen and women can't be expelled for their orientation and no longer have to lie about it in order to serve their country. It doesn't fix ALL the problems, but it's a start!

I hope that the Shura thing will lead to further progress for women's rights (: As always, I'm always learning new things and keeping informed about stuff I otherwise wouldn't know about by reading your posts ♥

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inkedfeathers September 25 2011, 18:40:01 UTC
It certainly is!

I hope so too. ^^

Aww, I'm flattered! Even if I've been neglecting my own journal recently... I really missed posting and hearing from you guys! So, I'm going to try and post more often.

Oh, there's also something else I didn't mention in my post (but burningphoenix brought up in his comment!), the king was quoted saying: "Because we refuse to marginalize women in society in all roles that comply with sharia (Islamic law), we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama (clerics) and others... to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from the next term," he said.

"Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote."

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blackjackrocket September 25 2011, 22:54:28 UTC
I just wonder what took so long. How could anyone possibly refuse someone the right to express their ideas for the country? That just seems so incredibly...ugh. I can't imagine why it took the US until 1920 either. So incredibly self-defeating for a nation to deny such basic things.

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inkedfeathers September 26 2011, 04:18:46 UTC
Technically, we had the right to vote and attain high positions and all of that as Muslims, for the past 1400 years.

With the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate, though, we lost that right when Saudi Arabia was established for... um, no good reason.

So, really, we're just being given back a right that was ours to begin with that we were denied for no real reason all this time, except because those with power decided we were suddenly not good enough for this kind of thing or something.

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blackjackrocket September 26 2011, 08:34:46 UTC
Yeah, I would have thought that people would flat out refuse to let that pass, that rights would never be surrendered just because some dipshits decided they hated women. I would have thought that no one with any decency would have permitted it, man or woman, and that "those in power" wouldn't have remained in it for any length of time due to it.

But I always overestimate human beings and their willingness to stand up for themselves, all around the world. You've seen my blog talking about that.

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Hooray! :) teamrodent October 4 2011, 02:31:17 UTC
Have to count those small steps, you know.

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inkedfeathers October 4 2011, 07:46:24 UTC
Of course! ^^

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