Education as a weapon in Saudi Arabia
There's a story in today's Arab News that gives an interesting look into family dynamics - and education - in Saudi.
It seems a father is holding his four daughters prisoners in his home - preventing them from going to school, visiting their mother or even leaving the house - and has been doing so for at least the last three years. According to this man, the girls aren't being allowed to attend school because they're "failures" and/or "perverts" - and would thus humiliate and bring dishonor to the father.
The courts have ruled on at least part of the matter - saying the girls must be allowed to spend time with their mother, however no actual visits have been allowed. The school issue need to be addressed by a different court, apparently.
As for the father, he's currently in jail for denying the court ordered visitations.
In the meantime, the girls remain imprisoned - now with an allegedly abusive uncle - and out of school.
Oddly enough, there's a son in the family, and he has been living with his mom the whole time. Whether or not he's in school, there's no indication, tho the mother does say that education is a "God-given right". Interesting...
Anyway, so we have four girls - no ages given - who have been locked up for at least three years by their father. They haven't been allowed out, haven't been allowed to continue their educations, haven't been allowed to see their mother or brother - and even after the father has been sent to jail, they still aren't reunited with their mother, or allowed to attend school.
Now, no one is saying this is a typical situation. It's probably not, right?
Curiosity sent me over to the UNESCO site for some facts on school enrollment, girls and Saudi Arabia.
Turns out there are a lot of kids - both boys and girls - who should be attending school but, for whatever reason, are not. In fact, a whopping 792,714 primary school-aged kids in Saudi don't attend school - despite compulsory education for six years. Of those, 53% are boys and 47% girls -so a pretty even split, all things considered.
However, stats confirm that a full 43% of primary school-aged girls don't attend school.
That number puts Saudi in the company of places like Malawi, Togo, Madagascar, Cameroon and Rwanda when it comes to primary school-aged girls out of school. Not very auspicious company considering Saudi could buy and sell the GNP of any of those places without blinking an eye.
So why are so many young Saudi girls not attending school? I'd like to assume it's not because their parents (read fathers in most cases) aren't allowing them to attend, but I'm not sure that's an accurate assumption.
3 comments:
Wow. No ideas on this one. As Westerners, I dont think there is much anyone can do. Reform only comes when the ones being oppressed stand up, not when others fight for them.
BTW: Nice blog! I love what you've done with the look.
Have a Great Day!!
Terri - thanks for dropping by SGIME. You're right, change always has to come from within - whether personal or cultural. That said, can anyone say SA would be what it is today without the international community putting it's collective foot down and demanding change?
Work needs to be done from both the inside and the outside, I guess. Just not sure what it needs to look like!
You make a good point, the international community has been able to affect some changes by putting its collective foot down. I really can't speak on the oppression I read about that is occurring in the KSA, especially in regards to the rights and personal freedom of women. My view is skewed by pretty much always having the personal freedom to do what I want and see who I want. To not have that personal freedom because I'm a woman would be foreign to me and I'd fight anything (at the very least talk mess and be resistant) that would threaten that personal freedom. However, what if I never had any real personal freedom, what would I want, would I be so vocal and risk my life to get it? I don't know. Yet, you have to fight and I have no idea what that fight would look like for them.
I have read about the initiative to allow women the privilege to drive. But, then last week, I read about some top cleric who wants the women to wear a hijab in which only one eye can be seen. LOL. I don't mean to make light by laughing, it's just the thought of it, visually, seems both funny and ridiculous.
When I read these sorts of things, I wonder if there will ever be any long term change in the personal freedoms of women in the KSA.
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