---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: kracktivist <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 10:42 AM
Subject: [New post] Real War on Women -Saudi Arabia implements electronic
tracking system for women
To: [email protected]
**
kracktivist posted: " By Agence France-Presse Thursday, November 22, 2012
10:54 EST, Thde raw story RIYADH — Denied the right to travel without
consent from their male guardians and banned from driving, women in Saudi
Arabia are now monitored by an electronic syste" Respond to this post by
replying above this line
New post on *kracktivist*
<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/author/kracktivist/> Real War on Women
-Saudi Arabia implements electronic tracking system for
women<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/real-war-on-women-saudi-arabia-implements-electronic-tracking-system-for-women/>
by
kracktivist <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/author/kracktivist/>
*By Agence France-Presse <http://www.afp.com>
Thursday, November 22, 2012 10:54 EST, Thde raw story*
RIYADH<http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=24.7116666667,46.7241666667&spn=0.1,0.1&q=24.7116666667,46.7241666667%20(Riyadh)&t=h>—
Denied the right to travel without consent from their male guardians
and
banned from driving, women in Saudi
Arabia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia>are
now monitored by an electronic system that tracks any cross-border
movements.
Since last week, Saudi women’s male guardians began receiving text
messages on their phones informing them when women under their custody
leave the country, even if they are travelling together.
Manal al-Sherif, who became the symbol of a campaign launched last year
urging Saudi women to defy a driving ban, began spreading the information
on Twitter <http://twitter.com>, after she was alerted by a couple.
The husband, who was travelling with his wife, received a text message from
the immigration authorities informing him that his wife had left the
international airport in Riyadh.
“The authorities are using technology to monitor women,” said columnist
Badriya al-Bishr, who criticised the “state of slavery under which women
are held” in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
Women are not allowed to leave the kingdom without permission from their
male guardian, who must give his consent by signing what is known as the
“yellow sheet” at the airport or border.
The move by the Saudi authorities was swiftly condemned on social network
Twitter — a rare bubble of freedom for millions in the kingdom — with
critics mocking the decision.
“Hello Taliban, herewith some tips from the Saudi e-government!” read one
post.
“Why don’t you cuff your women with tracking ankle bracelets too?” wrote
Israa.
“Why don’t we just install a microchip into our women to track them
around?” joked another.
“If I need an SMS <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS> to let me know my wife
is leaving Saudi
Arabia<http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=24.65,46.7666666667&spn=10.0,10.0&q=24.65,46.7666666667%20(Saudi%20Arabia)&t=h>,
then I’m either married to the wrong woman or need a psychiatrist,” tweeted
Hisham.
“This is technology used to serve backwardness in order to keep women
imprisoned,” said Bishr, the columnist.
“It would have been better for the government to busy itself with finding
a solution for women subjected to domestic violence” than track their
movements into and out of the country.
Saudi Arabia applies a strict interpretation of sharia, or Islamic
law<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharia>,
and is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive.
In June 2011, female activists launched a campaign to defy the ban, with
many arrested for doing so and forced to sign a pledge they will never
drive again.
No law specifically forbids women in Saudi Arabia from driving, but the
interior minister formally banned them after 47 women were arrested and
punished after demonstrating in cars in November 1990.
Last year, King
Abdullah<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_of_Saudi_Arabia>— a
cautious reformer — granted women
the right to vote <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage> and run
in the 2015 municipal elections, a historic first for the country.
In January, the 89-year-old monarch appointed
Sheikh<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh>Abdullatif Abdel Aziz
al-Sheikh, a moderate, to head the notorious
religious police commission, which enforces the kingdom’s severe version of
sharia law.
Following his appointment, Sheikh banned members of the commission from
harassing Saudi women over their behaviour and attire, raising hopes a more
lenient force will ease draconian social constraints in the country.
But the kingdom’s “religious establishment” is still to blame for the
discrimination of women in Saudi Arabia, says liberal activist Suad
Shemmari.
“Saudi women are treated as minors throughout their lives even if they
hold high positions,” said Shemmari, who believes “there can never be
reform in the kingdom without changing the status of women and treating
them” as equals to men.
But that seems a very long way off.
The kingdom enforces strict rules governing mixing between the sexes, while
women are forced to wear a veil and a black cloak, or abaya, that covers
them from head to toe except for their hands and faces.
The many restrictions on women have led to high rates of female
unemployment, officially estimated at around 30 percent.
In October, local media published a justice ministry directive allowing
all women lawyers who have a law degree and who have spent at least three
years working in a lawyer’s office to plead cases in court.
But the ruling, which was to take effect this month, has not been
implemented.
*kracktivist <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/author/kracktivist/>* |
November 28, 2012 at 10:42 am | Tags:
Asia<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=asia>,
discrimination <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=discrimination>,
equality <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=equality>,
feminism<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=feminism>,
gender <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=gender>, Human
Rights<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=human-rights>,
Riyadh <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=riyadh>,
Saudi<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=saudi>,
Saudi Arabia <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=saudi-arabia>,
Sharia<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=sharia>,
Sheikh <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=sheikh>,
SMS<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=sms>,
Twitter <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=twitter>, Women
Rights<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=women-rights>,
Women's rights in Saudi
Arabia<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?tag=womens-rights-in-saudi-arabia>|
Categories:
Advocacy <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?cat=5967>,
Announcements<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?cat=217>,
Human Rights <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?cat=2720>,
Justice<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?cat=2606>,
Kractivism <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?cat=74285219>,
Law<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?cat=2054>,
Violence against Women <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?cat=8098>, Women
Rights <http://kractivist.wordpress.com/?cat=167408> | URL:
http://wp.me/p27avX-2Bx
Comment<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/real-war-on-women-saudi-arabia-implements-electronic-tracking-system-for-women/#respond>
See all
comments<http://kractivist.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/real-war-on-women-saudi-arabia-implements-electronic-tracking-system-for-women/#comments>
Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage
Subscriptions<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=8277c8c7e4a4393b47baeaeb1ca80d40&email=kmvenuannur%40gmail.com>.
*Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your browser:
http://kractivist.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/real-war-on-women-saudi-arabia-implements-electronic-tracking-system-for-women/
Thanks for flying with WordPress.com <http://wordpress.com>
--
You cannot build anything on the foundations of caste. You cannot build up
a nation, you cannot build up a morality. Anything that you will build on
the foundations of caste will crack and will never be a whole.
-AMBEDKAR
http://venukm.blogspot.in
http://www.shelfari.com/kmvenuannur
http://kmvenuannur.livejournal.com
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Green Youth Movement" group.
To post to this group, send an email to [email protected].
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected].
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
