@yoisi I claim one downvote on the first post and no others :-)
The feminists I mentioned are indeed in jail, which is part of why I'm saying that there are huge problems and we need to focus on the real issues, not on inaccurate claims.
I agree that smaller towns have less public spaces for women as well (such as restaurants and cafés). Most social life happens in private spaces anyway, but it would be a step forward if public spaces could open up. In big cities this is a nonissue.
I *have* lived in Syria and I feel *way* safer and more comfortable as a woman in Saudi than there. In Saudi I met more conservatives as far as dress code goes, in Syria waaaaay more mysogyny. The two are not equal. And Afghanistan, I think you only have to look at women's education/literacy status to know that there is a difference, and Saudi is not the worst off. Many of the changes we're seeing are because Saudi invested heavily in women's education, and now it's simply not logical not to encourage half of your highly-educated population participate in the country's economic development.
You may not have seen women in the documentaries because actually in Saudi it's really rude/taboo to film women without their permission, and many women will get upset if you do.
To be fair there have been many, many changes with regards to women's/human rights over the past few years and your info may be rapidly outdated, even if it was true five years ago. The religious police, for example, have little to no power now.
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@yoisi I claim one downvote on the first post and no others :-)
The feminists I mentioned are indeed in jail, which is part of why I'm saying that there are huge problems and we need to focus on the real issues, not on inaccurate claims.
I agree that smaller towns have less public spaces for women as well (such as restaurants and cafés). Most social life happens in private spaces anyway, but it would be a step forward if public spaces could open up. In big cities this is a nonissue.
I *have* lived in Syria and I feel *way* safer and more comfortable as a woman in Saudi than there. In Saudi I met more conservatives as far as dress code goes, in Syria waaaaay more mysogyny. The two are not equal. And Afghanistan, I think you only have to look at women's education/literacy status to know that there is a difference, and Saudi is not the worst off. Many of the changes we're seeing are because Saudi invested heavily in women's education, and now it's simply not logical not to encourage half of your highly-educated population participate in the country's economic development.
You may not have seen women in the documentaries because actually in Saudi it's really rude/taboo to film women without their permission, and many women will get upset if you do.
To be fair there have been many, many changes with regards to women's/human rights over the past few years and your info may be rapidly outdated, even if it was true five years ago. The religious police, for example, have little to no power now.