WOMEN'S REFORM IN SAUDI ARABIA: NO CELEBRATIONS YET

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RIYADH 000233

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP, DRL/NESCA, G/IWI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/13/2018
TAGS: KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SA
SUBJECT: WOMEN'S REFORM IN SAUDI ARABIA: NO CELEBRATIONS YET

REF: A. JEDDAH 0072

B. JEDDAH 0079

Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL JOHN KINCANNON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D
)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The opening weeks of 2008 have brought a
flurry of rumors and announcements regarding potentially
important advances in the rights of Saudi Arabia's female
citizens. On January 21, the English newspaper "Telegraph"
reported that the SAG unofficially planned to drop the ban on
women driving cars by year's end. On the same day, in other
international media, it was announced that the Saudi Ministry
of Commerce had decided to allow women to stay in hotels or
furnished apartments without male guardians. An article in
the "Arab News" on January 28 reported that a women's rights
organization, Ansar Al-Marah, ("The Partisans of Women") had
finally been approved by the Ministry of Social Affairs after
a two-year struggle to gain licensing. Finally, the SAG
announced that it would create a nationwide network of
women's sports centers in the Kingdom. Despite these
positive developments, there is real skepticism amongst
prominent activists in the Kingdom whether the changes
announced have truly been implemented, or will be any time
soon. Furthermore, criticism from powerful conservative
elements of society has already begun to oppose these
prospective changes. END SUMMARY.

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Driving Ban
--------------


2. (C) In a January 21 story in the British daily
"Telegraph," an unnamed source inside the Saudi government
claimed that the SAG planned to lift the ban on women driving
by the end of this year. PolOff received information on
February 8 from Ibrahim al-Mugaiteeb, a consultant to the
Human Rights Commission, that a Royal Decree confirming this
would be signed within the next three weeks. Many of post's
female contacts in the Eastern Province (EP),including
well-known human rights activist Wajeha al-Huwaider, are
confident that the ban will indeed be lifted by year's end.
Al-Huwaider has explained that the difference this time may
be the fact that the issue has become practical and economic,
as opposed to purely a matter of women's rights. Because of
the rising cost of living in Saudi Arabia, women have been
entering the work force in larger numbers, creating a much
greater need for them to drive.


3. (C) Prominent female leaders in the Western Province (WP),
including National Society for Human Rights Vice President
for the Mecca Region, Aljawhara Alanqari, and Executive
Director of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry's
(JCCI) Businesswomen's Center, Basmah Omair, remain skeptical
that women will receive the right to drive by year's end.
They attribute the January 21 announcement to "hype," arguing
that the SAG was focusing on other, more important women's
issues, such as combating domestic violence. Furthermore, in
what may be a reaction to complaints from several prominent
religious leaders, authorities already seem to be backsliding
on this issue. For example, after establishing driver
education programs for women in January, Saudi Aramco, the
state-owned oil company based in Dhahran, sent a memo on
February 4 to all of its employees announcing that the
program was canceled due to "technical problems in developing
a Contract for Driving Instructors." (NOTE: The men's driver
education programs have continued. END NOTE.)

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Male Guardianship
--------------


4. (C) As per a January 21 advisory sent to hotels by the
SAG, hotels across the Kingdom are now allowed to register
female guests without a male guardian (mehram) accompanying
them. As a condition to stay overnight alone, all female
guests are required to have national identification, and the
hotels are expected to notify local police when women
check-in. Post has heard, though not confirmed, that this
restriction has not yet been lifted in the EP. Some hotels
are reportedly still waiting for "official word" to make the
change in their check-in procedures. In the Western
Province, implementation appears mixed. Some Arabic daily
press reports have stated that several hotels in Jeddah are
permitting women to check-in alone, while others have cited
specific expulsions. (NOTE: According to some Consulate
Jeddah contacts- and consistent with the Hejaz's more
"liberal" reputation- prior to the advisory, some hotels in
the WP had already been permitting women to stay alone. END
NOTE.)


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5. (U) There is notable criticism from conservatives
vis--vis this issue as well. In his response to a recent
report released by the U.N. Human Rights Committee on women's
rights in Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah Aal
al-Sheikh, Grand Mufti and Head of the Senior Ulemas
Authority, announced that "those who demand that women be
allowed to travel without a chaperone...are only seeking
promiscuity and corruption and spreading indecency in
society."

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Civil Society
--------------


6. (C) Suliman Al-Salman, founder of Ansar Al-Marah, a
Riyadh-based civil society organization focused on women's
rights (and comprised of men and women from both the Shiite
and Sunni communities) told "Arab News" on January 28 that
"after two years of negotiations with the Ministry of Social
Affairs, a request to establish Ansar Al-Marah (had been)
initially approved." He further explained that the Shura
Council's recent approval of the establishment of a National
Authority for Civil Society Organizations would speed up the
process of obtaining a license for his group to operate.
However, well-known women's rights activists Fatin Bundagji,
former Director of the JCCI's Women's Empowerment and
Research Department, and Fawzia Al Ayouni told PolOff on
February 12 that they doubted al-Salman had received SAG
permission to establish his group. They argued that many
groups have been on a waitlist to receive licenses for three
to four years, and did not believe that the SAG had any
reason to treat al-Salman's organization differently.

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Women and Sport
--------------


7. (C) International pressure, along with concerns that the
lack of opportunity for girls to participate in athletics has
contributed to obesity and health problems, is forcing the
SAG to reexamine its policy with respect to female sport in
the Kingdom. According to local press reports, the
government will soon build female sports clubs in Riyadh,
Dammam, Jeddah and Buraydah, with other locations to follow.
It is rumored that this initiative may have been the result
of a threat by the International Olympic Committee to freeze
the membership of countries that have failed to establish
women's sports facilities (which would exclude Saudi Arabia
from all future Olympic Games). On January 25, Al-Sahat
website reported that Mohammad bin Fahd, Governor of the
Eastern Provice, had repremanded Prince Mohammed bin Fahd
Private University's director, Issa Al-Ansari, for organizing
women's football matches on campus. The action apparently
came after conservative's criticied the matches. When
contacted by post, authorities at the university denied the
incident.

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Starbuck's Arrest
--------------


8. (C) According to a February 10 "Arab News" story, The
National Society for Human Rights (NSHR),Saudi Arabia's
"non-governmental" human rights body, has agreed to address
the Governate of Riyadh regarding Yara Anabtawi, the
American-Saudi businesswoman who was arrested for allegedly
being in seclusion with an unrelated man at a Riyadh
Starbuck's (reftel A). In the article, a NSHR official
described the manner in which Yara was strip-searched in
prison as "inhuman," adding that NSHR "would urge the
Governate of Riyadh to drop all fingerprinted confession
papers from Yara's public file, and ask that Yara be
compensated for the damages she sustained." Ms. Anabtawi
told PolOff on February 10 that she had low expectations
regarding legal recourse, adding that she only anticipated
that the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of
Vice would clear her record (reftel B).


9. (C) COMMENT: Recent efforts by the SAG to loosen
restrictions on women may be part of the King's strategy of
incremental reform, allowing people sufficient time to get
used to change, years before it is implemented. Mohammad
al-Zulfa, a reformist Shura Council member, explained in the
"Telegraph" that when the lifting of the driving ban was
first proposed, "the extremists were really mad." He added
that "now they just complain." "It is diminishing into a
form of consent," he noted. That said, the conservative
element has already slowed the progress of late January. It
is also unlikely that the government will take steps in the
near future to address women's issues that are more difficult
to sell to conservatives. For example, issues of marriage,

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property, child care, or protection from violence. Relative
to rights at hotels, or the ability to participate in sports
clubs, it is the addressing of these issues that would most
improve the lives of Saudi women. END COMMENT.

(APPROVED: KINCANNON)
GFOELLER