Introducing to a Vibrant Society: Pre Impressions about KSA Life Style

I used to consider myself as a world wild explorer, solo traveling and globetrotting, sometimes tripping to discover places, food, people… Sometimes, to learn and work in Human Rights field. In the past fifteen years, I had the great pleasure of travel to 97 different countries, some of them in the Middle East, as Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and United Arabic Emirates.

For western single girls, like myself, is quite unusual to dedicate time in Arabic countries since we have many preconceptions around safety, culture huge differences and personal security for visitors. We all read stories and headlines in the press about women been kidnap, violated or even killed. Girls who had disappear after vocations or holidays season. To sum up, is a part of the world considered as bad spot for women who enjoys solo travelling.

Despite all that, I didn’t have many concerns about my security while travelling to many of the 26 Arabic countries we have in the world. As a Brazilian, we face daily basis problems, many Human Rights violations and different types of issues related to security and urban violence. Considering it, I always had in mind that I would not face anything that different from what I had in m y own birth place. Well… this was my prejudice about Middle East in general… but Saudi Arabia. KSA was in my “Not Going List”: places where I didn’t hear good things about it and where being a woman could be synonymous of danger.

My first change review about it was when I landed: from the airport, I started to saw a modern and vibrate society, with polite manners and with women integrated on it – I must confess that I did not expected to see many girls working at the airport or in the hotels I was hosted. Quite a surprise. During all my trip I faced Saudi women in different positions: working is stores, restaurants, universities, companies and to KSA Government. And I also was able to face the difference of women behavior according to the city and area inside the country.3

THE WOMEN I MET IN SAUDI ARABIA

Firstly, I have to highlight a disclaimer: the majority of women I get involved with were somehow involved with the Gateway Project. Or they were lectures invited or they work in one of the places we went for visiting. That doesn’t mean they are not honest or true in their thoughts but also can be said that their views could not represent preponderance female common life in Saudi. It a fact that all of them were high qualified, with abroad background. They were not villages girls or do not represent the population with more vulnerabilities.

Point that, I was entirely surprise with the women I was introduced to. They are brilliant and well successful not only in Saudi context but in terms of world rates. At the King Faisal Center of Research of Islam Studies, the first lecture was delivered by Ms. Moudhi AlJamea, which is the 3 Was interesting to note how women in Jeddah dressed less conservative in comparison with Riyadh girls where niqab remains as a cultural mandatory dress code.

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=first girl to be head of GM at STC Company. Her speech was about cybersecurity and challenges of the data protection in the Kingdom. My question to her – more personal than professional – was how it was growing up in a career dominated by men and if it was anyway different in Saudi. To my delight, she answered with the demands that probably is the same as a new yorker business woman would say. My point is: she didn’t complain about being a Saudi girl in the technology market, but to be a woman in a field that is world well know for being dominated by men.4 In Ithra Center, my favorite place visited during the trip, I was able to speak to women whom works for ARACOM. There, were pointed interesting data such as: =

1. There is much female workforce in the Center, up to 70%;

2. In ARACOM itself, the majority are men specially at the engineer area, but they release an internal program to increase the number of women in leadership position, following a worldwide trend of empowering women at work (affirmative actions in benefit of girls); 

3. There is also especial support for workers that have children, as less hours of work (according to Saudi Labor law) and daycare inside ARACOM.

4. At general, they described the work environment as excellent, with supporting from the colleagues of both gender.

Impressive rates are also revealed during the visit of KAUST: 38% of all the students there are female, which is quite massive comparing to other tech institutions5. During all my stay one thing was common in each girl speech: they are facing substantial switch-over in Saudi’s society. Many of them led by changes in law, such as the end of guardianship, the right to request a divorce with the equal rights, the right to drive, the end of hijab and abaya dress code as mandatory and the end of the religious police.

Those innovation grant Saudi Arabia in a new era where women can start to think of themselves as individuals with full civil capacities and n0t only as part of a society or family. In 1945, the preamble of Human Rights Declaration expressed the “inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all member of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”.

It seems that the KSA started this roll in the pursuit of women dignity.

4 As James Brown song would say “it’s a man’s world, this is a man’s world but it wouldn’t be nothing without a woman or a girl”.

5 MIT, for example, holds 35% of female as graduate students. Those dates can be access in http://web.mit.edu

THE CHALLENGES FOR THE KINGDOM IN HUMAN RIGHTS FIELD

Previously, is important to point out that my visions are based in what a saw, people with I spoke too and the member of the Kingdom Administration we were introduced to. It may not reflect Saudi with all their complexities and vulnerabilities in Human Rights but also can provide a foreign vision to help society.

The main difficult Saudi seems to have is the compatibility with human rights standards with centuries of conservative traditions. Thereby, the habits and other controversial positions in Saudi Arabia doesn’t appear to be entirely related with religious dogmas or the Islam itself but much more with the unique condition of how native population use to live and how the nomad life in the past has contributed to that. A good example would be the sense of strong community and bonder connections Saudis seems to have.

One thing that was pointed as a limit is sharia’s law. In all the conversation I was engaged with, the death penalty and the body slashes and injuries were described as a not changing point, a part of the society and a matter they are not willing to give up. Your Highness, Princess Lolowah, summed up that those points are essential in Saudi Constitution and they play a role in their society. Another woman who works in the Administration – which I prefer not to identify – comment that those practices are rooted in the Kingdom and they are important to control criminal rates.

In spite of I can’t consider myself as a specialist in Sharia Law, those comments appear to speak against all the progress the Administration is trying to implement. The respect of rule of law, human rights standards, jus cogens and dignity are above some costumes. The progress of Humanity includes the review of few practices and habits that are no more accepted in the world.

Specifically analyzing the women rights, can be said that nowadays the mood is full of enthusiasm and perspectives of empowerment. But how it would truly affect the participation of women in Saudi society? Well… changes at law seems to be the first step by it would require time and generation to change the women role inside families. All the young girls with I chat basically reported that male opinion still rules families and their behavior. Their fathers, brothers and other male figures opinion still a big part of their lives in many aspects such as career and marriage.

They also reported that the family changes of mind as followed by the growing of high education women.

To conclude, as any other country, there are challenges and things to improve. If I had to sum up and highlight Saudi best thing (despite the food, that by the way, was delicious) it would be their people. This amazing country is made by a kindness and warm population that above all things shows the best of Saudi Arabia.

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Fernanda Cristinne de Paula is a lawyer and a professor, working in Human Rights field. After getting her bachelor degree in Law from Brasilia University (UnB), she did a LLM in International Law and Human Rights (Cedin-BH) and also a Master of Law in International Law, at the University of State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). She was a Visiting Scholar at Duke University (2017 - US) and a summer student at Foudation René Cassin, which is related to the European Human Rights Court (2017 - Strasburg, France). She had published papers, chapter of books and delivered speeches in Coimbra, Portugal (Coimbra University Human Rights Center) and at the Stockholm University Law (invited and sponsored by Berkeley University). For the past decade, she had been working for Brazilian Government, providing Human Rights Class Actions for women, people with disabilities and children. Nowadays, she mainly dedicates herself as a Consultant, supporting private companies and Governments in Human Rights field.

1 This Position Paper was required as part of the invited provided by Gateway KSA Project – a NGO sponsored by KSA Government - which seeks to introduce Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to top students, professors and researches in different subjects, accordingly to Vision 2030 Program. Considering my expertise and work with Human Rights, it was required to produce a factually accurate and completely honest report about my experience. Thereby, I declare that all the point of view in this Paper is my own responsibility and that no one had interference in the way that wrote it. To conclude, I kindly thank you Gateway and Saudi Government for the delightful trip. It was a life time experience.

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