Out of the shadows, into the world
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2766134
Jun 17th 2004 | BEIRUT, CAIRO AND RIYADH
From The Economist print edition
Slowly, but sometimes showily, the female half of the population is
beginning to find a voice
IT WAS called a "national dialogue", but to western eyes it was a
strange kind of conversation. From June 13th-15th, in Medina, Saudi
Arabian women and men discussed how women's lives could be improved.
The women, however, were invisible to the men, except on a television
screen.
From kindergarten to university to the few professions they are
permitted to pursue, as well as in restaurants and banks and in other
public places, the female half of Saudi Arabia's population is kept
strictly apart. Women are not allowed to drive a car, sail a boat or
fly a plane, or to appear outdoors with hair, wrists or ankles
exposed, or to travel without permission from a male guardian. A wife
who angers her husband risks being "hanged"; that is, suspended in
legal limbo, often penniless and trapped indoors, until such time as
he deigns to grant a divorce. And then she will lose custody of her
children.
Arab Arabs Arabic
http://news.google.com/news?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=+Arab+OR+Arabs+OR+Arabic&sa=N&tab=gn
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=+Arab+OR+Arabs+OR+Arabic&sa=N&tab=nw
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=+Arab+OR+Arabs+OR+Arabic&sa=N&tab=wd&cat=gwd%2FTop
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_oq=Arab%20Arabs%20Arabic&safe=images&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_scoring=d&lr=&num=100&hl=en
http://groups.google.com/groups?as_oq=Arab%20Arabs%20Arabic&safe=images&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&lr=&num=100&hl=en
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