Saudi Woman Wants Separate Beaches For Women

Lina Almaeena is a Saudi woman who founded the Jeddah United basketball team. She also happens to be its captain. Pretty progressive for a woman living in a country that frowns on female athletes. But she also wants separate beaches for women. In an opinion piece on Al Arabiya, Almaeena claims that a disproportionate amount of women drown in the Kingdom- usually 18 to 28 year-old women, and 70% of those drownings occur at night during the holidays. Why? Because they don't want men staring at their bodies, even though they make burqinis that they could easily wear.

According to Khaled al-Arkoubi, a spokesperson for the border guards:

“when swimming, some women hit rocks due to the blurry vision at night. Some are attacked by sea animals or suffer nausea and fainting. Moreover, most of women swim in their abayas (black cloak traditionally worn by women in the Gulf) and veils which are not appropriate for swimming and impede the body movement in water. The cloak might get wrapped around her body which might suffocate her and prevent her from screaming and calling for help. Thus, women may drown or even die. And since these incidents happen at night, it is difficult to spot them.”

So, Almaeena proposes this:

..we should find solutions to protect them and give them a chance to benefit from the beauty of nature that God has bestowed on us.

Since we have separated men from women in education facilities, banks and restaurants, why don’t we do the same with beaches? Why don’t we give women the chance to swim by appointing female lifeguards and supervisors? Why don’t we organize swimming lessons so that women can teach their children how to swim while their husbands are at work?

If we undertake these measures, we would create a new sector for employment and put at the hands of women the swimming technique that could help them survive in certain conditions (like the Jeddah floods for example). At the same time we would sprinkle happiness on the souls of our girls and women so that happiness does not become the privilege of those who can afford buying or renting a beach cabin or chalet.

Just like any other women, I wish I could swim in women-only beaches. Women-only beaches are likely to boost local tourism and reduce the reliance on foreign touristic destinations that are pulling millions of riyals per year outside of the Kingdom. All of this can be done if we invest in women-oriented sectors.

Why don't they just create a separate city for all Muslim women who want to be segregated from the male population? Or maybe move to a different planet. Oh wait, women need men to procreate.  If God had wanted men and women to be segregated He would have created just males or females and the ability to bear children without the need for someone of the opposite sex.

UPDATE:Pakistani Jirga Sentences 6 To Death For Dancing Together At Wedding

Adultery isn't the only thing that can get you executed in certain backwoods, rural areas of countries like Pakistan. Nope, mixing with members of the opposite gender can get you sentenced to death, as well- as in the case of six people in Kohistan, Pakistan who were videotaped dancing and singing together at a wedding. Apparently they consider people like that Ghul (fornicators). No wonder Pakistan is ranked #1 in Google's search for 'sex'.

The four women and two men were found guilty of “disrespecting gender segregation customs" at a wedding, by a local jirga (tribal assembly of elders). Although the women are married, the two men they were dancing and singing with are not blood-relatives (mahrams), which is a no-no in Islam. I'm not sure how you can expect to segregate genders at a wedding, but I assume they somehow manage.

Someone at the wedding, two months ago, taped the festivities on their cell phone and then forwarded the footage to the families of the women. The oldest brother of the two accused men, Muhammad Afzal said,

“The jirga did not bother to hear the ‘accused’ and condemned them to death,”  

The jirga obviously knows what they are doing is wrong because they have raised Rs400,00 in case they're sued.

They have also rounded up 40 young men to execute the condemned six. The men are supposed to be shot first, which might be difficult since they happened to escape. The women, on the other hand, were shipped back from their in-laws to their parents' village, and according to Afzal,

“They are tied with ropes. They are being starved.”

Afzal also believes the tape could be bogus since it doesn't really show them dancing together, and he has enemies.

“Since our family is affluent and owns vast acres of forestland, orchards and agriculture farms in Bando Baidar village. They (our rivals) hatched a plot to deprive us of our property."

Abdul Majeed Afridi, the district police officer, agrees with Afzal. The background where the women are singing folk songs is not the same as where the men are seen dancing.
In the meantime, the authorities are doing what they can to make sure the women are not harmed, although there is a discrepancy as to whether the women are safe or not.

“We have detained eight people (from the women’s tribe). And they have given us a written guarantee that the women would not be harmed,” Hazara Division Commissioner Khalid Khan Umerzai told The Express Tribune.

The commissioner claimed that the women were safe at the homes of their parents in Seertaiy village. He also confirmed that the condemned men have fled their village.

The local police chief said that a police party, headed by a deputy superintendent police, has been sent to Seertaiy village to recover the girls who, The Express Tribune reported, were locked in a room and were being starved.

Abdul Majeed Afridi, the district police officer, also endorsed Umerzai’s claimed that “the women are safe in their parents’ homes”.

Why the jirgas are still allowed to exist in 21st century Pakistan, is shameful. Various rights organizations in Pakistan are demanding the end to jirgas. Good luck with that. As Pakistan becomes more Talibanized, it will only get worse.

UPDATE 6/4/12  Some bizarre, conflicting reports have emerged regarding this whole incident. According to the Pakistani news site Dawn, Afzal recently contacted journalists notifying them that the women had been killed by family members on May 30. On the other hand, police officials claim they have arrested four people, Afzal, his two brothers, and the man who videotaped the incident. They also say that no such jirga took place, and that the women are alive and well. Afzal has demanded that if the women are alive, they should bring them forth. So, who knows where the truth lies.

More Gender Segregation In Iran- Schoolgirls To Get Separate Text Books

Saudi Arabia ranks as one of the most backward, unenlightened countries in the world in terms of how it treats its women folk, in spite of a few paltry attempts at reform. Not to miss out on the fun, it looks like Iran is making huge strides towards joining in that backwardness.

Gender segregation in education isn't enough for the Iranian government, they have now decided that school girls and boys should have separate textbooks.

Why? No-one is saying.

Iran's minister of education, Hamid-Reza Hajibabai, made the announcement during a press conference in Tehran on January 16. He said the ministry plans to publish school textbooks that reflect the country's educational system, which requires boys and girls to study at different schools.

Iran’s Mehr news agency quoted Hajibabai as saying that in line with gender segregation in the education system, "education, training, and textbooks should be adjusted accordingly."

"In the next year, comprehensive education reforms will occur in all fields, including teachers, classes, books, and teaching methods," Hajibabai said, without revealing any specifics.

Even preschool children are now subject to gender segregation.

Apparently gender separation started after that unholy Islamic revolution in the late 1970s, which set back the Persian nation centuries.

But according to Hojatoleslam Nabiollah Fazlali, a rep for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, co-education in universities is like "putting meat in front of a cat" because, I guess, he thinks we're nothing more than animals at heart, with no self restraint. This was at a speech given at Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology in 2009.

At least they allow females to get an education. Afghan women haven't fared so well in that area.

Conservative Report Claims Saudi Women Drivers Will Lead To Premarital Sex

The supreme ignorance of ultra-conservative Muslims is mind-boggling, and the latest out of Saudi Arabia is a whopper.

According to Waleed Abu Alkhair, a Saudi Arabian rights activist, some prominent former King Fahd University professor has decided that  giving women the right to drive will turn them all into whores.  Well, that's not quite how it was put, but Kamal Subhi believes that if women are finally permitted to drive, this will lead them to engage in pre-marital sex, which of course is a major no-no in Saudi Arabia.

This 'driving leading to sex'  report was presented by Subhi to the Shura Council, the King's advisory board, and all male, naturally.  It contained the following logic:  driving will lead to gender mixing which will lead to sex.   You have to remember that mixing of genders in the Kingdom is not the norm, and one cleric even issued a death fatwa last year against opponents of gender segregation.

Saudi Arabia is probably one of the most backward, unenlightened countries in the world, but to his credit 87-year-old King Abdullah has been trying, in very small steps, to bring them out of the dark ages into the 18th century (since they are light years away from the 21st). After all, the King himself  overturned  the lashing sentence of a woman found guilty of driving all by her ownsome. And Abdullah recently announced that Saudi women will soon be able to vote  and run for office (in municipal elections only), in 2015.  The problem is that as reform-minded as King Abdullah might be, he has to deal with the ultraconservatives in his country, both in the general population and the religious leadership. Then factor in his age, and how much longer can he be expected to live?  And, unfortunately, the heir to the throne, Prince Nayef, is supposedly a traditionalist.

So, will any of the reforms ever fully take root? Probably not, once Abdullah is gone, and it's terribly sad that the women of Saudi Arabia (at least the ones who yearn for independence, because there are those who don't) are being tantalized with promises of small freedoms that will never materialize.