Saudi Arabia - 5 Answers
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1 :
Saudi woman are used to it.. If you grow up in a culture, it seems normal to you.. Non Saudi woman.. or western christians or woman of other faiths than Islam might find this culture for woman stifling.. and restrictive.. Its all how your outlook on life is. I myself grew up in USA and now settled as an adult in Saudi and my life isnt that much different in the moral religious aspect.. I never drank, partied, clubbed, or slept around in USA,, so the high Islamic moral life here in SAudi suits me just fine.. The thing that most bothers outsiders is the gender segregation.. Men and woman dont do a whole lot of things together outside extreme need for business etc.. They work, school , eat, and socialize separately.. This is very hard for outsiders to deal with.. We dont date or flirt openly.. We dont drink alcohol, we dont have bars, clubs, discos, theaters.. The woman are required to dress modestly and wear a cloak to cover your beauty and a scarf.. Sometimes outsiders can get by without the scarf. depends on what area of the country you are in.. We woman are NOT oppressed though, although this seems so.. We work, socialize amongst ourselves and families, we do business, shop, we get degrees, we lead businesses.. etc... woman cannot drive in SaudiArabia.. (this is not to do with Islam though, just a country law).. but this doesnt stop us from using taxis, drivers, chauffeurs, or other family members to drive us wherever we need to go..
2 :
I am not a woman obviously ;) But I know as lot of western ladies who worked at schools there. I believe its the most repressive country on the face of the earth. The fact that women can not even drive tells you how repressive it is!
3 :
Well I'm an American married to a Saudi and right now we're trying to get me into the country. Single men can't do anything without a female mahram with them. Restaurants are segregated by sex, some restaurants don't allow women at all. Everything is strictly segregated, even the colleges. Women can't drive in Saudi Arabia. They have no custody rights to children, like say I wanted to leave Saudi Arabia to visit my father and wanted my children to come with me, my husband would have to sign a paper granting his permission for them to leave with me. Women are essentially property of their Saudi husband, especially unmarried daughters under the age of 21 and sons until 18. A woman and the children need the permission of their "owner" (aka Saudi husband/father) to leave the country. If my husband died and I wanted to move back to America, the American embassy wouldn't let me take the children with me. They'd be given to my brother-in-law. Even though they would be half-breeds. To the American embassy, Muslim law is more important than the fact that half-breeds may be half-American. So I'm not going to bother registering them with the Saudi embassy as there is no point. The only thing for women to do in that country is the mall and shopping. I don't like socializing with people, I don't like shopping and I hate the mall. So I'll be a prisoner in my husband's home, unable to do anything. Women break the law of Islam by being alone with non-mahram drivers which is haraam. It's really a difficult life for non-Saudi women, non-Muslim women who are used to freedom and being able to do what they please.
4 :
simple and modest(sometimes).
5 :
If you've been raised here u would easily get used to this life, We travel abroad and see different cultures but still nothing beats the feeling of coming back our home country. we study, work, share our openions, speak in public, go here do this and that and so on !! .. just like any other woman in other countries .. I dont really mind the fact that we r not allowed to drive ! but yet sometimes when an emergency happens or when I have an appointment and just start to wait for some1 to drive me to whereever am going to .. this sometimes bothers me but its not a problem ! and the abaya we wear became a part of our culture, like in some other countries that dont allow women to cover their faces well in Saudi women r not allowed to walk without abayas .. !
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