Al-Okaz, Saudi Arabia, February 17
When people talk about women in Saudi Arabia they typically fall into one of two categories: They either truly care about women’s rights and seek to promote them in the kingdom, or, sadly more often than not, they simply want to disparage the kingdom and undermine its efforts to integrate women into society. Recently, we have been witnessing growing attacks against Saudi Arabia on the grounds that it is “oppressing women.” It is funny that many of these accusations were voiced on news stations associated with none other than the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran, whose views on women are well known. The latest attack on Saudi Arabia now revolves around a government services portal known as “Absher.” The portal, which offers more than 160 online services—such as renewing one’s national identification card, issuing a driver’s license, or ordering a new passport—has recently released a phone-based application designed to improve the quality of services provided to the Saudi people by their government. But instead of celebrating the ingenuity of the Saudi government, these groups who claim to defend women’s rights have appealed to Google and Apple in an effort to ban the mobile app on the grounds that it “oppresses” women. Their argument is that it helps Saudi authorities track the activities of women, including their travel abroad, and helps tie them more closely to their husbands. These accusations are, of course, ludicrous. Anyone who has ever visited Saudi Arabia knows that Saudi women can travel unhindered. A quick look at the flights leaving Riyadh on a daily basis will reveal hundreds of Saudi women traveling alone. Instead of celebrating the efforts of the Saudi government to make its services accessible to all via their phones, these groups work to delegitimize the very existence of the Saudi state. These stories have nothing to do with women empowerment. They have nothing to do with human rights. These are orchestrated campaigns launched by dark forces against the Arab world’s most advanced and progressive society, which has made it its goal to improve and enhance the welfare of its people—particularly its female citizens. –Radwan al-Sayed