First Saudi woman stands for election

[emad]

The Times snip
By Michael Theodoulou



AS A schoolgirl in Leicestershire, Nadia Bakhurji was determined that her father would not regret having only daughters. She looked around at the boys of her age and realised there was nothing special about them. She could outsmart them, run faster and her “tree-climbing abilities were no less superior”.

Now Ms Bakhurji, a successful 37-year-old interior designer and mother-of-two, is making history in her native Saudi Arabia by becoming the first woman to declare herself a candidate for elected office. “I’m excited and slightly nervous. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet,” she told The Times yesterday. She was surprised that other women had not yet come forward and by the media attention she is attracting.

Yet the interest is understandable. Women in Saudi Arabia, one of the most conservative societies in the world, are not allowed to drive, appear in public without being covered or to travel without the permission of a male guardian. It is still unclear whether they will even be able to stand for office or to vote in the elections, which are to be held in February.

The vote, to fill half the seats on 178 municipal councils, is a cautious step by the Government to begin political reform in the kingdom, which is an absolute monarchy. The pressure for change is coming from within Saudi society and without, from allies such as the US, which is keen that the kingdom should develop a non-violent outlet for political dissent. “I feel like I’m just doing something normal,” Ms Bakhurji said by phone from her home in Riyadh, the capital, where she was putting her three-month-old son to bed. She also has a son of 18. “I don’t look at myself as a feminist or think I have to prove a point because I’m a woman. I just feel a sense of purpose. I’m not a radical. I don’t belong to any political group, I don’t have a label for myself.” She views the elections as a “very positive” first step by the Government.
More:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-1266089,00.html
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[noonwitch]

1. I hope she is the first of many muslim women to run for office

I'll never visit a country in which I'm not even allowed to drive a car, and have no basic human rights.