Why is Saudi Arabia under attack on women’s issues?

Why is Saudi Arabia under attack on women’s issues?

Abdulrahman Al-Rashed March 07, 2019 08:27

If people in Saudi Arabia were asked to give their opinion of the best government service, the Absher app would probably be named by many of its 11 million users, who include about 5 million women.

Targeting the app for criticism is not about defending women or helping to improve their situation in the Kingdom; it is nothing more than a political campaign. The focus on women’s issues in Saudi Arabia is clearly politically motivated, at this time in particular, when their situation has been improving dramatically in recent years. They have been given greater rights, a higher status in Saudi society, and are being included in the wider process of change in a way the Kingdom has never witnessed before.

This, of course, does not mean that women do not deserve further reforms in legislation, but what has been accomplished in only three years is amazing by Saudi standards, and there is more to come.

Why is the topic of women’s rights, in particular, being used to attack the Saudi government?

Well, there are a number of reasons. For a start, the call for democracy in the Middle East is no longer the hot issue in the Western media that it once was; because of the disappointing democratic choices made by people in the region which gave rise to extremist religious or nationalist regimes, and because democracy has become an...