Women To Participate In Saudi Politics For The First Time

Saudi women running for public office next month for the
first time ever begin campaigning Sunday in another step forward for women’s
rights in the conservative kingdom’s slow democratic process.

Around 900 women are standing in the December 12 municipal
elections, which will also be the first time females have been allowed to
participate in choosing officials.

“This is one of the first steps for women’s rights, a big
step for us,” said Sahar Hassan Nasief, an activist in the Red Sea city of
Jeddah who has many friends running for office.

The election will be the third municipal ballot for men, who
previously voted in 2005 and 2011.

The absolute monarchy, which applies a strict interpretation
of Islam, has no female cabinet ministers and is the only country in the world where
women are not allowed to drive.

Women must cover themselves in black from head-to-toe in
public, and require permission from a man in their families to travel, work or
marry.

Restrictions remain in place despite a slow expansion of
women’s rights under the late king Abdullah, who introduced the elections in
2005 and said women would participate this time around.

In 2013, he named women to the appointed Shura Council,
which advises the cabinet.

Abdullah died in January and was succeeded by King Salman,
who has stuck to the election timetable.

In other Gulf states, women have had voting rights for
several years.

Data cited by the Saudi electoral commission show a total of
about 7,000 people vying for seats on the 284 councils.

Only 130,600 women have signed up to vote, compared with
more than 1.35 million men, out of a voting population of 21 million.