Afemale Saudi writer and advocate for women’s empowerment recently created a storm in a teacup when she addressed an open letter to the Saudi minister of municipal and rural affairs, chastising him for giving in to the demands of fundamentalists. That letter was carried in the leading English language daily of the country. She was referring to a ruling the minister used to bar newly-appointed Saudi female members from attending council meetings with their male counterparts and to be seated in the same room. The minister had decreed that women council members should be in a separate room during council meetings and communicate through CCTV and microphones!

Samar Fatany, the Saudi writer who is also a radio broadcaster and a prominent media figure in the region, spared no words in a scathing attack on the minister’s actions. Calling his move disappointing, Fatany asked how he could “allow the extremists to dictate their intolerant attitude over a progressive society like Jeddah? The culture of the people of Jeddah holds women in high regard and treats them with great respect ... Jeddah is the home of a highly cultured business community of both genders and promising progressive young men and women who do not conform to extremist practices that are not relevant to modern times”.

Castigating the hold of extremist views in some circles, which leads to many unpopular decisions, Fatany charged that “the original culture of the city was compromised mainly because of the rigid policies that were imposed, depriving the whole of society of equal rights and respect. Today, extreme rural community values continue to dominate the social environment of the city. An extremist ideology took over and to this day remains resistant to any change.”

This segment of society has been involved in a tussle to impose their views on the rest of society. As Fatany explained: “It is a struggle between the moderates who advocate progress and change and the hardliners who perceive any change as a threat that could undermine their authority and control. How long do we have to put up with these extremists who remain in control of the courts and the education system and continue to indoctrinate the whole of society with their intolerant views and very rigid interpretation of Islam? Their main target is women ... Educated and professional women are given a hard time if they attempt to participate in public life, conduct business, attend international conferences or assume leadership positions.”

The writer observed that “our youth are also victims of extremists who pollute their minds with hate against anyone who does not adhere to their intolerant, extremist ideology. Religious extremists have always slowed progress with their intolerant ideology that continues to obstruct the path of progress in this country”. She concluded by stating the obvious: “Extremism is a threat that has initiated terrorism and the rise of Islamophobia.”

One supportive citizen said: “Just look at what extremism has brought us? Now mosques are being bombed ... Is this Islam? Isn’t this what [Daesh, or the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] is all about? These people who preach intolerance, division and segregation, that is not in our religion, should have been brought to the carpet a long time ago and should not have been given any platform to protest and promote their narrow ideologies.”

‘Disappointed, dismayed and depressed’

Another Saudi was not so agreeable, though: “The writer chose to criticise a decision taken by one of our ministers. That is wrong and portrays disunity. Today, the Kingdom is at war and it is the duty of citizens to band together rather than confront one another. A divide along religious beliefs is not helpful when it is fanned in public and it is certainly not the time now to bring up the issue.”

Maha Akeel, the editor of the quarterly magazine, OIC Journal, was critical of the minister’s decision. “I was disappointed, dismayed and depressed to say the least. Before the news came out, many women and men supported the stand taken by the two elected women to the Jeddah municipality council of their right to sit at the same table and in the same room with their male colleagues ... there were no regulations on the seating arrangement in the main bylaws of the councils. But now, the minister for rural and municipal affairs has officially announced ‘new’ addendums to the regulations.”

As modernisation makes inroads into the Saudi Kingdom, traditional barriers will fall in the most remote corners of rural society. Economics will dictate and necessitate changes as we have witnessed in recent years, with the influx of women in the workforce. There will always be those who resist women’s empowerment on grounds of traditions and beliefs. But in today’s dynamic world, there is no turning back the clock.

Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@talmaeena.