Saudi women banned as spectators to sport?

[EclecticShock]

Article here

Saudi men can only participate of accompanied by Saudi women...

Most malls in Riyadh were like that kilmuir.

Sure, you see men there, but they're not actually allowed in without a woman. Not sure how strictly this was enforced as, not being married, I never saw hide nor hair of a man for the best part of a year.

Are you sure they need a woman. My husband was there months before we joined him, and he went to all the malls on his own.
Madness whatever though.

It was definitely a rule in some of the malls. Don't know about all of them and to be honest, the rule was probably only extended to Saudi/Middle Eastern guys.

but I suppose there's other things that bother them more.

Like watching your child die because you are not allowed to drive to hospital?

I doubt they were jailed though.

Manal al-Sharif spent 9 days in prison and has been sacked from her job and lost her home.

She is also fighting for a right to sue her exhusband for maintenance of their child, to renew her passport without 'permission' of a male guardian and a number of other rights.

sashh, I'm only going by what my friends and colleagues told me. They don't see the right to drive as the biggest issue. You can emotionalise the issue all you like, that is what they told me. Not being allowed to drive, or having to wear the veil, are seen in the west as the biggest barriers to freedom. They aren't by Saudi women. You can't just put a western slant on everything.

It's very sad that that woman lost her job and really I'm not surprised. The government doesn't take kindly to protest.

yellowraincoat

I'm not saying it is the biggest issue, just that it is not the only issue and that women have been jailed.

There are far far bigger issues in Saudi Arabia than women not being allowed to compete on their Olympic team, however as with apartheid in south Africa, sport, in this case the Olympics, is an excellent stage to raise awareness of the Saudis appalling treatment of women. The more people who know about it, the greater the pressure of the rest of the world will be. If this improves the lot of Saudi women in even small ways, it has to be a good thing!

Sure it's not the only issue, sashh...I think that's what I was saying really.

Women were jailed, but for a short time. You can guarantee that wouldn't have happened if they had been Thai or Fillippina.