It turns out the story about allowing Saudi women to drive bikes is not a story after all. The daily al-Hayat today quotes the religious police chief as saying since driving bikes is not a common thing to do in Saudi Arabia, the matter was never actually under consideration to be banned or allowed. Abdul-Latif Al Alsheikh, head of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), told the newspaper that it is not their job to search or follow women who drive bikes when they go to the desert with their families.
The Great Wall of Segregation
/The government decision to segregate women and men employees at retail outlets is drawing mixed reaction, Arab News reported.
“It is a totally bad idea to have a wall built to separate both sexes in shops,” Dalal A. Kaaki, director of women business center at the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told the newspaper. “The harassment can happen anyway when a man comes to a saleswoman with his family.” But Aisha Natto, member of Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, defended the decision to erect a partition between men and women. “It is not a wall,” she said. “It is up to the ceiling. So for those who understood it as a wall, it’s clearly not a wall but just a partition.”
Is a 160-cm high partition a wall or not? It seems we can’t even agree what is a wall anymore. Like Hamoud Abu Talib, I really would like to know how did the government reach the 160cm number. Did they conduct a study to measure the average hight of Saudi citizens and concluded that this is what is needed to separate men from women? Abu Talib writes:
On one hand, I am happy that the Hai’a and the ministry have agreed that women can work even if it means they have to be surrounded by these 160-cm separation walls. On the other hand, however, I cannot help but express astonishment at the agreement for which there is no justification whatsoever.
Women’s employment is a decision that the Council of Ministers approved and it must be implemented. This means that no further agreements or approvals are needed. It is true that we have finally allowed our women to work. It is equally true that our consent has been wrapped in several impossible conditions that have nothing to do with women in the workplace.
What if a female employee is taller than the wall? Do we bring in specialist doctors to shorten her? I really want to know: Why 160 cm?
Branson Calls on Saudi Government to Abolish the Morality Police→
/British billionaire Richard Branson writes in his blog:
It’s nothing short of depressing to see the same old stories come out of Saudi Arabia, especially when last year saw some encouraging developments. Such as their first ever female Olympian, Sarah Attar, competing at London 2012. As I mentioned at the time, I have had first-hand experience of the way certain sections of the country's population can be treated. It’s a shocking thing to experience.
The educated Saudi men that I personally know disagree with the regime’s approach to women. I suspect it would be wise for the Saudi government to abolish the morality police and start treating all sections of their society with a little bit more trust and dignity.
Saudi Government Orders Separation of Male and Female Salespeople in Retail Stores
/Retail stores that employ women must install a partition to separate them from their male colleagues according to a new memorandum of understanding signed by the Ministry of Labor and the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the official Saudi Press Agency reported Sunday. The partition should be at least 160cm high and stores have only 30 days to comply with the new regulations or risk punishment, SPA said.
The Saudi Ministry of Labor has pushed in recent years to encourage more women to join the workforce by forcing retail stores to employ female salespeople for certain items like lingerie and cosmetics. This decision has faced strong resistance from religious conservatives who warn that the mixing of genders at the workplace would lead to the Westernization of society. After a group of clerics visited MOL last December to protest the employment of women, CPVPV chief Abdul-Latif Al Alsheikh criticized the Ministry for failing to maintain a “good clean environment” for women working at retail stores.
This public criticism by the CPVPV chief has probably prompted MOL to seek a compromise in order to continue implementing their policy that aims to employ more women, especially with the unemployment rate among Saudi women reaching 36 percent according to the latest number released by the Central Department of Statistics and Information.
But gender segregation remains a contentious issue in the conservative kingdom which practices a strict interpretation of Islam. Minister of Labor Adel Fakeih admitted last year that resistance by religious conservatives is making it difficult for his ministry to implement its women employment policy, but he denied allegations of Westernizing society. “We want to open a whole new world for women, and at the same time will be in tune with our culture with how we’d like our families to continue to be,” he told the Washington Post last November. “We don’t want necessarily to copy a Western lifestyle.”
When Surveillance Replaces Ethical Conscience→
/Badriya al-Bisher on plans announced by the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice to hire women in their ranks:
Seems like the commission believes it is not enough for its staff to stand at university gates, stores, beauty salons, and photography studios because it is no longer enough to guard morals from the outside, especially as far as women are concerned, as if morals are exclusive to the commission. Here an overlap of powers might take place with certain entities giving up their authority to allow the commission to do its job properly. Do not be surprised when you see teams of commission women storming women-only wedding celebrations to check what the guests are wearing. The commission assumes that it is not enough for a woman to be monitored by her family and they need an external censor.
Majority of Saudi Youth Engage in Forbidden Behavior, Morality Police Says
/I was leaving a restaurant with friends in Jeddah last October when a member from the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stopped me. He gave me a warning about the T-shirt I was wearing, then he let me go. My T-shirt had the face of Gandhi with a line of text underneath that said: “Give peace a chance.” Clothes with images on them, especially of humans or animals, are apparently a serious offense in the eyes of the morality police.
The Research and Studies Center affiliated with the Commission has recently published a study which concluded that at least 59 percent of Saudi youth engage in “undesirable and forbidden behaviors,” the Saudi edition of al-Hayat reported today. The newspaper continues to explain that wearing cloths with images on them tops the list of such behaviors, followed by wearing necklaces and bracelets. The afro hairdo came a close third.
The study recommended that the government should adopt an official concept of what they described as “foreign behaviors.” Because once such concept is officially adopted, it would be easier for the Commission to crack down on these behaviors. The study, however, did not offer any answers regarding if such obsession with social control would push our country over the cliff of sanity.
UPDATE: The Commission have denied that they have commissioned the study reported by al-Hayat. A spokesman for the Commission told Sabq that they have rejected this study that was conducted by a research center at King Saud University due to scientific errors. “Those who misled public opinion by promoting these numbers and publicizing these inaccurate studies must be held accountable,” he said. He added that the Commission would seek legal against those who published such information and attributed them to the Commission.
UPDATE II: Al-Hayat responds by publishing two photos. The first shows the cover of the study which clearly bears the name of the Research and Studies Center at the Commission. The other photo is a copy of a letter from the Commission’s vice president to academics asking them to review the study.
Religious Police Cancels Saudi Aramco Event in Ahsa
/The Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has cancelled an event organized by Saudi Aramco to thank volunteers Friday night in the eastern region of Ahsa, local media reported today. The Commission objected to the mixing of men and women at the event.
Aramco, which has hosted a month-long cultural festival at King Abdullah Environmental Park in Ahsa, has planned to host a dinner party to thank more than 1,000 male and female volunteers who worked at the festival. But their plans have come to a halt when the Commission intervened to stop the event because they said the venue is not big enough to separate men from women, al-Yaum daily reported. Aramco officials said the venue was adequate.
The Commission reportedly only allowed the female volunteers to enter, while male volunteers were kept outside on the grass waiting for more than 90 minutes. Later, they escorted the female volunteers out and allowed the male volunteers to enter. The rest of the scheduled program was cancelled, including an acappella performance and presenting awards to volunteers.
A local news site published an apologetic text message it said Aramco has sent to the volunteers Friday night. “We apologize for what happened today and was beyond our control,” the message read. “We will be in touch soon.” Al-Yaum said the Commission could not be reached for comment.
Saudi Police Covertly Combating New Year’s Eve Parties
/Saudi authorities in the Eastern Province are ready to stop any New Year’s Eve parties, the daily al-Yaum reported Monday. Eastern Province Police, in collaboration with the Commission to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vince (CPVPV), are secretly watching locations that could host such parties, the newspaper said.
“Closed and secluded areas for women at restaurants and coffee shops have contributed to the increase of such parties that can be difficult to monitor,” EP Police spokesman told the paper, adding that most partygoers are foreign men and women. The spokesman helpfully explained that such parties are categorized as “crimes of mixed parties or committing a sin publicly.”
Only the National Day and the two Islamic holidays, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, are allowed to be celebrated publicly in Saudi Arabia.
The spokesman “hinted” to the supporting role of the CPVPV in keeping a watchful eye on such activities by deploying their patrols at malls, seafronts, beaches and restaurants, according to the paper. CPVPV cannot watch private parties held by expat families at homes, said a source at the Commission, but they hope that mosque imams would warn agains the danger of such parties on the Muslim society.
Neither the spokesman nor the CPVPV source revealed if they have any secret plans to stop people from crossing the King Fahad Causeway to Bahrain or traveling to Dubai to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
Head of Morality Police Speaks to the Journal→
/The Wall Street Journal interviews the head of the Commission for Promotion Virtue and Prevention of Vice on the proposed reforms for the morality police force:
Mr. Sheikh said individual members of the religious police will be held accountable for their actions when they violate the new guidelines. “The Hia'a was created as a guidance body and we want to make sure it is just a guidance authority,” he said. “If a member of the public does not comply with the Islamic law and a member of committee wants to stop this behavior, he will have to act in accordance with our laws and revert to the regular police for any further action.”
Some observers are skeptical of the durability of Mr. Sheikh’s reforms, predicting he will meet tough opposition from rank-and-file members of the Hia'a.
Coming Soon: Female Religious Police→
/There is a pressing need to employ Saudi women in the areas of awareness and guidance, said Sheikh Abdul Latif Aal Alsheikh, President of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai’a).
Alsheikh told Okaz/Saudi Gazette in an exclusive interview that in the light of this need he hoped a recruitment drive would take place soon. The women will work under the supervision of an independent women’s department as is usually the case with government agencies, he added.
Is It Time to Dissolve the Religious Police?→
/Ahmad Dahman, writing for the Beirut-based Assafir (because something like this would never be published in Saudi newspapers) about the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of vice aka the religious police aka the mutaween, though the Al-Monitor translators decided to call them “the committee” here:
A curious thing is happening in Saudi Arabia. The society that for a long time sought to evade the committee’s influence has begun to show signs of restlessness. Curious events, word of which social media networks have helped to spread, have begun to form pressure groups within the country and helped to create a civil society attempting to demand its rights from the state, just as the state demands duties of them. Through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, news of events pertaining to the committee and its members spread these days like wildfire. The twitter “hashtag” can shape public opinion and catalyze demands for change. Indeed the committee, as an organization, has been subjected to a twitter campaign calling for its dissolution.
In the end of the article he asks if the country is ready to “cast off” the Commission. Many young people would probably say yes, but is it really up to society to decide if they want the Commission or not? The question should probably be rephrased this way: Is the government ready to cast off the Commission? ♦
Religious Police Wings Clipped, Again→
/AFP:
Saudi Arabia will curb the powers of its notorious religious police charged with ensuring compliance with Islamic morality but often accused of abuses, a newspaper report said on Wednesday.
“The new system will set a mechanism for the field work of the committee’s men which hands over some of their specialization to other state bodies, such as arrests and interrogations,” al-Hayat daily quoted religious police chief Sheikh Abdullatiff Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh as saying.
We’ve been reading stories about the religious police getting their wings clipped for years now. They have lost some power, but not much. Will the new regulations discipline its members and keep them accountable when they err? I, for one, won’t hold my breath. ♦
Coming Soon: Religious Policewomen?→
/The work of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice will not be complete until women join their force, CPVPV chief told Asharq al-Awsat Sunday. He emphasized that the work of CPVPV should be free of spying, chasing, volunteering or accusing people without a probable cause. Previous presidents of CPVPV also said nice things like that in the past. It did not fix the Commission. ♦
Call Me Maybe (Not)→
/Do you want to know how disorganized the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), aka the religious police, is? Look at this little news item published in Okaz today:
General Presidency of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has banned its members and centers across the Kingdom from receiving citizens' and residents' reports on their private cellphones and emails.
According to the paper, the new directive by CPVPV higher ups comes after they noticed that some members of the Commission have been publicizing their contact information on social networking websites to solicit tips from the public on what they consider unlawful activities that CPVPV should investigate. Instead, CPVPV will announced a single number that can be used to receive tips. For now, you can use CPVPV website to do that. I can't wait for the smartphone app.