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From The New York Times<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Sunday granted women the right to vote and run in future municipal elections, the biggest change in a decade for women in a puritanical kingdom that practices strict separation of the sexes, including banning women from driving.<\/p>\n Saudi women, who are legally subject to male chaperones for almost any public activity, hailed the royal decree as an important, if limited, step toward making them equal to their male counterparts. They said the uprisings sweeping the Arab world for the past nine months \u2014 along with sustained domestic pressure for women\u2019s rights and a more representative form of government \u2014 prompted the change.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is the element of the Arab Spring, there is the element of the strength of Saudi social media, and there is the element of Saudi women themselves, who are not silent,\u201d said Hatoon al-Fassi, a history professor and one of the women who organized a campaign demanding the right to vote this spring. \u201cPlus, the fact that the issue of women has turned Saudi Arabia into an international joke is another thing that brought the decision now.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is obviously wonderful news — and a great credit to the work of activist Saudi women.<\/p>\n That said, it’s important to keep in mind that voting is a less important right in Saudi Arabia than most places; as Max Fisher<\/a> points out, “voting in a non-democratic society where elected bodies merely ‘advise’ the monarchy” may not have much practical importance. And there are four years before the next election cycle, giving King Abdullah time to backtrack.<\/p>\n But it’s still a potentially important symbolic victory; it shows that Saudi women’s activism can’t simply be ignored. Next, hopefully, will come the right to drive<\/a>, which Saudi women have been pushing for.<\/p>\n Juan Cole<\/a> has more on the political context.<\/p>\n More from the Times <\/em>story:<\/p>\n Despite the snail\u2019s pace of change, women on Sunday were optimistic that the right to vote and run would give them leverage to change the measures, big and small, that hem them in.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a good sign, and we have to take advantage of it,\u201d said Maha al-Qahtani, one of the women who defied the ban on driving this year, said of the king\u2019s announcement. \u201cBut we still need more rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Women require the permission of a male sponsor, or \u201cmahram,\u201d to travel or undertake much of the commercial activity needed to run a business. They inhabit separate and often inferior spaces in restaurants, banks and health clubs, when they are allowed in at all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n From The New York Times: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Sunday granted women the right to vote and run in future municipal elections, the biggest change in a decade for women in a puritanical kingdom that practices strict separation … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/www.arabianbusiness.com\/incoming\/article390968.ece\/ALTERNATES\/g3l\/109712848.jpg\")
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