The American Presidential Election from a Saudi-Women’s-rights activist Point View

Lately, I’ve been spending some of my time watching the 2012 American Presidential Election “drama”, which I usually don’t do. But it happens this time that I’m taking my three weeks break from work in Saudi Arabia and spending it at the liberal state, California.

In 2012 election, both candidates, President Barak Obama and Governor Mitt Romeny consider the Saudis as one of their strongest allies in the Middle East and they back them up despite their human’s rights record, especially regarding women’s issues. Mr. Obama and Mr. Romeny know that their country has mutual interests with the Saudis and will continue to support their policy in the region.

As a Saudi activist, I have realized a long time ago that the American foreign policy will stay basically the same regardless who wins the election. They will continue turn a blind eye on all the things that are happening in the Arabian Gulf States because the US needs their oil.

I find it very amazing how much time, money and efforts that the Americans waste on this presidential election, especially when the US economy has huge debt. But, what amazed me the most is the number of women who volunteer and donate money to support the 2012 presidential candidates. Despite that the two candidates have no item in their agenda for women and at the same time, both of them are counting on women’s votes to win the election.
While US women can influence politicians because they vote in national elections, Saudi women and men still don’t even have that privilege.

Saudi Arabia is very different from the United States of America in many ways, one of them is that Saudi women are deprived from most of their basic rights. Saudi women under the male guardianship law are treated as juveniles. They have to have a male guardian all their lives in order to get their things done. Women can’t go to school, get a job, rent a place, get married, get divorced, travel or even get medical care without permission. Also, they are the only women in the whole world who are not allowed to drive cars.

However, under the Saudi Labor Law, women should get equal pay and the same benefits as men, even though most of the jobs are reserved for men. But this law is still not applied strictly in the privet sectors, only in the government sectors.

As a Saudi activist, I see the American government agrees with the Saudi regime on some women’s issues. The Americans refused to sign the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).The USA is the only western country which didn’t endorse CEDAW. However, the Saudis signed it but didn’t implemented because of some reservations.

The Americans and the Saudis had a different motive for not approving CEDAW completely. One of the Americans’ reasons not to sign it was giving equal pay to women!

The American women today get 18% less than what men get for doing the same job. The pay gap between women and men grows larger with the years. Mr. Obama and Mr. Romeny haven’t addressed this issue clearly in their election speeches or in their debates because it’s not something that they have to solve now.

I have discussed the pay gap with some Americans and their answer was that women should get equal pay, but the economy is bad now, so this issue has to wait for awhile before it gets resolved. If the pay gap was concerning men, would they wait? Why women have to pay the price of some politicians and economists bad budget plans and miscalculated decisions? Why there’s always money for another war to lunch somewhere in the world and no money to improve women’s status and families’ income?

It is like the issue of women’s driving cars in Saudi Arabia, many Saudis believe that women should be given that right, but not now because the roads are not good, the cities are packed and the rate of car accidents is one of the highest in the world. So women have to wait! It’s like saying it’s all women’s fault for building dysfunctional cities and not enforcing traffic rules.

It’s shocking to me that abortion is an issue that needs to be discussed in America until today, especially during the election time. When a woman has to have an abortion or not is simply a woman’s business. She is the one who’s going to go through nine months of pregnancy and will face the pain of labor at the end. Why many American people still believe abortion is up to a politician to decide for her?

In contrast, in Saudi Arabia, by law a woman can’t have any kind of operations in her body without permission from her male guardian who could be her 16-year-old son. In some cases, it’s very essential to perform a certain surgery to save a woman’s life, but the doctors can’t do it unless her guardian sings that permission. This practice is happening until today in Saudi Arabia, but mainly in government hospitals where many of the Saudis get their medical care at.
As a Saudi women’s rights activist, I could say that the American women are like the Saudi women regarding gaining their rights. They have to fight hard, play it smart and always look for the right opportunity to press more in order to get even. The right time is now, the right time is the election time. Women still have time to make a change in these two candidates’ agenda. They should use their votes to get treated equally and set a good example for Saudi women and others to follow.

salameyad@hotmail.com