Books, women and stuff

I have been reading a lot lately; mostly just because I'm bored with things in general and reading seems like a good alternative to watching TV. Also, I have to take the loser cruiser to work (because my salary does not justify driving and parking a car), so I have taken to reading on the bus. I wanted to make a list of some of the good books that I have read lately; so that I can remember them. These are my top five from the last few months (in no particular order)
1. Water for elephants - Sara Gruen
2. Finding Nouf - Zoe Ferraris
3. A woman in Berlin - Anonymous
4. City of Thieves - David Benioff
5. The help - Kathryn Stockett

Now, I'm not really a feminist, but when reading "Finding Nouf" (which takes place in Saudi Arabia and touches on some of the limitations faced by the women there) I got curious about what some of the restrictions they face are. After a few google searches I discovered that women are not allowed to drive, vote, testify in court, etc. Now, these facts in themselves didn't surprise me (because I knew that women in Saudi are very oppressed) however, the reasons why women dont' have these basic rights are what shocked me.

I assumed that women would not be able to drive, because they cannot be trusted to operate a car safely; however it seems thats not the reason. Women cannot drive because:
  • Driving a car involves uncovering the face which is considered obligatory for women to cover in Saudi
  • Driving a car may lead women to go out of house more often thereby not having time for their daily duties (allah forbid!)
  • Driving a car may lead women to have interaction with non-mahram males, i.e., they can be stopped by policemen at the scenes of traffic infractions
  • Women driving cars may lead to overcrowding the streets and many young men may be deprived of the opportunity to drive
The forth point gets me the most; women can't drive, because they may make the streets too crowded for men!! Imagine. The nerve of women. Wanting to drive when that might be an inconvenience for men!

Women also can't testify in court for ridiculous reasons:
  • Women are much more emotional than men and will, as a result of their emotions, distort their testimony.
  • Women do not participate in public life, so they will not be capable of understanding what they observe
  • Women are dominated completely by men, who by the grace of God are deemed superior; therefore, women will give testimony according to what the last man told them
  • Women are forgetful, and their testimony cannot be considered reliable.
I forgot that I am forgetful.... obviously anything I say isn't reliable. And yes, I generally do take the view of the last man I spoke too; if he told me the world is flat, I would believe him and preach that view to others.

Awesome. Unfortunately since I would probably be killed, or lashed publicly, for drinking, socializing with males or not wearing my hijab I will probably never get to visit Saudi Arabia; but I sure would find it interesting to go there. For now, I guess Ill just have to settle with reading about it.

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