Oil On Our Lips

I was walking down Bay Street yesterday when my progress was 'arrested' by this poster. It said:

I left the house without my husband's permission.

This poster is part of a campaign by a group called The Match International Women's Fund. You can find out more about what they're doing at www.matchinternational.org. I have yet to check out their web site but I feel that I have a pretty good sense for what they're lobbying against.

The poster's immediate effect on me was to make me think of Saudi Arabia. Did you know that it's illegal for women to drive a car in Saudi Arabia? Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world to enact and enforce this law. Yes, a woman can be arrested for this heinous act. If you'd like to know more about women's rights in Saudi Arabia, take a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_rights_in_Saudi_Arabia  I feel embarrassed to call them women's 'rights', because it feels like wrongs.

This creates a dilemma. Am I trying to foist my views on another country? I guess the answer is yes, sort of. What I really would like to see is gender parity. I'd like the women of Saudi Arabia to vote on what they want their country to be. I can't imagine they wouldn't want the ability to drive. Driving is just the tip of the iceberg. I'd like to think that Saudi Arabia women would like to have their citizenship upgraded from second class to first. Don't we all want that?

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died last week. World leaders flew to Saudi Arabia to pay their respects. This is troubling in some ways. Do we really 'respect' the man and what he stood for? Can we in good conscience pretend that everything is okay there, or look the other way?

The other side of the coin is that King Abdullah made positive changes for women. Not enough, mind you, but he was instrumental in allowing women the right to vote and also the right to run for political office. Maybe this was Abdullah's way of getting women 'behind the wheel' of their own destiny. Maybe it's just going to be a very slow process. I think Saudi Arabia is showing some signs of what I call progress.

I do wonder why we pay so much attention to Saudi Arabia....oh, wait, they have oil. Lots of it. Do you think we're collectively kissing their asses because they have oil? Let's ask this question: if they didn't have oil, would we care? I suspect that The March International Women's Fund would, but I'm not so sure that our political leaders would feel the same way.

It's all quite troubling. I suppose it's better that we stay on Saudi Arabia's good side and try to affect subtle change. Labeling the Saudis as sexual discriminators and cutting off all ties to them would probably make the situation worse for women in Saudi Arabia.

Is male subordination of women a women's problem? Yes, but ultimately it's a men's problem. What are men afraid of? The answer must be themselves.