AFP Photo / Fayez Nureldine
Saudi Arabia is to build a new city exclusively for women. The Gulf kingdom is working on the narrow junction between strict Sharia law and the aspirations of active females who wish to pursue their own careers.
The new plan is to combine women’s desire to work in the modern age and provide a job environment that would go hand-in-hand with the country’s Sharia law. The Saudi Industrial Property Authority (Modon) has been charged to lead the country into a new era.
The ambitious mono-city is now being designed with construction to begin next year. The municipality in the Eastern city of Hafuf is expected to attract 500 million riyals (US$133 million) in investments and it will create around 5,000 jobs in the textiles, pharmaceuticals and food processing industries. There will be women-run firms and production lines for women.
Saudi Sharia law does allow women to work, given that her essential duties of homemaking should not be neglected. But in reality around 15 per cent of women are represented in the workforce, according to some estimates.
The Modon plan shadows the government’s desire for women to play a more important role in the development of the country. Among the stated objectives are to create job spots for young people.
"I'm sure that women can demonstrate their efficiency in many aspects and clarify the industries that best suit their interests, their nature and their ability," Modon’s deputy director-general, Saleh Al-Rasheed, told Saudi daily al-Eqtisadiah.
Saudi’s existing industrial cities already have factories owned by women, as well as companies that employ a small portion of the female population.
Apart from Hafuf, the Saudis are developing more women-only polis projects.
“We are now working on a second industrial city for women,” said Saleh Al Rasheed. “We have plans to establish a number of women-only industries in various parts of the kingdom.”
The kingdom’s rampant desire to boost its citizen workforce participation and change the women’s unemployment rate is also changing the retail landscape. The state is attempting to replace foreign salespeople with Saudi women in its female apparel shops, according to a research carried out by Booz and Co.
This summer, women started replacing sales staff in cosmetics and perfume shops, only half a year after they replaced male sales staff in lingerie stores. By the end of the year, women plan to replace their gender counterparts in stores selling abayas, the traditional black cloak worn by women.
But despite the degree of emancipation, women's rights in Saudi Arabia are still defined by Islam and lack basic freedoms found in many Western cultures. For instance, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving.
Yet recently efforts have been made to change the societal structure in the kingdom.
Last September, King Abdullah announced that women will be able to vote and run in the 2015 local elections, and be appointed to the Consultative Assembly.
This July, women also obtained the right to represent their country at the London Olympic Games.
Replies
...lol... i will move to live there disguised as a woman... and if i wear a burka also nobody's gonna recognize... :)))
actually alot of perverts give these women a hard time... so its just as well they get their own space ... lol
(i know the situation cos i had alota friends in saudi ) ;) ;)
This may lead to more respect and freedom for Women
I sincerely hope so!! Would be an excellent example of what can be accomplished by those who don't take their freedom and this opportunity for granted.
Please check out video i have just added Lisafer
As much as this seems like a great idea on the surface, it is just another attempt for a controlling society to put women in the proverbial box! i cannot as a woman agree with this. Men and women are like the wings of a bird, both are needed to fly, if one is injured or not performing, the bird flys in circles. This is just another sugar coated attempt at controlling women to fit their own agenda. This is nothing to do with Islam. NO where in the Koran, did Muhammad say that women need to be controlled in this manner or to be segregated/covered from head to toe. It is a sick twisted old control way of thinking that these clergy have created.
Where women throughout the world are fighting for their rights... http://the2012scenario.com/2012/08/tunisian-women-protest-inequalit... I find this segregation unacceptable.
Where men and women in these countries fight for the right of women and minorities like in Iran... like my grandparents who live there now!!! they had the choice to leave, but someone had to work for the people.
I have a whole lot to say on this subject, but knowing that things will change real soon, i only will focus on the positive aspect of womens rights. I will fight alongside those working for the betterment of women, not the control of them.
Peace.
I do agree with you there and you know just as well as I do never to underestimate the power of women. While I do think there will be an element of controlling women to begin with in this idea, there is only so much controlling men can do if they aren't going to help the group of women as a whole. Lol I wouldn't make these sort of women in their own city angry, not even close. If I could, I would chose this kind of segregation. To know 100% that I would not get oggled in the street, that I would not and my children would not be exposed to any kind of sexual exploitation, that no creepy men would be hanging around waiting for an opportunity to rape and pillage. Thats a world I would LOVE to live in. Having said this, I would miss functional men in this respect so maybe the idea appeals so much because I'm sick of controlling, energy-leeching men who want to be mothered. And to put another idea out there, women can be just as controlling and manipulative if not worse than men so there does always need to be a balance. It will be interesting to see how this city turns out though, will be watching with interest.
The City has to be eco-friendly and shops need to sell organic and eco-friendly goods ...IN OTHER WORDS EVERYTHING MUST BE PLEASING TO MOTHER EARTH or do not bother as it will be demolished ...RESPECT TO MOTHER EARTH MUST COME FIRST REGARDING ANY PLANS
I LOVE THIS IDEA!!!! Its either going to be basically womens paradise or b#tches hell lol. I'm going with women's paradise. Will make an interesting experiment but I KNOW it will work. Big ups to the Saudis, never expected them to do something like this but all due credit goes to them.