The findings of a survey of Saudi teenagers’ attitudes toward the sweeping reforms sought by the Kingdom, published in the London-based Asharq Al Awsat, has been criticised by the English daily Arab News on Tuesday. The results of the survey, which was based on 10 male-only high school classes, "were shocking, puzzling and an accurate indication of what has developed here over the last 20 years", wrote Abeer Mishkhas. "For the most part, the answers - not surprisingly - reflected an obsession with women, in how they should be treated and their roles in society. One of the students made a surprising statement: he thought there should be a prison for women who do not follow society’s customs; in other words, he felt that women who do not cover their faces or who wear form-fitting abayas should perhaps serve two weeks in prison. Another student suggested that women’s morals should be carefully checked. How I wonder? And what about men’s? And he regretted that women blindly follow Western fashions and trends. I wonder what he thinks about the jean-clad, baseball-cap wearing young men who are all over Jeddah."
She lauded the remarks of one respondent, however, who supported the right of women to drive. "If women were allowed to ride camels and horses in the past, then how can we prevent them from driving cars today? If each one of us reminded himself that his mother or sister was driving on the same road, maybe we would come to respect other women a little more than we do," Hamad told Asharq Al Awsat. Other respondents, such as one called Rami, felt that there should be increased segregation of men and women in shopping centres and that this should be done by having different shopping hours for women and men. One 16-year-old called Adel suggested that young men under 25 should not be allowed to travel outside the country lest they be corrupted. "Does he think that Saudi men only travel abroad to do what they cannot do here in the kingdom?" asked Abeer.
Some of the respondents reflected a certain dislike and intolerance for non-Muslims. "A general look at these opinions shows us what our society suffers from, a fear of the outside world and its effects. Another problem is the obsession with women as objects that have to be controlled all the time," remarked Abeer. "These are all genuine feelings and comments but there were others who expressed the need for openness, for broadening perceptions and perspectives and beautifying the environment." |