Women appointed to an all-men council in Saudi

RIYADH – In a historic decision in the Gulf country, Saudi King Abdullah has appointed women to a fifth of the seats in the all-men Shura Council, which advises the government on new legislation.

"Women... will enjoy full rights of membership, be committed to their duties, responsibilities and assume their jobs," the King said according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), BBC reported on Friday, January 11.
King Abdullah first announced that he was planning to name women to the Shura Council in 2011, when he also said they would be allowed to vote and stand as candidates in the 2015 municipal elections.
Issuing two royal decrees on Friday, the King amended an article in the Shura Council's statute to guarantee women representation on the body, while the other named the 150 members, among them 30 women.
The king said he had consulted religious scholars, who had approved the participation of women in accordance with Shari`ah (Islamic law).

Women will be seated in a special area and enter the council through a separate door so as not to mix with their male colleagues.
To comply with the kingdom's rigorous policy of gender segregation, the Shura council building must now be altered to include a separate entrance for women, the decree said.
The council has had 12 women "advisers" since 2006, but women still have little role in public life in the religiously conservative kingdom, the birthplace of Islam.

Welcomed
The new decrees were welcomed by Saudi activist women including female Saudi novelist Badriya al-Bishr as a "promise kept" by the king.
"It is a good surprise and a promise that has been kept," by the king, al-Bishr told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Friday.
The 30 chosen women include university graduates, human rights activists and two princesses.
Also among them is ThurayaObaid, a veteran UN administrator who served notably as executive director of the UN Development Program and undersecretary general of the world body.
"They are the cream of the crop," Bishr told AFP.
"The king is determined to place women in the limelight," Bishr added, and voiced hope that her Saudi sisters "will secure more rights" in the future.
Abdullah had been carefully treading towards change, introducing municipal elections for the first time in 2005.
In 2011 he granted women the right to vote and run as candidates in the next local election, set for 2015, and said he would also name them to the Shura Council because "we refuse marginalizing women's role in the Saudi society in all fields."
Saudi Arabia has seen many changes since Abdullah became king in 2005.
Norah al-Fayez became the first woman ever named to a ministerial post in 2009 when she was given named deputy education minister for women's education.
More recently, Saudi women broke ground when two of them took part in the London Olympics.
Middle distance runner Sarah Attar made history on August 8, becoming the first female athlete to represent Saudi Arabia in Olympics track and field, just days after WojdanShaherkani appeared in the judo competition.