Saudi Women Now Allowed to Attend Sporting Events
This latest step towards equality for women in Saudi Arabia comes a month after the government passed a royal decree to allow women to drive starting in June 2018.Saudia Arabia has been criticized for treating women in the country as if they were second-class citizens, but it looks like they have been moving in a different direction recently. The announcement was made by the chairman of the General Sports Authority, Turki-Al Asheikh, which was quoted by Arab News said, “[The authority] will start rehabilitating the main stadiums in Riyadh, Dammam, and Jeddah to be ready to receive families starting in 2018.”
“Rehabilitating” could be referring to the ways in which seating arrangements in the stadiums could be changed. Currently, in Saudi Arabia, men and women are segregated in public places. It is unclear if women and children would be separated from men, both single and married, within the stadium.
Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the First Deputy Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia who brought about the decree, has a view of his country in which women are given just as many rights as men as he hopes for a country ran on “moderate Islam” values.
Crown Prince: We want to live a normal life reflecting our moderate religion contributing to the development of #Saudi & the world. #FII2017 pic.twitter.com/ejPVSKTvva
— CIC Saudi Arabia (@CICSaudi) October 25, 2017
We applaud the Prince and everyone involved with this decree for this step into the future for all Saudi women.
