Saudi women got the right to vote for the first time in modern history, as part of the changes King Abdullah said they will run in future elections.
"We refuse to marginalize the role of women in Saudi society in every field of work," Abdullah said yesterday on state television. "Women have the right to submit their candidacy for municipal council membership and have the right to take part in submitting candidates in accordance with Shariah."
Saudi Arabia applies the gender constraints interpreted from the Wahhabi version of Sunni Islam. Men and women are strictly segregated in public, even in schools, restaurants and fast food takeouts lines. What keeps women in sales jobs in malls and stores, unless the output caters exclusively to female customers, and are also excluded from driving.
The king also said yesterday that women can now become part of the Shura Council, its advisory body. Abdullah, who was born in 1924, is committed to improving the situation of women and opened the first co-educational college in 2009. Appointed deputy kingdom's first woman minister, Nora bint Abdullah al-Fayez, the same year and has said it will provide women greater access to jobs
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