Word: saudi
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...pictures of President Obama in Saudi Arabia...
...head of the women's department at the Institute of Public Administration, a government school for civil servants. "You have to prove you are not giving away your religious principles. You have to prove that participating in public affairs and taking leadership positions doesn't jeopardize Islamic values and Saudi identity...
Much of the program's energy is devoted to educating Saudi men that they no longer have the right to beat their wives and children, and it seems to be having some effect. This spring, the program organized a series of town hall-style meetings in cities around Saudi Arabia; Princess Adelah's participation ensured that local officials attended. During a meeting in Abha, a city on the Red Sea, a senior judge argued that a husband sometimes needs to beat his wife - if she spends too much money shopping, for instance. The uproar from the women in the audience...
Making Haste Slowly Government reformers defend the pace of change, arguing that it is actually quite rapid given the transformation Saudi society has undergone since oil riches first started to transform a nomadic culture. "Fifty-five years ago there was no education for girls," says al-Faiz. "Fifty years ago people didn't accept the idea of women working. Now everyone wants their girls or wives to work or go through higher education. I don't think those kinds of changes have happened in any country as quickly as here." (See pictures of Saudi women...
Millions of Saudis, of course, still adhere to the strict religious and social conservatism that dates to the 18th century pact made between Mohammed ibn Abd al-Wahhab, a puritanical preacher, and the founder of the Saud dynasty Mohammed ibn Saud. And many conservatives resent the social changes the King is pushing. "Those around King Abdullah use his peaceful positions to impose secular values," says conservative cleric Mohsen al-Awajy. "But Saudi society is a special, tribal society, and neither King Abdullah or anyone else can impose his own interpretation of Islam. They can do nothing without Islam. There...