During the oppressive years of apartheid in South Africa the world introduced sanctions so that they were excluded from competing in international sporting events and trade. The strong opposition to the way South Africa governed its country was felt. Eventually the unequal treatment of black citizens in South Africa was changed by law and the sanctions were lifted.
This makes perfect sense to me. Discriminating against someone because of their skin color is nonsense. It is an archaic idea and one which is totally unacceptable in 2007.
But there is another form of apartheid practiced in some countries. Instead of the word being used to describe discrimination against a race it is used to discriminate against gender. Gender apartheid is rife in some Middle Eastern countries.
I lived in Saudi Arabia for seven years, from 1989 to 1996. Gender apartheid exists. Woman are discriminated against under strict Sharia Law. There are other strongly Islamic countries in the Middle East who do treat women as equals so I think it is the Saudi interpretation of the the law, as well as medieval traditions still in force, which allow such appalling treatment of women to go unquestioned by the same nations who applied sanctions to South Africa for practicing apartheid against black people.
But Saudi Arabia is rich and powerful. It has oodles of oil under its deserts and that makes everything a whole lot different. Not allowing South Africa to take part in the Olympics and refusing to buy their fruit and meat just isn't as bad as not having enough oil to power massive petrol guzzling cars although frankly we wouldn't miss their female teams at the Olympics because there aren't any.
It is a human rights issue and one that is overlooked by the nations who want and need to maintain relations with Saudi Arabia to keep those oil supplies flowing. So the fact that women are not allowed to drive, cannot work in public, cannot travel without being in the company of a male family member, must cover their body shape and hair with a black nylon abaya while the male Saudis where 100% white cotton, a cool fabric, can be harassed on the streets by the religious police if they don't conform to the dress requirements just continues.
The photograph above shows, Laleh Seddigh, Iranian formula one driver at the Bahrain Grand Prix Track and two woman who actually took part in a protest in Riyadh in 1991. This coincided with the American troops using Saudi as a base during the Gulf War, they brought female soldiers with them who were seen driving military vehicles. Some Saudi women felt this was the right time to change the situation for them. If American woman could drive then why couldn't they? All the women involved in the protest were arrested and soon after there was an announcement on the Saudi TV that it was now illegal for women to drive, they would never be issued with a driving license as these delicate creatures need to be protected from the dangers of cars so they could only sit in the passenger seat if the driver was their husband, they have to sit in the back if the driver was anyone but their husband.
The third photograph is Saudi's first female pilot,Hanadi Zakaria, although she is not employed by Saudia. She can fly a plane but has to be driven to it by a man!
This outrageous situation has to stop.
