Babel Tower!

Currently in KSA, the place where I was born and where I've lived for so long.


I mostly hated having to spend the summer in KSA. Apart from the advantage of getting to visit Mecca, I always had to spend the vacation in a tightly reserved and closed community where I didn't have any friends. Days were always spent between shopping and wandering about at home reading or watching TV.
I've observed as a foreigner and an outsider the position of women in the society and as a feminist (yes I'm a feminist, haven't I  mentioned it?) I disliked the place even more. I've seen women as shadows obliged to follow men and always dependent on them, and always had the impression that men took women for granted out of consciousness of their dependence.

This year I am here after a long break of the summer visits. Older and finally with a defined field of studying (which is the same field of my parents), I found a better chance than what was usually available to me for getting a closer look at this society.
My way in was accompanying my father to work. Through being with him I got a glimpse of the male society, and on my own I was easily admitted to the female society, both societies strictly separated and yet coexisting with much success, a thing I've always thought not possible.

I've met the housewives Saudi women before and I've thought it all there is to the female society. Spending time in the female ER, I got to see how these women transform into able, active characters in their work environment. They seemed to be functioning and focusing with better liberty and comfort away from men.
I also got to meet the female medical staff from other different Arab and non-Arab nationalities who Egyptian women would consider as having less liberty or less chances of education. The most amazing of all was the Sudanese staff. Most of the female surgeons were Sudanese. I got to make friends with one of them and she was exactly the sort of girls I always wanted to be. Confident and tender with her patients, calm and always knowing exactly what to do, determined to move forwards with her career. I learned from her that many Sudanese women choose surgery and that it was no wonder to them. Strangely enough, this is not the case in our more opened Egyptian society.
Based on what I've seen, both male doctors and female patients had great respects and trust in the female surgeons. No one seemed to question their abilities just because they are women.

Babel Tower! Another striking point was everyone's ability to communicate successfully with other staff members despite the difference in their nationalities, native languages and backgrounds. All other nationalities seemed to accept that they've entered a society that has its own rules that are to be respected whether the rules are liked or not. I found it to be considered a point for the Saudi society to be able to accept and cope with such a diversity with all the further complexity and the additional internal social division that it brings.

The clothes! In here I understood it usually works this way: The ladies cover from head to toe while servants don't usually cover their faces, may be because they are usually non-Saudis. Despite being all covered up they take great care of the elegance of their robes, bags and shoes each doing her best according to her economic state. The obligation to cover up didn't seem to offend them in any way, on the contrary according to their social rules it seemed to indicate their being of an upper social state.
Personally, like many other non-Saudi women here, I don't cover my face. Yet it didn't evoke any sort of harassment or even any unpleasant comment from either men or women. Some might give you a look of disapproval, but it doesn't progress further than the look.

It's true that many of my first impressions were correct, for instance the banning of women from driving creates a great dependence issue. Some women had to skip work on many days because they didn't have anyone available to drive them. Of course the hospital has its own buses in service, but not all of the women use the buses.

What I've learnt is that there is no such thing as an ideal society pattern that has to be applied all over the world. I can't generalize what I've seen and I didn't see much, but I understand now that what can't work for my society isn't necessarily impossible to apply for other societies. This society like any other society definitely has it's problems and definitely has its many flaws. It's true that the position of women regarding the value placed on their education is not where it is thought best to be. But then again, I generally accept and understand now that what's considered "best" or as "improvement" is not the same everywhere. Changes are brought about only when the current conditions are no longer considered satisfactory for those living them and not for those judging from the outside, and it's up to those living them only to take action towards changing  them.

Probably it would be a long while before I'd be able to to visit KSA again, and I'm glad I'll be leaving this time inshaa Allah with better impressions and memories and more acquaintances than every time :)