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International Olympic Committee rules require that countries allow both men and women to compete as a prerequisite for their participation in the Olympic Games. Saudia Arabia, a country that has never sent a female athlete to the games, has been warned of this, promised to correct the situation, and then sort of did nothing for awhile and hoped that no one would notice. More »
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This weekend, two people were in a car accident. One was hurt, one was killed. If this had happened in the US, it would be tragic, but it likely wouldn't be news. This incident, however, happened in Saudi Arabia, and the two involved were women. More »
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Saudi Arabia is on the cusp of great social change: women are for the first time being permitted to work outside the home as sales clerks in shops that serve a female clientele. Women in Saudi Arabia have long been barred from working in retail, lest they have to interact with male customers who are not relatives, which is forbidden. But in practice, the rule insured that women who wanted to buy things like clothing, makeup, and especially lingerie had to seek help from male sales clerks, whom the Times reports were mostly South Asian immigrants. More »
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In 2006, Saudi Arabia passed a law banning men from working in women's clothing and cosmetics stores, but it was never put into effect. The country's religious establishment says that to uphold the separation of the sexes women shouldn't work in places where men and women congregate together. However, this leads to another uncomfortable situation: Women buying underwear from male clerks who guess their size and describe the fit to them. For months Saudi women have been boycotting lingerie shops to in an effort to make them hire women, and now the country's leaders say that they'll begin enforcing the law that bans men from women's stores this week. More »
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Today Saudi Arabia announced that in its next election women will be allowed to run of office and vote without the approval of a male guardian. It's really quite generous, though for some reason, women aren't partying in the streets. Probably because they still need a man's permission to drive, travel, work, study abroad, marry, divorce, or be admitted to a public hospital — you know, stuff that actually makes a difference in their lives. More »
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A Saudi Arabian cleric has warned his fellow countrymen against lifting the country's ban on allowing women to drive, asserting that letting ladies take the wheel will lead to a complete extinction of virgins within 10 years. Because everyone knows that ladies will only use their newfound freedom to cars to drive directly to a dick. More »
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For the first time in the history of the games, Saudi Arabia is allowing women to compete on their country's Olympic team during the 2012 summer games in London. We are truly making great strides. Wait, Saudi Arabia only did it because the International Olympic Committee threatened to bar them from the London Olympics unless they allowed female competitors? And they're only letting one woman compete, and that's only if she lives outside of the country while she trains? Oh. More »
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Women in Saudi Arabia are required by law to cover their hair and wear long, loose black dresses in public. Some areas of the country require women to cover their faces as well. Now, per a recommendation by the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), women who are determined to have 'tempting' eyes may be required to cover their eyes as well. Nothing could possibly go wrong here! More »
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Many Saudi women are unimpressed with their new voting rights, and say they really need the right to drive. One tells NBC, More »
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Women may have the right to vote and run in Saudi Arabia's municipal elections in 2015 — however, female candidates won't be allowed to have their pictures on campaign posters. More »
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A day after Saudi women got the right to vote in municipal elections, Shaima Jastaina became the first woman to receive a legal punishment for violating the ban on women driving. She was supposed to be lashed 10 times, but now King Abdullah has overturned her sentence. There's been no official confirmation, but Princess Amira al-Taweel Tweeted: "Thank God, the lashing of [Shaima] is cancelled. Thanks to our beloved king. I am sure all Saudi women will be so happy, I know I am." More »
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Women in Saudi Arabia got the right to vote in municipal elections this week. But is this seemingly progressive decision just a way of drawing attention away from rights Saudi women still don't have, like driving? More »
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Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has granted women the right to vote in the kingdom. But in a nation where elected officials carry little power, does it even matter? More »
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Hooray for women! Saudi Arabian King Abdullah has granted women in his country the right to vote and run for public office. More »
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According to news reports out of Saudi Arabia, Saudi women are outraged that the government plans to allow Moroccan maids into the country to replace Filipina and Indonesian women, out of the belief that Moroccan women will seduce their husbands. Oh, by the way: There's a vacuum in the Saudi domestic market in response to brutal human rights abuses of maids, including beheadings. More »
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Talking to a saleswoman about your underwear is often a bit awkward, but it could be much worse. To replicate the Saudi Arabian bra-buying experience, you'd have to find a middle-aged male Victoria's Secret salesman and ask him to guess your bra size and describe the fit of a lacy panty. For years, women in the country have been forced to buy undergarments from male clerks, but soon they may be able to buy a bra from someone who's actually worn one. More »
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Saudi Arabia's religious police have begun arresting women who are protesting against their country's ban on female driving by getting behind the wheel. But advocates of women's right to drive say the arrests won't stop them. More »
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Fairy tales teach us that part of being a princess means having your dreams come true. Getting what you want. Princess Ameerah al-Taweel is gorgeous, rich, and owns a pet zebra. But her true desire? To be able to drive in her homeland of Saudi Arabia -- and for other women to be able to drive as well. More »
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A Saudi daily reported that a businesswoman in Medina had gone to the police, saying her driver had raped her at gunpoint. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5807328&view=rss&microfeed=true "Ensuring women's rights in Saudi Arabia is not about opening larger universities, it's really about ensuring that women are allowed to study all fields and to be able to find future employment in these fields," says Khalife. More »
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Yesterday we mentioned the arrest of Manal al-Sherif, who is part of the social media campaign encouraging Saudi Arabian women to defy the law by driving cars themselves. There's a huge protest planned for June 17th, and on that day, Manal al-Sherif wants women to get in their cars and drive. Some Facebook groups support her efforts, while others — like this one — oppose the protest, and suggest that women who participate should be whipped. Manal al-Sherif has already been released from jail. We'll have to wait until mid-June to see how many other brave women will join her on the road. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5804618&view=rss&microfeed=true The Saudi Arabian woman behind a social media campaign that encourages women to defy the laws of the strict Islamic country by driving cars has been detained by authorities for her actions. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5804392&view=rss&microfeed=true Saudi Arabian King Abdullah has opened a large all-women's university on the outskirts of Riydha. More »
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Under the practice of adhl, some women in Saudi Arabia are forced by male guardians—often their dads—to remain single. This is actually against Islamic law. Now some Saudi women are saying "fuck this," and suing their dads. More »
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Claiming that it violates rules requiring "strict segregation of the sexes," Saudi Arabia's top Islamic clerics have called for a fatwa ending the immoral culture of female cashierdom. Geez, is there anything these cleric guys say Saudi women can do? More »
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Censorship is prevalent in Saudi Arabia, and someone has collected photos illustrating all the ways Mariah Carey has been covered up. More »
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• Police in Switzerland are planning on building a series of "sex boxes" that will allow drivers to approach prostitutes without the whole messy street walker thing getting in the way. They will also help hide sex workers from society.

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Oh, no. "A Saudi man has been chained in a basement apartment for more than six years because his father believes he is possessed by an evil female genie." Does it get more upsetting? Yes: More »
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In Afghanistan, a warlord tried to get into a Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent's bed one morning. In Saudi Arabia, reporting while young and female was a bit more complicated. More »
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Angry at being questioned by a religious policeman, a 20-something Saudi Arabian woman beat the crap out of the cop, hitting him repeatedly until he was taken to the hospital. More »
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Hissa Hilal, a Saudi housewife and a contestant in an American-Idol-style poetry competition, read an incendiary 15-verse poem that criticized clerics who issue ever-more-restrictive fatwas, and referred to clerics as monsters "wearing death as a robe, cinched with a belt." More »
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• A 91-year-old pharmacy cashier tried to fight off a robber who grabbed a handful of cash from her register. "I want him to get caught because I want to smack him," said Florence Critelli after the attack. More »
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It's rather unconvincing, from her wardrobe notes on Prince Saud al-Faisal to the usual campy rhetorical flourishes ("Wahhabism, anyone?"; the Prince "sounding like a Saudi Garbo"), substituting for analysis, to an underreported gloss over Israeli women's rights. Team Gail. [NYT] More »
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• Saudi policemen have begun a crackdown on Valentine's Day items, including red roses, heart-shaped products or gifts wrapped in red. Celebration of the Hallmark holiday is banned in Saudi Arabia, as is celebration of some other Western holidays. •  More »
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In Riyadh, the media company Rotana is shaking up Saudi society simply by being an openly gender-integrated workplace. Time magazine reports on the struggles and triumphs of working women battling against cultural norms. More »
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In Saudi Arabia, women cannot travel without the explicit permission of a male guardian. As this practice has grown less and less popular, a group of women have launched a pro-guardian campaign called "My Guardian Knows What's Best For Me." More »
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Bob Herbert criticized America's "barbaric treatment of women." Anne Applebaum says barbarians only live in other countries — like Saudi Arabia. So stop protesting against misogyny, ladies, and be happy with your right to "leave the house." [Double X] More »
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A Saudi princess who had a baby with her English boyfriend has been given asylum in Britain, saying she would be stoned as an adulterer if she returned to Saudi Arabia. More »
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As part of the campaign to lift the ban on women selling lingerie in Saudi Arabia, 26 mostly-Saudi women recently completed a 40-hour training course to learn how to fit and sell underwear to other women. More »
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Saudi Princess Adela bint Abdullah, a daughter of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, has become an active campaigner against domestic violence in her country. Though it is unusual for female royals to serve as spokespeople or answer questions from the media, she obviously feels she can make a difference. [GlobalPost] More »
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