As a university student with the entire summer off, I decided to occupy my time with a part-time job or possibly an internship. During my search, I visited one of the Kingdom’s largest department stores, as I have seen many university students working there during the summer. Almost as soon as I arrived at the management department, I was told off with one sentence: “We don’t hire women, only male students to work part-time.” I didn’t understand why. Did they mean that women could not do as good a job as men?

I was frustrated and it got me into many Twitter discussions with friends and strangers. Only then did I realize that while many women in Saudi Arabia face the same discrimination everyday, not all of them are aware of the better ways to speak up for their rights.

There is a great cultural misconception that defiance and challenging authorities, in general, is the way to bring about change, and this is especially seen when women’s rights are involved. We see women everyday on social media using the labels “feminist”, “women’s rights advocate” or even “activist”. It is surprising how we see these terms used and sometimes misused.

Women “activists” with social media followers exceeding the 10K mark have a great influence, especially with the younger generation giving them the platform to reach out to thousands of women from the comfort of their own homes. In many cases, these women “activists” have orchestrated rallies and media bursts while residing outside of the Arabian Peninsula. Is it morally right to have great numbers of women risk their safety and reputations, while the people who started it all aren’t even there? Is that what being a leader has become in this day and age? More importantly, is that what being an “activist” in Saudi Arabia means now?

One of the greatest short-lived moments remembered in women’s rights movements is the 26th of October Campaign to protest against the driving ban imposed on the female population of the Kingdom. The only problem is that it was never carried out. In fact, the Ministry of Interior made an announcement beforehand warning all women from participating in the movement, including those who intended to drive. It could become “an opportunity for predators to undermine social cohesion”.

There were quite a few pivotal mistakes in planning and executing this movement, all of which went hand-in-hand to cause its failure. While the initial intentions were to protest, to simply demand that women are to be seen as equals to men, the campaign focused on getting the largest number of women to breach the law and drive in the streets. It is clear that a campaign that seeks to cause disruption and chaos is certainly one that has deviated from its original intention, to actively and positively seek change.

The late King Abdullah said when he granted women 30 seats in the Shoura Council: “We made this decision because we refuse to marginalize women in Saudi society in their roles that comply with the Islamic Shariah and following consultations with many of our scholars who supported it. Muslim women in our history have had stances that cannot be sidelined, be it through views or advice, since the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) ... It is our right to receive your opinion and advice according to the fundamentals of our religion. Whoever trespasses them is arrogant and must take responsibility for those actions”.

We see that changes like these have been emphasized according to Saudi Arabian law, which is what activists, advocates, and feminists should have in common.

Throughout the world, these three terms are used in efforts to define, establish or improve social, political or environmental issues. Activists are the initiators of change, while advocates are supporters of the same cause/movement. Feminists are focused on achieving those changes, but for women, as there is a long history of the need for women in the world to fight for power and influence.

However, before we proceed further, we must clearly acknowledge that defying the laws of a country and challenging the authorities are not inclusive to any of those terms. In a society as complex as ours, where ideologies are extremely varied, force will never be met with satisfaction or approval. On the contrary, it will be met with backlash and extreme frustration. It will only serve to hinder and distort the intentions of any movement, removing any and every positive voice or idea it had.

Demographics show that 60 percent of the Saudi population is younger than the age of 21 (United Nations, 2017), and with the recent governmental reforms, we can look forward to a future Saudi Arabia where women are accepted as equal to men. While statistics do play a role, our major responsibility as women and citizens of our Kingdom is to go by the law, while still expressing our demands and beliefs parallel to our society and culture.

We must make sure that the intentions and objectives of any campaign or movement are significant. What’s even more crucial is ensuring that these objectives align with the method of carrying them out. Abiding by the law will not only save us trouble, but will also ensure that everyone else in Saudi Arabia can see the unquestionable humanity behind granting us our rights.

Maha Sohail AlHomoud,

Dhahran

(The author is a mechanical engineering and economics student at the University of Washington, Seattle)