I have a student -- a young woman -- from Saudi Arabia. The first day she showed up in class wearing traditional headdress. Then I never noticed her again, because she changed her style of dress.
She showed up in my office after missing the first midterm, telling me a horrible story. I had trouble understanding everything, so I probably have some of the facts mixed up.
She had been missing class because some of the young Saudi men had been harassing her. She explained that she had won a scholarship. Apparently, she committed a grave crime. She was not allowed to come to this country without a male guardian. Her father gave him permission, but the government told him that that was not his choice. Her brothers did not want to accompany her, but she came anyway.
She did not come from a wealthy family and felt like she had earned her scholarship.
On the campus, from what I understand, many of the young Saudi men like to party, but uphold strict moral standards for women. Because my student did something unthinkable, they harassed her, threatened to cause trouble for her family, and reported her to the Saudi government -- which demanded that she return to her homeland.
We have a wonderful new Pakistani professor to whom I introduced my student, suggesting that the professor would be more understanding of her situation and knowing that she could open up more easily to a woman. Afterwards, the professor asked me if I knew what was happening to the student. I replied that I was aware of the harassment. She shook her head and said, "Oh, no." Even before as anything, she explained that she could not tell me the specifics but they were more troubling than what I had known.
Toward the end of the semester, she told me that her father was coming to retrieve her before the end of classes. She explained that she was going to be put into some sort of institution to reform her unreligious behavior.
I put her in touch with her congressman, Wally Herger, a nice guy, but ultraconservative. Surprisingly, his office seem to have registered a complaint that made it to the Saudi government, leading to a letter telling a student should not have to return right away.
Again, I repeat that I may not have all the facts correct.
Did anyone suggest having her apply for asylum with the State Department based on religious persecution?
ReplyDeleteyes, I did. The question is whether State would agree to call the Saudis out in a public way.
ReplyDeleteSaudi Arabia is notorious for probably having the worst record for womens' rights in the entire world. Really, I cannot name a country that is worse. The symbol of it is that women are forbidden from driving, although there keep being rumors that King Abdullah may change that at some point. But, I believe it is the only country in the world with such a restriction, and it is deeply and widely resented by women there.
ReplyDeleteBarkley
just let them be...that's their culture and that's what they believe in. And i believe its one of the countries with much less chaos in the world.
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ReplyDeletem currently doing a project on middle eastern Women rights and as Im gathering information on this. I will gladly say I might be a freshmen at The University Of Western Carolina, But I will gladly Disagree with this anonymous person statement. We may not see eye to eye on all subjects, thats understandable. Yet to let such things to go on is disgusting. I grew up being a gentle men. We are all human so I dont care if we have different belives, no one has the right to take extreme measures into their own hands. What right do they have..... Like i said im no expert about their history, but when things inhuman as this happends I couldnt care less its just wrong.(Im not a english major, so plz excuse any grammatical mistakes lol). Thank you for your time
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