The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Through The Eyes Of Saudi Women

Anita Butera provides a unique account of the past and future of Saudi Arabia as told by Saudi women. The story that emerges is one where modernization is not synonymous with Westernization but instead comes from the search for an identity based on the rich history of the country.

This title provides an authentic and eye-opening collection of interviews with 30 women from all walks of life in Saudi Arabia. At a time when the Kingdom appears to be on the cusp of change, this unique book captures the essence of what it is like to be a woman living in Saudi Arabia today.

The first book to situate the Saudi woman in a broader cultural context, this text explores a variety of themes, historical developments, and social taboos. It also investigates a wide range of writing by Saudi women, beginning with the first attempt by a woman to write for the public in the middle of the twentieth century up to the peak of the Saudi woman’s literary production in this millennium. It is also concerned with the Saudi woman’s social, economic, and religious contributions, making it possible for the reader to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the reality of Saudi women through studying and connecting the Saudi woman’s past with her present. As such, this book represents a major contribution to the study of women in the Middle East, and offers a unique contrast between fictional presentation and lived experience.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most closed countries in the world. To separate fact from fiction, Nicola Sutcliff decided to go behind the veil for four years living, working and socialising in Saudi society. The resulting project - this fascinating and revelatory book - aims to raise the voices of these women; to share their realities, dreams, frustrations and talents. Through personal interviews, thirty women share their stories: from world-renowned activists to wives in polygamous households; high-ranking princesses to desert-dwelling bedouins. They talk candidly about the issues most intriguing to a Western audience – driving, sister wives and the religious police – as well as lesser known aspects of their lives, including under-the-abaya fashion, underground parties, and the practice of ‘purchasing’ husbands online. Many of the topics they discuss are completely unreported, until now. This compelling book also includes timely essays on wide-ranging subjects including driving, transgenderism, male guardianship, religion, politics and sexuality. Authentic, eye-opening, inspiring, courageous, this book will challenge stereotypes and reveal the intimate thoughts and details of women's lives in this most intriguing and mysterious of countries. At a time when the Kingdom appears to be on the cusp of change, this unique book captures the essence of what it is like to be a woman living in Saudi Arabia today.

A strikingly honest look into Islamic culture?—in particular women and Islam?—and what it takes for one woman to recreate herself in the land of invisible women. Unexpectedly denied a visa to remain in the United States, Qanta Ahmed, a young British Muslim doctor, becomes an outcast in motion. On a whim, she accepts an exciting position in Saudi Arabia. This is not just a new job; this is a chance at adventure in an exotic land she thinks she understands, a place she hopes she will belong. What she discovers is vastly different. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a world apart, a land of unparalleled contrast. She finds rejection and scorn in the places she believed would most embrace her, but also humor, honesty, loyalty and love. And for Qanta, more than anything, it is a land of opportunity. Very few Islamic books for women give a firsthand account of what it's like to live in a place where Muslim women continue to be oppressed and treated as inferior to men. But if you want to learn more about the Islamic culture in an unflinchingly real way, this book is for you. "In this stunningly written book, a Western trained Muslim doctor brings alive what it means for a woman to live in the Saudi Kingdom. I've rarely experienced so vividly the shunning and shaming, racism and anti—Semitism, but the surprise is how Dr. Ahmed also finds tenderness at the tattered edges of extremism, and a life—changing pilgrimage back to her Muslim faith." — Gail Sheehy

The book studies the social issues related to the status of women in Saudi Arabia and the extent to which Saudi Arabian women actively participate in the development of their country. It also focuses on education and work outside the home as they affect the traditional role of the Saudi woman as wife, mother and homemaker. At the same time, those factors promote the participation of women in the development of Saudi Arabia. The book examines also the quality of Saudi women's lives in a traditional society and the meaning of their social reality. Intensive interviews were held with 100 Saudi women in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from different social, economic and educational levels.

With over thirty years of experience writing about Saudi Arabia, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and former publisher of The Wall Street Journal Karen Elliott House has an unprecedented knowledge of life inside this shrouded kingdom. Through anecdotes, observation, analysis, and extensive interviews, she navigates the maze in which Saudi citizens find themselves trapped and reveals the sometimes contradictory nature of the nation that is simultaneously a final bulwark against revolution in the Middle East and a wellspring of Islamic terrorists. Saudi Arabia finds itself threatened by fissures and forces on all sides, and On Saudi Arabia explores in depth what this portends for the country’s future—and our own.

In a land where Kings still rule, I am a Princess. You must know me only as Sultana, for I cannot reveal my true name for fear that harm will come to me and my family for what I am about to tell you. Think of a Saudi Arabian princess and what do you see? A woman glittering with jewels, living a life of unbelievable luxury. She has gold, palaces, swimming-pools, servants, designer dresses galore. But in reality she lives in a gilded cage. She has no freedom, no vote, no control over her own life, no value but as a bearer of sons. Hidden behind the veil, she is a prisoner, her jailers her father, her husband, her sons. 'Sultana' is a member of the Saudi royal family, closely related to the King. For the sake of her daughters, she decided that it was time for a woman in her position to speak out about the reality of life for women in her country, whatever their rank. She tells of her own life, from her turbulent childhood to her arranged marriage - a happy one, until her husband decided to take a second wife - and of the lives of her sisters, her friends and her servants. In contrast to the affection and easy camaraderie amongst the women, she relates a history of appalling oppression against them, everyday occurrences that in any other culture would be seen as shocking human rights violations: forced marriages, servants bullied into sex slavery, summary executions. Princess is a testimony to a woman of indomitable spirit and great courage. By speaking out, 'Sultana' risked bringing the wrath of the Saudi establishment upon her head and upon the heads of her children. For this reason, she told her story anonymously.