The increasing use of the Internet by women hailing from different walks of life is likely to take Arab feminism to a different level
Saudi women wearing niqab, an Islamic dress-code for women, at a commercial area in the Saudi capital Riyadh. AFP
Cyberfeminism is seemingly taking a dynamic shape in the Arab world. The increasing use of the Internet by women hailing from different walks of life is going to take Arab feminism to a different level. In Saudi Arabia women have begun sharing public space, though the prevailing societal orthodoxy does not approve of such liberties given to them. But, in the age of the Internet, isolationism is a myth. It liquidates the political, social and theological barriers by enhancing interconnectedness. Cyberfeminism, therefore, refers to activism around the demand for dignity, rights and freedom for women using cyberspace.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, blogging sites, YouTube, WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter, Instagram, FaceTime, LinkedIn, etc, are the contemporary digital tools which revolutionise the global consciousness around freedom of women. Unlike the West, the Arab world stays behind in terms of recognising the importance of women in every human activity. The Arab Spring, which began on 17 December 2010 and continued till December 2012 against the authoritarian regimes in West Asia and North Africa, experienced massive use of social media platforms and had a strong bearing on the rise of activism against the suppression of Arab women and their rights.
Saudi Social Reality
In Saudi Arabia, women are turning increasingly towards business to gradually make their presence felt in the public space. This tendency seems to be taking a form of silent activism. This involvement in the entrepreneurial space is a step forward towards securing socio-political acceptability.
The Saudi society is essentially patriarchal and hardly admits any alteration in the theological conventions that it believes in. On the other hand, the guardianship of Mecca and Medina, central to Islam, makes it the prototype of social and theological perfection. Its orthodoxies are based more on protecting the ideal societal model that it has constructed as the model Islamic country. It does not therefore tend to compromise with the social codes. But, in the age of Internet and digital feminism, there are challenges that the rigid social structures meet. Saudi Arabia therefore is not an exception.
Changing Scenario
The female literacy percentage (age 15 and above) in Saudi Arabia, as per the data given in CIA World Factbook (2020) is 96 percent in comparison to 98.6 percent male literacy. It is reported that out of 35.08 million people, 33.58 million are active users of the Internet, which constitutes almost 95.72 percent. This explains the rise in digital literacy. The female users of social media and other digital platforms are increasing.
In keeping with the vision 2030 set by the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi women have gained substantial visibility in public entrepreneurial space. This indicates the Saudi political mindset towards incremental reform against the Wahhabi conservative socio-cultural background.
The nature of social reform that Riyadh has undertaken is going to be different from that of the American ones. Every society has different ways of progressing through reforms. The universalising tendencies of the American social model do not actually fit into the social space of other societies. Any radical attempt to impose feminist aggressivity in Saudi society may not succeed. It may throttle the process that seems to have begun by giving Saudi women the space in entrepreneurship. Any interventionist policy in social reengineering when there is no social consensus built is bound to meet failure.
The increasing number of Saudi women participating in social media itself suggests their exposure to the ideas circulating globally around the rights of women. This itself is a major step towards empowering women and educating them of the need for gender equality. The cyber content that they come across carries sufficient empowering force to gradually build courage to confront.
Cyberfeminism does its best to boost the required confidence to come to terms with the Saudi rigid patriarchy. The reform undertaken in recent years in the areas such as freedom of travel, driving, pension equality in the service sectors, equal age retirement, maternity leave, giving women managerial positions in different business ventures, political space at the municipal level, important positions in banking, media, science, etc, indicate the Saudi will to compromise with its Sharia-based civil codes.
Technology and Social Reengineering
The Women to Drive Movement and anti-male guardianship campaign in Saudi Arabia have no doubt achieved their goal by ensuring more visibility of women in the public. The Saudi repressive regime has punished the activists who pioneered these campaigns, but in the process the regime had to bow down to the demand and opted for the policy of gradual easing of restrictions. The Saudi women’s rights champions such as Loujain al-Hathloul, Samar Badawi, Nassima al-Sadah, Mayaa al-Zahrani and so on were arrested and reported to have been tortured for expressing dissent against the Saudi dispensation. Content filtering, cyber surveillance and language barrier are some impediments which restrict free functioning of social media in Saudi Arabia. However, the power of social media and the pressure that it exerts have made the Saudi royalty understand the importance of civil and political freedom for women.
The dramatic change of heart, as expected, will not take place. But the indication that is evident from the series of reforms undertaken and a few more in the pipeline explains the impact of social media and cyber activism in changing the political mindset of a conservative nation. The Women 20 Summit hosted by Saudi Arabia in 2020 expresses its intent not to remain isolated by suppressing the rights of women. The Neom smart city in Tabuk Province is a largely futuristic, technology-packed and artificial intelligence-loaded business hub intended to diversify its economic space and to catch global investment. The state-of-art cognitive city demonstrates the Saudi increasing promotion of technology and gradual reliance on it. This indicates that cyber technology and the miracle it does have already penetrated the Saudi society.
The great takeaway from this is that growing participation in the cyberspace is certainly going to invite massive changes in the social imagination of the Saudi people. The progressive measures taken up by the Crown Prince will not yield the desired result unless gradual autonomy is given to women who experienced marginalisation under Sharia civil codes. Saudi Arabia cannot achieve growth by silencing its women.
Dr Jajati K Pattnaik is Associate Professor at the Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Dr Chandan K Panda is Assistant Professor at Rajiv Gandhi University, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. Views expressed are personal.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.