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C O N F I D E N T I A L RIYADH 006980 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/04/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PCUL PHUM KISL KWMN SA
SUBJECT: CONVERSATION WITH NEO-TRIBALIST WOMEN'S ACTIVIST 
 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael Gfoeller 
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) SUMMARY: Recent media reporting about the rise in the 
number of official and unofficial female proselytizers in the 
Kingdom has generated much debate.  The number of 
"unsanctioned" female preachers is increasing, and their lack 
of supervision by authorities breeds uncertainty about the 
messages that they are sending.  PolOff met with a 
self-proclaimed, unsanctioned female preacher who uses a 
magazine targeting Saudi girls, as well as lectures in 
universities, to help spread her message.  She expressed her 
conservative, tribally-based views on the roles and 
challenges facing young women in Saudi society and shared her 
work experiences in influencing these young women in their 
development.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (C) PolOff met with Saudi businesswoman Eman Abdullah 
Al-Akeel (strictly protect) on August 27 at a "ladies only" 
coffeeshop.  Al-Akeel owns a widely-distributed magazine 
called Hayat that is published in Riyadh by and for young 
women throughout the Gulf.  The magazine focuses on Islamic 
issues concerning young women and their social 
development.  Al-Akeel is also a self-proclaimed female 
"proselytizer," who lectures voluntarily in her free time at 
prominent women's colleges and universities in the Kingdom on 
the rights and roles of Saudi women.  Al-Akeel candidly 
shared her remarkably regressive views on Saudi society as 
they pertain to girls and women, specifically regarding 
career opportunities, domestic violence, and marriage. 
According to Al-Akeel, Islam affords girls many "rights and 
protections," but the Saudi girls' lack of knowledge of their 
rights allows for many abuses to occur. 
 
¶3.  (C) Al-Akeel said that, to date, her focus has been the 
promotion of career development.  By inviting other 
businesswomen to share their experiences, Al-Akeel educates 
young women on the "plentiful" opportunities that they have. 
She said that in Saudi Arabia, girls are raised to go to 
school, attend university, get married, and have children. 
She said that they do not have the time to develop themselves 
properly and understand what they really want out of life. 
She also stated that many girls do not think that they have 
any choices, and so their fathers choose everything for them. 
 Al-Akeel's goal is to bring as much information to the girls 
as possible, most importantly regarding their rights under 
Shari'a law. 
 
¶4.  (C) During her discussion on career development, Al-Akeel 
said that the West's perception of "limitations" 
on the job market for Saudi women is only an illusion.  She 
said that women can do whatever they want so long as they 
act in accordance with the current law.  She felt that if 
women knew their rights and the rules, such as how to 
properly apply for a business license, then there would be no 
problems.  She said that women are not prohibited from 
working in general, so perceived "limitations" do not really 
exist.  In her view, Saudi women simply do not want to work 
in some professions. 
 
¶5.  (C) Al-Akeel continued that there are three types of 
women, implicitly stated in order of descending importance: 
Saudi women, Muslim women, and all other women.  According to 
her, Saudi women will only perform very specific jobs, and 
they currently are allowed to hold these jobs.  The many 
sectors in which Saudi women cannot be fully employed, such 
as retail, nursing, law, and government, are meant for 
"other" women.  Al-Akeel said that since women are to be 
financially provided for by their fathers until they are 
married, after which their husbands provide for them in 
accordance with Islam, there is no real reason for women to 
work other than personal fulfillment.  She added that poor 
Saudi women, including divorced women whose families turn 
them away in shame, are to be taken care of by the shelters 
and soup kitchens operated by the Ministry of Social Affairs. 
 Remarkably, Al-Akeel did not feel that affording divorced 
Saudi woman a chance for independence and dignity through 
work was either a good or necessary option. 
 
¶6.  (C) On the issue of marriage, Al-Akeel stated that the 
Quran only honors marriages to which the woman has expressly 
agreed.  Therefore, even if the father and brothers agree, 
but the woman says no, the marriage is void.  She felt that 
if women knew this information, many abusive, incestuous, and 
cross-generational marriages would not take place.  When 
questioned about family pressures and tribal concerns 
regarding marriage, she remarked that families are the most 
important element of Saudi society.  When the father presses 
his daughter to marry a man she does not want, she needs to 
talk to her mother or siblings.  If they cannot help her, 
then she needs to ask for assistance from her extended 
family.  If they cannot help her, then despite the Quranic 
teachings, she said, the woman should marry the man chosen by 
her father in order to protect her family.  When pushed about 
a woman's right to choose her own husband irrespective of 
economic or tribal factions, she reiterated that a woman can 
always say no, but since no right-thinking Saudi woman would 
even want to marry outside of her own class or tribe, this 
concern is not an issue. 
 
¶7.  (C) When questioned by PolOff, Al-Akeel at first tried to 
avoid the issue of domestic violence.  She finally admitted 
that domestic violence is, unfortunately, endemic in Saudi 
society, even though she said that it is prohibited in the 
Quran.  She said that the abusive behavior occurs because of 
tradition.  Al-Akeel suggested that in severely abusive cases 
where the entire family is non-responsive to an abused 
woman's pleas for help, the victim retains the right to go to 
the police.  However, due to family honor, if the abuse is 
not severe, then the police should not be involved, and the 
woman should "endure" the situation.  She then recounted a 
story told to her during one of her lectures about a woman 
who was a victim of incest and rape by several male 
relatives, including her father.  After failing to seek 
support from her family, and after listening to one of 
Al-Akeel's lectures on the rights of women under Islam, this 
woman went to the police.  The police sent her to live in her 
uncle's home for protection until her father was declared 
"cured" from his "problem."  Remarkably, Al-Akeel said that 
she felt the police "properly" handled the issue in 
accordance with Shari'a law, even though none of the victim's 
male relatives were ever arrested, tried, or punished for 
acts that are considered capital crimes under Islamic law and 
punishable by death (beheading). 
 
¶8.  (C) COMMENT: From her privileged vantage point, 
Al-Akeel's perspectives on women's issues demonstrate the 
very conservative nature of the average, educated Saudi 
woman.  Her magazine Hayat's popularity has skyrocketed 
during its seven years in print, with its readership growing 
from 15,000 in its first year to 50,000 presently.  The 
widespread acceptance and continued expansion of Hayat, even 
to other countries, indicates the support tens of thousands 
of young women have for Al-Akeel's extremely conservative 
ideology.  Given that a majority of Saudi Arabia's population 
is under the age of 30, the conservative beliefs of these 
young women are important indicators of how they perceive the 
Government's attempts at reform -- especially as they relate 
to women.  If women themselves -- particularly those like 
Al-Akeel who understand their rights -- accept and support 
the "status quo," it should come as little surprise that 
Saudi men would do the same.  These attitudes reflect the 
young generation of Saudis who have had no direct exposure to 
the West.  They are therefore illustrative of the problem 
that the King is attempting to solve through the scholarship 
program that aims to send tens of thousands of Saudis to 
universities abroad.  Even more compelling is that fact that 
educated, modern "women like Al-Akeel have such strong 
allegiance to traditional tribal law that, to their way of 
thinking, tribal custom can trump Islamic law itself, thereby 
condemning many Saudi women to suffer a degree of inequality 
that their religion expressly forbids.  END COMMENT. 
GFOELLER