VZCZCXRO5124
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHRH #0823/01 1721550
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 211550Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1024
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHDH/AMCONSUL DHAHRAN IMMEDIATE 0113
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH IMMEDIATE 0192

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 000823 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR DRL-IRF OFFICER ZAIBACK AND NEA/ARP HARRIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SA SOCI KWMN
SUBJECT:  FEMALE MUTAWWA'IN IN SAUDI ARABIA? 
 
RIYADH 00000823  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) In May 2009, the Shura Council approved a bill to 
allow the religious police to hire women. The bill, which 
would need to be approved by the Council of Ministers and 
King to become law, has provoked intense controversy and 
mostly negative public opinion.  It is not likely to be 
approved so long as this continues.  The debate illustrates 
the contradictory and heated opinions about the current 
restrictions on the presence of women in the workplace, a key 
impediment to the advancement of women's rights in Saudi 
Arabia.  Underscoring the debate is puzzlement from both 
proponents and opponents of women's rights about the 
government's intent: will this help or hurt their cause?  End 
summary. 
 
BACKGROUND ON RELIGIOUS POLICE 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the 
Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) is a semi-autonomous agency with 
the authority to monitor social behavior and enforce morality 
consistent with the SAG's interpretation of Islam, primarily, 
but not exclusively, within the public realm. Comprised of 
more than 3,500 officers and thousands of paid "volunteers," 
the religious police officers --mutawwa'in-- are required to 
wear identification badges and can enforce rules only when 
accompanied by a regular police officer (mutawwa'in do not 
have the authority to make arrests). 
 
¶3. (U) The role of the mutawwa'in has become controversial in 
recent years, with the Saudi press full of debate about and 
criticism of overly zealous religious police practices.  Many 
critics have called on the SAG to publish job descriptions to 
clarify the limits of mutawwa'in power. In February, the King 
appointed a new CPVPV chief to address such criticisms and 
curb zealotry by individual members, whose duties include 
confronting unrelated males and females caught alone together 
(the Arabic term for this is khulwa --seclusion-- and it is 
illegal), enforcing conservative Islamic dress codes, closing 
stores during prayer times, and seizing prohibited consumer 
products such as alcohol and pork. 
 
¶4.  (U) In June 2009, Interior Minister Prince Nayif 
announced a "strategic plan" to develop the CPVPV, aimed at 
modernizing the organization.  In comments to the press, 
Nayif confirmed what he described as the CPVPV's "essential 
role in guiding an Islamic society," while acknowledging that 
"any organ which fails to develop will undoubtedly remain 
backward."  He also urged the press not to "exaggerate the 
mistakes which might have been committed by the CPVPV."  The 
strategic plan apparently did not address the issue of female 
mutawwa'in. 
 
 
SURPRISE BILL 
------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) In May 2009, the Shura Council approved legislation 
to allow the CPVPV to hire women. The Shura Council's 
approval, however, does not mean Saudis will see female 
mutawwa'in on the streets in the near future.  (NOTE: Before 
a Majlis-approved bill can become law, it must be forwarded 
to the Council of Ministers for study, endorsement, and final 
approval by the King. End note.) The bill has engendered 
intense public debate, and does not appear to have the 
support of the CPVPV itself.  According to Shura member 
A'azib al-Misbil, during a Shura hearing on the matter, a 
CPVPV representative denied that the Commission had plans to 
establish a women's branch. 
 
 
INTENSE DEBATE, VARIED REACTIONS 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Reaction garnered from the press and Embassy 
contacts has been diverse.  Some flatly dismiss the idea. 
Others argue that the CPVPV's own rules would render the 
proposition impossible.  Many women fear it would reduce the 
already limited freedoms they enjoy in women-only zones. 
Others point to self-appointed female volunteers already 
patrolling certain areas, and some suggest that having women 
working for the CPVPV would eliminate concerns about women in 
the workplace, thereby opening up employment opportunities 
for women. 
 
¶7. (U) Opponents say the idea of female mutawwa'in would be 
 
RIYADH 00000823  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
an untenable contradiction of the CPVPV's responsibility for 
monitoring social behavior and enforcing morality.  How could 
the Commission, which has long been one of the strongest and 
most outspoken opponents of women's employment outside the 
home, hire women?  The very presence of female mutawwa'in 
would be illegal. Others cite the fact that women can't 
drive.  Talal Al-Bakri, the head of the Social, Family and 
Youth Affairs Committee of the Shura Council told Arab News 
that "such a recommendation could not be implemented unless 
women were allowed to drive in the Kingdom." 
 
¶8. (SBU) Supporters of the idea of female mutawwa'in point to 
the existence of self-appointed female volunteers, who for 
years have roamed shopping centers and other female gathering 
places harassing those they see as inappropriately dressed or 
not observing the prayer calls or committing other perceived 
infractions.  Such "irregulars" could be acknowledged and 
properly trained, some observers suggest. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Others recoil in horror, saying that what is needed 
is less of such harassment rather than more.  Multiple female 
Embassy contacts, including two working for Al Multaqa, an 
exclusive women-only spa/gym, told us they feared that 
official female mutawwa'in severely restrict their privacy 
and the limited freedom women enjoy in female-only 
environments.  Such places would be accessible to 
surveillance by female mutawwa'in, leaving no public "safe 
zones" for Saudi women. 
 
SO WHAT DOES THIS REALLY MEAN? 
------------------------------ 
 
¶10. (SBU)  Underscoring the debate is puzzlement from both 
proponents and opponents of women's rights about the 
government's intent: will this help or hurt their cause?  A 
Saudi university professor we spoke to contended that women 
likely to be hired as mutawwa'in would be ultra-conservative, 
poorly educated women who had never left the Kingdom.  This 
professor saw the Shura Council bill as a message to the 
liberal segment of Saudi society to "tone it down" and keep 
with mainstream conservative Saudi society, an unwelcome 
message, in her view. If the SAG was serious about advancing 
the status of women in Saudi Arabia, she opined, then the SAG 
would be putting them in positions of leadership that were 
not religious-based. 
 
 
COMMENT: DEBATE ON A KEY 
IMPEDIMENT TO WOMEN'S ADVANCEMENT 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Shura Council's bill to recruit female 
mutawwa'in has thus far only sparked heated debate; it is 
unlikely to be adopted given the strong and apparently mostly 
negative public reaction.  It is worth noting, however, 
because the debate --taking place in public-- provides a view 
of the complicated and often contradictory opinions regarding 
the presence of women in the workplace.  The current 
restrictions are a key impediment to the advancement of 
women's rights in Saudi Arabia.  The motivations of those 
behind the legislation are unclear.  This could be an attempt 
to create a backlash to the idea of expanding the CPVPV's 
influence.  On the other hand, allowing the CPVPV to hire 
women could also be a way to overcome the basic objection to 
"mixing" in the workplace, thereby removing a major obstacle 
to women's employment in other spheres.  As with most other 
initiatives related to women, the SAG is unlikely to take 
definitive action as long as the controversy remains heated. 
ERDMAN