VZCZCXRO5357
PP RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR RUEHROV
DE RUEHJI #0473/01 3481323
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 141323Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1653
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 8631
RUEHDH/AMCONSUL DHAHRAN 0192
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCNDTA/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0119
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000473 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARP, EEB/ESC, DRL, NEA/PPD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2019 
TAGS: ECON KWMN PGOV SA SOCI
SUBJECT: FIRST SAUDI WOMAN DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF CHAMBER OF 
COMMERCE: PRESSING THE GLASS CEILING 
 
REF: A. JEDDAH 391 
     ¶B. JEDDAH 453 
     ¶C. JEDDAH 465 AND PREVIOUS 
 
JEDDAH 00000473  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: Consul General Martin R. Quinn for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( 
d) 
 
Summary and comment 
-------------------- 
 
¶1. (C)  In a historic vote, the 18 members of the board of 
directors of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry 
(JCCI) elected a woman as deputy chairman, and several 
well-respected moderate businessmen to fill other leadership 
positions.  No religious or tribal figures were chosen, 
despite their strong showing in the general election.  The 
new board is focused on assisting victims of flash floods 
that struck Jeddah on November 25, as the JCCI -- one of a 
handful of authorized non-governmental organizations -- has 
taken the lead in collecting and distributing aid.  While 
lacking a reformist agenda of the previous board, it seems 
unlikely to roll back the gains made by businesswomen during 
the past four years, and uniting to deal with a crisis may 
avert the predicted disputes among conservative and 
progressive board members.  End Summary and comment. 
 
 
A woman deputy chairman 
----------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Two months after highly contested elections (ref A) 
for 12 members and long-awaited appointments by the Minister 
of Trade of the other six (ref B), the board of directors of 
the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) met 
December 7 and chose its leaders. In a historic vote, the 18 
members elected a woman, Lama Sulaiman, deputy chairman -- 
the highest position reached by a woman at any Saudi chamber 
of commerce.  The board also unanimously elected as chairman 
-- as widely expected -- the highly respected major 
businessman/land developer and President of the Islamic 
Chamber Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel, who appeared at the 
press conference announcing the results in a wheel chair. 
Until very recently, Kamel was in Germany undergoing 
emergency medical treatment and his return to Jeddah in 
better health surprised many.  The other deputy chairman, 
Mazen Batterjee, was a carry-over from the old board, and a 
female JCCI employee expressed satisfaction at his election, 
saying he would support businesswomen.  Abdullah Bin Mahfouz 
-- alleged in the press and by contacts to have bought votes 
in the race for the JCCI board of directors -- was chosen the 
JCCI's representative to the Council for Saudi Chambers of 
Commerce and Industry, a federation of all 25 Saudi Chambers 
of Commerce. 
 
Religious conservatives blocked 
------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) No conservatives were elected to leadership positions 
on the new board, despite their strong showing at the polls 
in the general board election.  Contrary to expectations, 
there have been no reports of the most conservative new JCCI 
board member, Bassam Al-Akhdar, who campaigned against women 
mixing with men at the JCCI, refusing to meet with female 
JCCI board members or clashing with moderates -- as he did 
during the JCCI general election, according to unsuccessful 
female candidates.  During his four years on the Jeddah 
Municipal Council, Akhdar has refused to speak with any 
female citizens or female diplomats, leading liberal city 
councilmen who have served with Akhdar to predict he would 
demand gender-segregated JCCI board meetings.  According to 
Al Riyadh newspaper, Sulaiman denied to reporters that there 
had been any objections to her candidacy for deputy chairman 
on the grounds it violated Saudi religious prohibitions on 
genders "mixing,"  Speaking privately to the Consul General a 
few weeks earlier, Sulaiman recalled that when she assumed 
her position as a JCCI Board member five years ago, the 
religious police (Commission for Promotion of Virtue and 
Prevention of Vice, or mutawa) had ruled that men and women 
could not use the same entrance, but she circumvented that 
obstacle by telling the enforcers that women would enter at 9 
a.m. and men would arrive at 10. At first, she said, men were 
 
JEDDAH 00000473  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
uncomfortable having her at board meetings, but gradually 
many changed their attitude and now some actually ask her to 
sit next to them during meetings.  Sulaiman's husband (also 
her cousin), Tarek Khaled Al-Sulaiman, last month predicted 
she would win over the conservatives eventually, saying her 
strategy is to work slowly and avoid confrontations. 
 
 
After the flood, back to business as usual 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) The new board, having been selected individually 
rather than as a slate, lacks the ambitious reform agenda of 
its predecessor.  The new chairman told the press he was not 
a miracle worker, just a businessman appointed by the 
Minister of Trade, although Kamel vowed to continue the work 
begun by previous boards.  When asked about Sulaiman's new 
post, Kamel reportedly replied that Saudi "women need to take 
their rightful place in society and work hand in hand with 
men."  The board's current priority is coping with the 
aftermath of the flash floods that displaced thousands of 
Jeddawis.  The JCCI, as one of the few officially permitted 
non-governmental organizations, has taken the lead in relief 
efforts (ref C).  Kamel told the press -- which has published 
countless articles criticizing the local government's failure 
to prevent or cope with the floods -- that "the private 
sector was equally to blame in the natural disaster.  The 
roads, bridges and tunnels which were damaged by the water 
were executed by contractors and businessmen from the private 
sector." 
 
 
The new deputy "chairwoman": one of the boys in an abaya 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶5. (C) Sulaiman is overseeing the work of hundreds of 
volunteers distributing food, water, and supplies to Jeddah 
flood victims.  A member of one of Jeddah's leading merchant 
families, Sulaiman is well-regarded in the Jeddah business 
community for her hard work in improving services to Jeddah 
businesspeople, such as launching the Jeddah Economic 
Gateway, a website with business information.  She also 
serves as a trustee of the JCCI businesswomen's center, and 
broke ground for Saudi women with her election to the JCCI 
board of directors in 2005.  Sulaiman's husband, although 
appreciative of her public contributions, wishes that she 
would focus more attention on the family businesses. 
 
¶6. (C) Sulaiman told the Consul General the secret of her 
success is to behave just like the guys do -- i.e., be direct 
and aggressive in targeting the electorate who are most 
likely to vote and call upon family reputation (who my father 
is, what my family connections are), "what I can do for you," 
and be very direct about asking for support and votes. 
UK-educated Ph.D. bio-chemist, quietly confident, married 
mother of four, and (5-year) breast cancer survivor, Lama 
said that most Saudi women are not conditioned to behave like 
men -- especially in the presence of Saudi males.   Her 
incumbency, having learned the ropes at JCCI, and her 
merchant family background gave her clear advantages, she 
noted.  At the same time, Sulaiman always dresses 
conservatively with abaya and head covering in public, 
although in private she wears western clothes and belongs to 
a westernized social circle that hosts private parties, 
sometimes including alcohol. 
 
¶7. (C) Comment.  Having had to deal with a crisis in its 
first few weeks, the new board -- composed of disparate 
individuals from a variety of backgrounds -- may be able to 
overcome its differences and unite to build a better future 
for Jeddah.  With the focus on reconstruction, and widespread 
public appreciation of the hundreds of female volunteers who 
aided flood victims while male public employees were 
unreachable, the religious conservatives may find it 
difficult to implement their campaign promises to roll back 
the gains made by Jeddah businesswomen. End comment. 
QUINN