26. Being a Woman in Saudi Arabia

Dr. Sarah Alturki and her husband are the founders of Dhahran Ahliya Schools, the school I attended for 13 years. This woman is smart, strong and very inspiring to me. I came upon this article she wrote about Being a Woman in Saudi Arabia. If you have any interest in the matter I encourage you to read her article. As a Saudi woman studying in the United States, I get asked about this all time, what is it like being a woman in Saudi? I usually answer “different”; I don’t know exactly what else to say when someone asks casually because the explanation to “what it’s like” is very complex and long for a casual conversation. I also get asked “Which do you like more, Saudi Arabia or the United States?” There is no other way to answer that than to say, “I like both, they’re different.” Because I really do, and they really are, there is good and bad in every country and I feel very fortunate and proud to have experienced both cultures. I know how the media portrays our country, I don’t blame people when they think we live in tents in the desert or that we can find oil digging in our backyard, I don’t blame people when they think women are abused or stuck at home helpless. However, I do encourage people to use their curiosity, to try to find out the truth before painting a picture in their minds about this foreign country. Everyone knows media can be bias, and that you cannot believe everything you’re told. Yes, Saudi is very different from the United States, but there are some good and some bad differences; different is not always bad. I agree with what Dr. Alturki says in her article, some aspects should be held on to and some need some changes. Change is usually difficult, it’s happening slowly but I hope we will get there one day. We cannot sit and wait for it to happen, as young Saudi men and women we must work for it and put in efforts to make a difference. Remembering, that we must not try to become a clone of another country, we should learn what is good in other countries while still holding on to what is good in our own country. As for myself, I live by the words of Mahatma Gandhi “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”