B. The Gender Discriminations Revealed in the Novel
In this section, the gender discrimination in the novel Girls of Riyadh will be revealed. The discriminations are categorized into 4 categories. The first is
discrimination in social life, which reveals any discriminations against women in their interaction with people outside the house. The second is discrimination in
domestic life where women are discriminated in their home even by their own parents. The third is the discrimination in law where women cannot have the same
rights as men have in the aspect of law. The last is discrimination in politics, the freedom of women in Saudi Arabia in political life is very limited due to the
Kingdom s regulation.
1. Social Life
Social life is a combination of some components which are interactions, people, and places outside the house. A social interaction, as explained by
Jos e A. Scheinkman in his journal, Social Interactions, refers to particular forms of
externalities, in which the actions of a reference group affect an individual s preferences https:www.princeton.edu~joseswpsocialinteractions.pdf.
As mentioned before that Saudi Arabia society is a patriarchal society, the very extreme one. Men in Saudi Arabia have more power than women do. Whether
socially or domestically, women only have limited freedom. The mobility of women in Saudi Arabia is hindered by the gender discriminations. Women are not allowed
to go out of the house without their male guardian or at least the permission from their male guardian. They should behave carefully, they are not allowed to drive a
car, and in order to take care of official task or running a business they should
depend on their mahram male guardian, it could be their fathers, brothers, or husbands. Women in Saudi Arabia is a full dependant of their mahram. Lastly, the
extreme patriarchal society of Saudi will challenge the education of women. Women especially the youth who are not yet married are expected to
behave with instruction especially during social gatherings because the way they behave will influence their life. Such phenomenon can be seen in Girls of Riyadh
during a gathering where many women gather. You barely walk,you barely talk, you barely smile, you barely dance, be
mature and wise, you always think before you act, you measure your words carefully before you speak and you do not behave like a child. Al-
Sanea, 2005: 6 From the quotation above, it can be seen that the freedom of women in Saudi
Arabia is limited. They should act and behave according to instructions, they are not free to do anything they like and cannot be just the way they are.
Another discrimination is the prohibition to drive for women. Actually there is no written regulation about the prohibition of women to drive. Yet, the
government do not allow women to get a driving license. In order to have a driving license, some women will go abroad and apply for international driving license. As
mentioned before that women need to fully depend on their mahram, it means that wherever they go they should be accompanied by their mahram. That is why it is
taught that women do not need to drive because by driving, it might threaten their guardian system http:www.bbc.co.uknewsround24691034.
Women s lack of mobility remains a salient point of contention in the kingdom, as they still are not allowed to drive a car Kelly, 2010: 426. Women in
Saudi Arabia will be driven by their mahram to go somewhere. Yet, some women
often break the rules and they still drive, and in order to avoid being accused, they dress up like a man. As said by Mohammed Jamjoom in CNN news, some women
would find it dresses up like a man as the only solution for them in order to drive a car and not being caught http:edition.cnn.com20131025worldmeastsaudi-
women-drivers-jamjoom. As seen in Girls of Riyadh, Michelle has the courage to drive a car, she
owns an international driving license that she applied abroad and in order to avoid being accused, she disguises herself by dress up like a man so that the religious
police will not recognize her as a woman. The hostess greeted them wearing baggy trousers with lots of pockets and
an oversized jacket gear that artfully concealed any sign of femininity plus a bandanna that hid her hair. To top it all off, she had on a pair of
colored sunglasses that gave her the appearance of an adolescent boy who has escaped parental surveillance Al-Sanea, 2005: 14
Another discrimination related to gender is that women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to take care of any official tasks by themselves. For example
when they need to take care of things related to a bank or any other offices, they need a male guardian to help them. Also in running a business, a woman needs a
permission from her guardian and a male manager to conduct the business. In this case, the function of the manager is as mention before to take care of things
related to official task, such as to take a bank loan, etc. Such discrimination can be seen in Girls of Riyadh. It is experienced by
Sadeem. Sadeem starts a new business, it is a party organizer. She sees a big chance for such business in Saudi because most of the party organizing sector is a
monopoly held by Moroccan, Lebanese, or Egyptian women. Yet, in order to run
the business she needs to take care of many legal matters and in order to do so, she hired her cousin, Tariq, to help her with anything related to official task.
Tariq, Sadeem s cousin, helped them take care of official tasks, obtaining a commercial license and other necessary documents. Since women are
not always permitted to take care of legal matters with banks and other offices themselves, Sadeem made him their official agent for legal affairs
Al-Sanea, 2005: 226 Even though this matter is not regulated, without a man hired by a woman to be a
manager, women in Saudi Arabia will never be able to run a business because it is kind of impossible for them to interact with people especially men in order to deal
with official tasks, since men and women relationship is very restricted. This is a discrimination that limits the mobility of women.
The patriarchal system in Saudi Arabia which gives the power in the hands of men, also resulted in the chance to get married for women which has something
to do with their education. Even though women in Saudi Arabia are no longer forbidden to get a proper formal education and that formal schools for women are
already provided by the Kingdom, but still by having a high education or only a modest one can influence a woman s life. It will be one of the most important
considerations for a man to marry a woman. As Hamdan said in his article that
women s education did not change the patriarchal nature of Saudi society. Women in every field are subordinate to men 2005: 48.
In Girls of Riyadh, Sadeem, one of Gamrah s friend is always questioning whether it is a blessing or a curse for a woman to have knowledge. Referring to
both academic knowledge and the practical experiences of everyday life. It is a
question that none of her friends can answer. Sadeem finds out that many men in Saudi society would prefer to marry a woman who has a modest education.
when it came down to searching for a suitable bride, young and naïve girls tended to hold more of an attraction than girls who had attained an
advanced level of knowledge and had a more sophisticated understanding of the world Al-Sanea 2005: 246.
The men are afraid that by marrying educated women might present a challenge to their capabilities so they will choose women whose education is lower than theirs.
By doing so, it will be easier for them to take control of their wives by being a teacher who will teach their wives whatever they want and forming them into
whatever they wish 2005: 246 Another gender discrimination in Saudi society is in the way the people
treat a divorcee. The society always looks down on a divorced women. Totally different from the way they see a divorced man.
Is divorce a major crime committed by the woman only? Why doesn t our society harass the divorced man the way it crushes the divorced woman ...
We should defend Um Nuwayyir and Gamrah and other divorcées. Women like them don t deserve to be looked down on by society, which
only condescends from time to time to throw them a few bones and expects them to be happy with that. Meanwhile, divorced men go on to
live fulfilling lives without any suffering or blame Al-Sanea, 2005: 172 A divorced man has more freedom than a divorced woman, they can still live their
life the way it was without feeling guilty or fear of society s judgement while women are suffering once they are become a divorcee. They cannot even get
remarried easily as men can. It is easy for a divorced man to remarried even with a woman who have not been married yet, while a divorced woman cannot easily
find a man who have not been married to marry her.
So why should I take someone who is divorced when I haven t ever been married? Even divorced men are looking for girls who haven t been
married, so why would I end up with a woman who has been previously married? Al-Sanea, 2005-181
The traditions in Saudi Arabia society have put women in a disadvantage because it causes many gender discriminations against women. Their movement
and every day mobility is limited by various rules and norms.
2. Domestic Life
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