private, production and reproduction, workplace and domestic sphere, and ultimately, masculine and feminine.
Examining gender relations in the household is also an important way of linking gender-based discrimination against woman in the domestic sphere
and their marginal status in the workplace and public domain. The subordination of women in the household should be considered a human
rights. In The Girls of Riyadh, Gamrah has to do all kind of household things. Her husband does not has an inisiate to help his wife.
“It went on like that. Every day, he would get her worked up about things of this sort. And yet she would
be in for a terrible time if she were forget in the evening to prepare his clothes or to iron them first thing in the
morning before he was even awake. Furthermore, she
had no right to ask him for help in tidying up or preparing meals or washing dishes, even though he has
been accustomed to living the bachelor life all those years of studying in America.” p. 72
Based on the description above about how women are treated especially in Saudi Arabia, it can be seen that patriarchal system is the root of
women’s oppression. It arise the gender inequalities and increases the oppression and violation against women and kill women potential.
B. Characters’ Attitude Toward Discrimination
Almost women in the world experienced discrimination. It may be the result of social or cultural expectations, customs, or laws. Muslim women are
one of those examples. Muslim women are still subordinated mostly on the basis of family laws, laws of marriage and divorce. Muslim religious laws
perceive women as symbols of collective identity and as carries of the ‘burden of representation’ Yuval-Davis 1997
25
. Because of patriarchal perceptions of women’s fragile nature, their modesty and honor must be guarded more
fiercely than men’s. The result is that – according to Muslim religious— women cannot be equal. Laws at family subordinate them and their place
considered the private sphere of domesticity. Gamrah as the first character has to follow her family’s choice about
who is her husband to-be. She has no right to decide about the marriage. In fact, her marriage life does not go well. She suffers both physically and
psychologically. Finally, she has to live as a divorced woman. Learn from the previous marriage, when her family wants to arrange her marriage again with
Abu Musa’ed, an army general and a longtime friend of her uncle, she braves herself to refuse her family’s desire.
“Why? Why do I need a man to shield and protect me? Does your brother think I’m a disgrace, or I can not
protect my own self? You people do not realize that I am grown woman now and I have a son My word should
count and I should be listened to You think absolutely the opposite from how any reasonable family would
25
Tovi Fenster. Gender, Planning, and Human Rights. New York, 1999, p. 41
think. That’s even worse than what you did to me in my engagement to Rashid” p. 182
From the text above, we can see that Gamrah tries to fight her right to decide what kind of life that she wants. According to the corpus, Gamrah is a
sufferer of the strict laws of marriage. It is clear that she is unhappy with the previous arranged marriage which her family does. As a human, she also wants
her voice and opinions are heard by everyone especially her family and all choices related to her are her rights.
As a divorced woman, Gamrah’s action is so limited by her family. Because in Saudi Arabian culture, divorced woman considered only bring bad
impression. So, her family has to make her just stay in home. If she wants to go outside, she has to accompany with her mahram. If divorced women still
walk alone outside home, people in society will spread the most lurid rumors about them.
“Gamrah would begin working every night after she performed the evening Ramadan prayer at the huge
Mosque downtown.” p. 220
According to the text above, we can see that Gamrah does not care what people say about her status. She claims for the equality of right between
men and women. She keeps doing her working by herself without accompanied by her brothers. She tries to keep focus in her working as
wedding organizer. She just wants to be free to do her activities. She proves that she can participate fully in public activities.
Another character is Sadeem, she also does the same thing with Gamrah. When she gets divorce with Waleed, she plans to go London to
escape her grief. Her father initiates to accompany her daughter but Sadeem refuses. She wants to prove that she can do what men usually do and she can
take care of herself in everywhere she is. “…her father proposed that the two of them would
travel to London for some fun. Sadeem asked him, though, to let her go alone and stay their flat in South
Kingston. She wanted to spend a stretch time by herself, she said.” p. 57
When the culture does not permit unmarried women to go outside without their guardian, the four girls do the opposite. They do a secret outing
even though there are many people who hamper them. “Women in the mall had an annoying way of following
Gamrah, Sadeem and the rest of the girls with their eyes. It didn’t matter their face veils were in place: the
girls could feel the sharp and threatening challenges of the women’s inspections.” p. 16
Saudi Arabia is one of the most conservative countries in the world. Tradition and the Islamic clerical establishment restrict womens movement,
preventing them from driving cars. In Saudi Arabia, women are also forbidden holding driving licenses. But once again, the girls do their rebellions.
“Michelle had an international driver’s license she took charge: she drove the BMW X5 jeep with its dark-tinted window. She
had managed to rent it through one of the lease car showrooms by putting the rental in the name of her family’s male Ethiopian
driver. p.15
In public, women are forced to wear an abaya
26
and also to cover her head and hair. The Mutawwain generally expected Muslim women to cover
their faces because the notion of public and private had changed so that it limits their freedom to move in the public domain. Related to prohibition of
driving, the girls have to make a tactic to deceive the Shari’a Police so they will not be arrest because of driving a car.
“The hostess greeted them wearing baggy trousers with lots of pocket an oversized jacket—gear that artfully concealed any
sign of femininity—plus bandana that hid her hair. … Lamees wore a masculine-style flowing white thobe
27
with a shimagh
28
draped over her head and kept in place with a snugly fitting black iqaal.” p. 14
According to the corpus above, we can see that the girls need more space to make their movement. So they have a brave initiate to disguise as men
26
Abaya is a long, loose black robe worn on top of clothes whenever a woman is outdoors
27
Men’s garment in Saudi Arabia; a thobe is a long white loose dress.
28
Shimag is a red and white triangular shaped cloth worn on thy head topped by a round eqal to hold it in place.
though crossed-dress is forbidden. They have right to make a choice what is the best for their life without the interference of men. Again, they keep struggle
to claim for the equal treatment from the society. Another restriction in Saudi Arabia is on male-female relationship.
Unmarried men do not permit to make a relation with men unless their mahram. But in this novel we can see that the girls agree to meet men by
themselves like Sadeem do when she meets Firas. “…the two of us had an agreement not to meet in
Riyadh. It’s just too difficult, dangerous and awkward. It wouldn’t be relaxing like it would be if we were abroad.
Outside the country, you can loose up, you can breathe without worrying who’s watching you. Abroad I could
meet him in anywhere, in any public place...” p. 168- 169
Other character, Michelle –the most rebellious girl in this novel--, do the same things like Sadeem does. They meet with the boy by secret meetings.
Because they want to feel their true love the same as any other around the globe. And they fall deeply in love just like women anywhere else.
“She would meet him at Um Nuwayyir’s house. Um Nuwayyir believed in love and never once tried to
represent it to the four young women as something that one should be ashamed of… She had gotten so tired of
meeting him in cafes and restaurants where they had no hide behind protective curtains as if they were
fugitives.” p. 83”
The male-female relationship of these girls is different from the Western. They make a change but still keep the good value of their religion
and culture, while allowing to reform. Michelle is a very liberal girl among the others. She always talks about
women’s rights, conventions imposed by society and her philosophy on relation between the sexes. When she feels that she is restricted by the cultural
tradition, she decides to live her country in order to get freedom. “It was a society riddle with hypocrisy, drugged by
contradiction, and her only choice was to either accept those contradictions and bow to them, or leave her
country to live in freedom.” p. 106
Experiencing and witnessing of her and her girl friends’ grief caused by strict tradition, she become more vocal to struggle women’s rights and the
equalities of rights between men and women. “She would not allow anyone to tell her what she could
do and she could not do Otherwise, what was the point of life? It was her life, only hers, and she was going to
live it the way she wanted, for herself and herself only.” p. 107
In new country, United Emirate Arab, Michelle and her family are treated far better by everyone there and Michelle can do anything she wants to
do like an election of job. She chooses to work at satellite TV Channel in Dubai.
“Working in the media opened up new horizons for Michelle, and for the first time she felt truly liberated
from all the restrictions that had always been imposed on her.” p. 196
Based on an analysis about the characters’ feminist ideas against the restricted tradition above, we can conclude that women especially in Saudi
Arabia have been struggle to make an equality of right between men and women. The concept of feminism especially liberal feminism is reflected in all
the main characters. All the main characters do not accept all the treatment from the family, the society or even from the government which is so harming
women rights. They keep trying to claim the same treatment from the entire social stratum without exception. They are women who want to be free in
experiencing their life and ignore the rule which is limited their freedom as human being. Each of the characters strives to achieve stability in her life while
preserving her human dignity and her human right.
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
