Saudi appoints first woman minister

Alright, so she is a DEPUTY Minister.
OK lah. Better than nothing.
Her name is Norah al-Faiz.

I wonder whether the Saudis would soon allow women to drive....


The Prophet's first wife, Khadijah, was a successful businesswoman and so surely had to deal with many men to run her trading biz.
When she died, the one that took up her mantle as a public woman figure was perhaps Aisyah (spelling may be different from this Malay-nised one), the young woman and daughter of his very close friend that Prophet Muhammad married.
Many Hadiths - sayings and traditions of the Prophet - about the personal life of Muhammad (peace be upon him) came from Aisyah.

The most famous one, to me, was that the Prophet spent most of his nights, every night, praying in the wee hours of the morning.
When asked by someone why he should do that when he is a sinless prophet, he said: Then I should do it more to be grateful (something like that lah, braders and sistahs, don't kill me if my memory is weak).



As for women ministers, in other Muslim countries, I am glad to say this is a non-issue.
We had two Battling Begums in Bangladesh, both of whom were prime ministers. One of them is now back as PM, fighting off the other.
In Pakistan Benazir is still a top name despite her demise a year ago.
In Southeast Asia, we have ministers-in-bajukurongs (different from bananas-in-pajamas) in Indonesia and Malaysia for a long time already.

Still, hurray for Saudi, the country that guards the two holy mosques.
The Saudis under King Abdullah are also making waves in the Middle East for having forwarded a comprehensive plan for recognition of Israel in return for a peace settlement with the poor Palestinians. You would think that kind of plan would come from Israel's neighbours Egypt or Jordan.
And just as interesting, I read somewhere that in the current global economic gloom, while countries like Dubai and the rest of UAE, Iran, Egypt and Bahrain etc will suffer, Saudi and Qatar should remain steady due to the high prices of gas (not oil).


PS. If you type Norah's full name in Google under Images, you get a quite a pretty face with no tudung although I don't know whether this was her.

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Saudi woman becomes deputy minister

Al Jazeera - Saudi Arabia has named a woman as deputy minister for education - the most senior role ever held by a female in the kingdom.

Norah al-Faiz, currently an official at the Saudi Institute for Public Administration, was named as the deputy minister responsible for women's education as part of a reshuffle of the cabinet, military and judiciary on Saturday.

King Abdullah also ordered the replacement of the chief of the Supreme Council of Justice, Saleh al-Lihedan, who last year issued an edict saying it was permissible to kill the owners of satellite television channels deemed to show "immoral" content.

The head of the commission is the kingdom's second-most influential cleric.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Humain was appointed as the new head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice which controls the religious police, replacing Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith.

The police have wide powers to search for alcohol, drugs and prostitution, ensure shops are closed during prayer times and maintain the system of sexual segregation in Saudi society.

'Turning point'

The reshuffle, King Abdullah's first since he took power following the the death of his half-brother in 2005, also saw new education, justice and information ministers appointed.

"This is a turning point. It is the biggest change that happened in this country in 20 years," Mohammad al-Zulfa, a member of Saudi Arabia's Shura council, told the AFP news agency.

"It is a new start for King Abdullah. People are expecting changes," he said. "These are new faces who can bring change."

The monarch also appointed Abdul-Aziz Khoja, who was previously ambassador to Lebanon, as information minister, replacing Iyad bin Amin Madani, state-run al-Ekhbariya television reported.

Clerics had often criticised Madani for allowing the local press to take greater liberty in challenging the establishment.