Saudi Women Find Freedom on Web

MARIAM SAMI, Associated Press Writer
AP Online
08-13-1999
Saudi Women Find Freedom on Web

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- They may not be able to drive, travel on their own, attend classes with men or appear in public without covering up head to toe. But Saudi women can now surf the World Wide Web.

The Internet has quickly become an opportunity for many women to satisfy their quest for knowledge, which has often been restricted by stern traditions.

``It whetted my appetite to keep up with the world,'' said Salwa Al-Qunaibet, a census bureau computer operator. ``It gives you more confidence when you can keep up with the world ... in knowledge, in culture. Why should we miss out?''

Al-Qunaibet was probably among the first few women to use the Internet here. She surfed for a year before the government decided in January to allow local Internet service providers to operate.

Before that, an estimated 40,000 Saudi subscribers dialed long distance to providers in the United States, Bahrain or Cyprus. Now there are an estimated 65,000 subscribers, and the number is expected to nearly double by the end of this year, according to published reports.

AwalNet is the only one among 26 Saudi providers with a special branch for women surfers -- a novel addition to the ``ladies only'' banks, schools and shops that abound here.

Women entering the AwalNet for Ladies pistachio-painted office can shed their long, silken abayas, comfortable in the knowledge that no man will gawk as they do in the malls or the streets. The office is snuggled among shops selling perfumes, shoes and clothes in a swanky shopping mall.

Some 300 women have signed up after being taken on a virtual tour of the computer by an all-female staff, said Maiadah Al-Fauuaz, who headed the company's marketing section before returning recently to lecturing at Riyadh's King Saud University.

There are no figures available on how many women subscribe are with the other providers.

For Manal Al-Shiddi, a dental student at the King Saud University, the Internet was a gateway to the latest medical research.

Al-Shiddi subscribes through AwalNet for Ladies, where she can deal with female computer experts, noting many women aren't used to mixing with men, and talking to a male trouble-shooter about a glitch can pose a problem.

Saudi women do go out on family outings and with female friends, but they still spend long hours at home. Al-Fauuaz spoke of women, married and single, who have become such addicts they buy extra hours long before their three-month or six-month contracts are up.

As more women enter the Saudi work force, more will use the Internet. Al-Fauuaz said a subscriber got her first job reviewing books she had read on the Internet. Others plan home pages to advertise goods in their boutiques.

AwalNet also maintains a home page with a link to a women's site with postings on fashion, child care and fatwas, or religious rulings.

There is still much that neither male nor female Saudi surfers can see.

The group Human Rights Watch has charged that the government has established a ``fire wall'' against sexually explicit sites and political ones that call for the downfall of Saudi royalty opponents describe as despots who abuse the country's wealth.

The government has said its mission is to uphold social values by preventing exposure to sites deemed to undermine Islam or that are sexually explicit.

The situation is similar throughout the region. Human Rights Watch says Bahrain reportedly employed foreign computer experts to screen Internet users who attempt to open blocked political sites. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates said they did not track users but acknowledged hiring a U.S. company to shut off X-rated sites, the Human Rights Watch report said.

In Saudi Arabia, it's not just the government that looks on the Internet with suspicion. Basma Al-Rashed, an AwalNet staffer, said administrators of girls' schools object to allowing the Internet into their institutions for fear of what their charges might read or write on chat rooms.

``A lot of the girls aged between 15 to 25 years old come because of the chat rooms,'' said Sarah Murad, a U.S.-born AwalNet staffer. ``I tell them to remain anonymous.''

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AwalNet's home page is: www.awalnet.net.sa. Its link, Laki Anti, Arabic for ``for you, lady,'' is the women's site.

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