In line with the strict gender segregation rules of Saudi Arabia, guys as well as women cast votes at polling stations that were separate.
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Women across Saudi Arabia marked a historic milestone on Saturday, both voting and running as candidates in government elections for the very first time, but only outside polling stations they waited for male motorists – a reminder of the limits still firmly in place.
“I voted for a man, but I hope a woman will win”, she said. Abdullah Al-Maiteb made his way into a polling station in the capital Riyadh Saturday morning, expressing a widely held sentiment about why women shouldn’t be on the ballot.
However, among the 6,440 candidates were more than 900 women, heralding change in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
Women also said voter registration was hindered by bureaucratic obstacles, a lack of awareness of the process and its significance, and the fact that women could not drive themselves to sign up.
As a result, women accounted for less than 10% of registered voters.
Until each woman is granted equal rights to men, any progress in Saudi Arabia must, indeed, be assigned “a tiny gold star”.
“Women here are doctors and engineers – it’s not like women aren’t there”, Lama al-Sulaiman, a candidate in Jeddah, said.
Across Riyadh, a succession of chauffeur-driven luxury cars – a Lexus, a Bentley, a Mercedes-Benz with dark-tinted windows – pulled up at a polling station in the neighbourhood of al-Mada with female voters in the back seats.
The candidates are vying for around 2,100 council seats with an additional 1,050 seats appointed with approval from the king.
At the King Salman Social Centre in north Riyadh, where men and women went into different parts of the building to cast their ballots, voters of both sexes were greatly outnumbered by both election officials and journalists.
“It was not a good time for discussions about women’s empowerment”, said Alturki, who said most professions at the time were limited to men.
Salma al-Rashed, the first woman to register to vote, said she was excited to finally be represented.
Before he died in January, he appointed 30 women to the country’s top advisory Shura Council. Today, women are increasingly seen in the workplace, from boardrooms to the women’s sections of restaurants and cafes.
The races at hand – more than 3000 municipal council seats across the kingdom – have no influence over decisions by Saudi rulers on social policies or in any other key areas.
“As a woman, I need some services, some needs in my neighbourhood, like nurseries for longer time”.
According to estimates 978 women and 5,938 men registered as candidates for the 3,159 seats at 284 municipal councils across the kingdom. But I don’t think they are in the majority. But women still face many restrictions, and must get permission from male family members to travel, work or marry. But win or lose, the female contenders said they were already victorious.
Municipal councils are the only government body to which Saudi citizens can elect their representatives.
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A slow expansion of women’s rights began four years ago under Salman’s predecessor Abdullah, who announced that women would join the elections this year.
