The five women hail from vastly different parts of the country, ranging from Saudi Arabia’s second largest and most cosmopolitan city to a small village near Islam’s holiest sites.
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The election marks a breakthrough in the conservative kingdom, where women are still banned from driving.
A woman votes at a polling center during municipal elections, the first in which women could vote, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi women are still forbidden to drive a vehicle and are legally dependent on a male relative to approve nearly all their major life decisions.
To her surprise, almost 20 women were elected across the country and the number could be even higher once official results are announced.
Sadah said many female candidates used social media to campaign, but some others, including women’s rights activists, were disqualified from campaigning.
But Al Dabbagh says despite the progress, she thinks further change will be slow to come.
“I won because I don’t work for my personal gain”, Huda al-Jeraisy, one of two women who won in the Seventh District of northern Riyadh, said Sunday. ” This was prior to when the late King Abdullah appointed women into his council of advisers”.
Share with Us – We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article, and smart, constructive criticism. Nor were they allowed to participate in debates on television.
From 1965 to 2005, no elections were held in Saudi Arabia.
About 7,000 candidates, among them 979 women, were competing for 2,100 seats on municipal councils across the country, the Associated Press reported.
Only 1.48 million Saudis from a population of 20 million registered to vote in the election, including 131,000 women, the widespread apathy partly the product of a poll with no political parties, strict laws on campaigning, and in which only local issues are at play.
But woman in Saudi Arabia still face barriers to voting and representation including the fact that only 978 women are standing in the elections compared with near 6000 men.
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Steps were taken to encourage women to have a bigger public role, with policies to increase women’s attendance at university and encourage female employment. Although King Abdullah died in January this year, it is refreshing to know that the new conservative King Salman has followed in his steps by allowing women to vote and be voted for.
