Saudi women vote

With the Saudi government's announcement that Saudi women will be able to vote and run in municipal elections from 2015, I think they have seen the writing on the wall. For many years Saudi women have been articulate and effective in various sectors of society at making their views known and proposing an agenda for change.

At the same time, words match actions: women are active participants in the Saudi economy at most levels - ironically, Saudi gender segregation practices give women opportunities to be CEOs and to assume high positions in various sectors!

The economy is driving political change, too: families need more flexibility in terms of gender practices to meet their economic needs, and this also means that many Saudi men are in favour of changes (not, indeed, only for economic reasons but because many believe that a shift in gender practices allowing more flexibility to women is just and is in line with broader shifts across the region). A good example is the issue of women being able to drive: women are driving, despite formal and informal sanctions.

However, we must put these changes in context: the move to allow women to vote is a very cautious and limited one. These are local elections for advisory councils; this by no means signals a vast improvement in women's political power (or men's, for that matter). The Saudi system remains strongly heirarchised and power is strongly centralised. But, given the political restiveness (to put it mildly) throughout the region, surely the Saudi authorities are thinking in terms of incremental steps that allow a margin of political voice. It is inevitable, I believe, that Saudi women will gain more political rights, as well as more opportunity, in future, and so this is a welcome sign of things to come.