Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Bedu
The Bedu (Bedouin) represent 15% of the Saudi population and although they're looked
down upon by many city-dwelling Saudis the Bedu remain the bedrock of Saudi society.
The traits historically associated with the Bedu are legendary and include: a refusal to sur-
render to outside authority; a fierce loyalty to one's family and tribe; the primacy of cour-
age and honour; the purity of language and dialect as preserved in poetry and desert le-
gends; a belief in the desert codes of hospitality, blood feuds and mutual obligations; the
tradition of
razzia
or raiding against travellers or other tribes.
Some 1.8 million Bedu still claim to live a semi-nomadic lifestyle in Saudi Arabia, liv-
ing for at least part of the year in movable encampments of black goat-hair tents, follow-
ing grazing fields for their livestock and sources of water.
The Lives of Women
Despite the opening of the country's first co-educational university in 2009, education re-
mains officially strictly segregated. The education system is strongly criticised by edu-
cated Saudis for its reliance on rote learning and heavy emphasis on Wahhabi Islam to the
exclusion of much else. Official school curriculums are under review and many are ex-
pectant of significant change in line with the rest of King Abdullah's reforms.
A woman's life in Saudi is more controlled than anywhere else in the industrialised
world, particularly with regard to freedom of movement. Women are officially forbidden
to drive within Saudi's cities - although this only became a formal law in 1990, following
protests by 47 women deploring restrictions to their day-to-day lives. There have been pe-
titions handed to King Abdullah requesting a woman's right to drive and he has publicly
stated that 'things will change'. Yet Saudi and foreign women drive freely within the oil
company compounds of Aramco and have done so for years. The whole protracted dance
is consistent with King Abdullah's canny process of incremental reform.
Officially Saudi women may not travel abroad without the permission of their husbands
or fathers, but this too is under pressure, with prominent Saudi women challenging cultur-
al restrictions in the media and on the internet. Saudi Arabia has signed the UN Conven-
tion to Eliminate Discrimination Against Women.
Girls officially enjoy the same right to attend a segregated school and university as boys
and later to work as teachers, doctors, nurses, social workers, business managers and
journalists. Visible Saudi and Arab journalists on the satellite news channels beamed daily
from the Gulf into Saudi homes are altering both private and public perceptions of a wo-
man's role. Many Saudis (including women) also claim women in Saudi Arabia live free
from the fear of public sexual violence.
