Saudi Arabia

Thirteen Saudi women are looking to get married in a hurry so that they can qualify for a university scholarship to study outside the conservative Muslim kingdom.
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Islamic Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has no need for women members of parliament or elections, a senior prince said in remarks published on Wednesday.
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Saudi rights activists have sent King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz a petition asking for an elected parliament, term limits on royal princes appointed to official posts, and an end to "secret tribunals" for Saudis charged with terrorism offences.The petition, which also requests that the post of prime minister be given to "a commoner," is another attempt by Saudi Arabia's tiny but persistent democracy movement to get its voice heard in an absolute monarchy that prohibits political parties.

Saudi Arabia has delayed municipal elections in which women were hoping to take part for the first time, for two years, according to state media.
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Sohaila Zain el-Abideen, a Saudi women's rights activist, said that whatever was behind the government's announcement she believes women will become participants in the country's politics.
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Hana Al-Zuhair and Samira Al-Suwaigh were among the six members appointed Sunday by Commerce and Industry Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza to the Asharqia Chamber. This is the first time women in the Eastern Province will serve on the chamber’s board. None of the three women who stood in the polls last month was victorious, winning fewer than 100 votes among them. Al-Zuhair was delighted at being appointed to the board.
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A group of women has launched a website campaigning for the participation of women in municipal elections. The initiative, called "Baladi," has so far attracted over 2,000 members. Organizers say the campaign is independently run by women and has supporters from different parts of the Kingdom. They added that they want women to be able to participate in the running of municipal services due to the role they play in society in general.

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A group of Saudi women have turned up at a voter registration office in a rare public protest against the male-only electoral system, one of the activists told AFP early Sunday. We want to make our voices heard," Nayla Attar, a businesswoman among a small group of activists, told AFP after making a symbolic attempt Saturday to register for upcoming local elections in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. She said they wanted to be involved in public life and be heard.

Saudi women have no right to vote in the rare, countrywide elections Saudi officials hold or to drive on the kingdom's roads. They have little say in matters of marriage and divorce. They can't travel unless their male guardian — who could even be their child — gives them a letter granting them permission to do so. So when the government recently decided to renege on a promise to grant them the vote in municipal elections this fall, the women told me they'd had enough.