Saudi Arabia @ MindSay 
As part of my job and the properties of "ongoing education" I do a fair bit of reading in my field. The bulk of it, for me, is made up of professional blogs where others have done the research. Now, I know that sounds lazy, but I do plenty of research on my own (as you well know if you read my blog with any regularity), so it only seems fair that I be allowed to break once in a while and let others do the work.
Having said that, one of my "not so scholarly but sure fun to read" favorites is the blog by the Annoyed Librarian (AL). This is a blog where the anonymous writer expresses less than popular opinions about the happenings in librarianship. I love her (or him...I don't know for certain) because the writing in thoughtful and intelligent, but snarky all the same. I do get a lot of solid information about current issues in the field from this blog, but mostly what I get is comedic relief and the joy of watching others light up over opinions that don't jive with their own.
Okay, so I was reading it today and there was a post about a job announcement. The job is for an academic librarian at a new university in Saudi Arabia. The reason it was on the AL blog is because the listing is for a male librarian. Yep, read the announcement again....Male Librarian, as in, females need not apply. My favorite part of the posting is where they say that all candidates MUST "be willing to do any and all tasks assigned, even if they are beyond the scope of the 'contract position'." What does that mean? Like the position description requires you to help people find books and do research, but if your boss asks you to go out on your lunch break and rob a bank, you are required to do it? Also, I really enjoyed that the candidate MUST be in possession of a master's degree in librarianship from an ALA-accredited school. ALA being the American Library Association. So, we hate the infidels, but they sure do know how to teach library skills....is that how it is?
Why am I blogging about it? Well, it isn't because I was offended. From my understanding, they don't let women drive cars in Saudi Arabia, so why would I expect them to hire females in professional positions? I don't. I think they should, I am a big believer in equality for all, but I don't get to make the laws of the universe. It'd be cool if I did, for sure, but so far, I can't get a full time librarian job, so ruler of the universe is probably out.
I just thought I would mention it because it is a pretty hot button issue, with our interests in the Middle East and all. But what is really interesting to me is the comments that the post generated. At the bottom of the original message by the AL you can click on the comments and read what people are saying. The directions that people go with these things, the things that people choose to care about, sometimes--sometimes it truly boggles the mind.
Next month, the Saudis will be pumping an extra half-a-million barrels of oil a day compared to last month, bringing total Saudi production to 9.7 million barrels a day, their highest ever level. But the world's biggest oil exporters are coupling the increase with an appeal to western Europe to cut fuel taxes to lower the price of petrol to consumers.Bush and Bernanke have caused this. Bush, by pushing the King to unfetter access rather than pushing for domestic drilling. Bernanke, by turning the greenback into a cheap alternative to toilet paper. We have our own oil, yet we won't drill. Taxes aren't going to be cut. The fault is our own, but it isn't the SUV drivers doing this to us. This is the outworking of socialism.
Saudi Arabia, which has called an emergency meeting of oil producers and consumers in the port city Jeddah next Sunday, says the energy crisis has not been caused purely by market pressures but by a speculative bubble. Saudi Arabia and Opec believe there are no shortages to justify the sudden surge in prices.
********
Saudi Arabia, which is the only Opec member with spare capacity, has been under pressure from the Bush administration to increase production, with petrol now costing a record $4 (£2) per gallon in America. But the Saudis argue that although the barrel has jumped as high as $140 recently, they are earning less in real terms owing to the decline in the value of the dollar. Until now they have hesitated to announce a large increase over a sustained period, sticking to the Opec line which blames Western speculators for the increase.
We can either realize that and fix it, or we can pay $5 a gallon.
| By Heba Saleh BBC News |
 Many Saudi executions are beheadings by the sword in public places |
In a letter to King Abdullah, the rights group described the trial and conviction of Fawza Falih as a miscarriage of justice.
The illiterate woman was detained by religious police in 2005 and allegedly beaten and forced to fingerprint a confession that she could not read.
Among her accusers was a man who alleged she made him impotent.Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7244579.stm
Saudi Cops Grab U.S. Woman In Starbucks
Kingdom's Religious Police Take Her To Jail For Sitting With Man In Coffee Shop
(CBS) An American businesswoman was carted off to jail by religious police in Saudi Arabia for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks in Riyadh, the Times of London reported.
The woman, who spent a day behind bars, was strip-searched and forced to sign a false confession before being released, the newspaper said. The Times declined to publish her name at her request.
The 37-year-old businesswoman works for a finance company in Riyadh. Her problem began when her office lost electricity. She and her male colleagues then went to a nearby Starbucks to use the coffee shop's Internet connection.
She sat with a male colleague in the Starbucks' family area, the only place women are allowed to sit with men.
“Some men came up to us with very long beards and white dresses. They asked 'Why are you here together?' I explained about the power being out in our office. They got very angry and told me what I was doing was a great sin,” she told the Times.
Following her arrest and interrogation, the woman was hauled before a judge.
“He said 'You are sinful and you are going to burn in hell.' I told him I was sorry. I was very submissive. I had given up. I felt hopeless,” she told the Times.
The newspaper said the woman had received a visit from officials at the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia. A U.S. official told The Times that it was being treated as “an internal Saudi matter” and refused to comment on her case.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/07/world/main3800725.shtml
So one guy in the conversation leaves this comment: "Any religion that treats women as some sub-species below men is an embarrassment to humanity."
And yes, I agree with the statement. But it is coming from someone in a culture (it isn't only religion that is to blame; but after all, women still can't lead masses in most Christian denominations)that treats women like a sub-species below men. Thank God we do not have the issues women do have in countries such as Saudi Arabia. For that we are blessed. Women in the USA can do pretty much anything they like. But let's face it, there are still a whole and very large group of men who would prefer the 50s woman over today. Home making dinner and rearing the children, their entire lives dedicated to the man's happiness.
A world where I go to work daily and have some guy either demand to talk to a male sales person "who at least knows something about guns and wasn't put behind the counter simply to make the store look diverse" without even talking to me before making that assumption, or they simply say, "YOU are a sales person?!" and laugh. A place where I can be wearing a skirt and nice top and still have some dude call me "sir" because I have short hair. A place where a man will walk up to a woman on the firing range and tell her she should be spread eagle on a bed instead of shooting a rifle. A place where a guy tells me to give a shotgun I won to a man because "at least he can handle it" without ever seeing me shoot. A place where a guy tells another guy they should only talk about flowers and cookies around me. A place where I go to a shooting match and all the men laugh at me before the match starts. A place where men "won't let" their woman have a gun or learn to shoot (even though the man has a gun collection and shoots all the time), or where they will but they must pick out the gun she'll own. A place where blonde jokes are 98% about blonde females. A place where women have eating disorders because it's fine for a man to be fat, but it is a horrible curse upon nature if a woman is. A place where a guy thinks I'm a lesbian simply based on the fact that I don't wear make-up regularly. A place where I can go to a gun show, but I have to at least look like a dude in order to get any help from the vendors. A place where a woman who spent several years hauling loads weighing over 1400 lbs or higher is told she is "too fragile" to help move a 500 lb load and the job is instead given to a much smaller man who ends up hurting himself. A place where women aren't trusted to do the same jobs as the men in the military. A place where the men are allowed to leave work at night alone but the women have to wait for an escort, even if the woman has a bigger gun and shoots it better ( ;) ).
Women in the USA have it much better than women arrested for being out alone or with a male she is not related to, where she has to cover her entire body under a berka, where she can be stoned to death for being raped, where she cannot share a cup of coffee with a male co-worker, where she isn't allowed to hold a job of any importance if any job at all, where she has to undergo a painful circumcision because sex for a woman should be for procreation only and not for pleasure (pleasure is only allowed for the man), etc. That I will never deny.
But this country has a way of acting like the women's liberation movement is over, women are completely equal to the men and we have nothing left to fight for. Because we aren't. I have the right to be angry for the things men say to me. I have a right to be angry about being treated like a fragile little girl, like I need their protection when I didn't ask for it. We live in a country where people think it is alright to pay a woman less for the same job. Where some men actually still voice the opinion that women shouldn't vote and everything wrong in politics is the women voters faults. Where men look horrified at a woman who says she has no desire for children, and tell her she will change her mind about that eventually... even if said woman is close to menopause (at which point you'd think her mind was pretty much made up). A place where some guy would read this entry and tell me to shut up because I don't know how good I have it. What am I bitching about? Women have made so much progress it's insane. We aren't equal. We aren't seen as being as capable as men.
And ladies, much of the fault lies on us. Why? Because we take it. And aside from taking it, we tear each other down. Many women feel the same way about women as a whole as this group of men do. Not all men and not all women fall into this catagory, don't get me wrong here. I'm not male bashing. But there is a large group still in existance, and the group is full of women, too. The women who don't want me teaching them to shoot or giving them tips. The women I dealt with in armored who refused to give me their bags of coin and then told me to get out of that "man's job" and take a "woman's job." Yes, also those women who have decided to vote for Hillary Clinton simply because she is female and haven't learned a thing about her. Do you know who she is and what she stands for? Don't you think she deserves the same respect as any male candidate, one who's platforms you look up or listen to, someone who you (hopefully) aren't voting for based on looks or anything else that is asinine? Are you voting for her simply because you want to see a female president? Ladies, that isn't moving equality forward, it is you deciding to vote for her based on something you would never vote for a man based on (erasing her equality with the other candidates). I don't like Mrs. Clinton and I will not vote for her. But I did give her the same respect as every other candidate and looked at what she stood for and believed in before deciding that. I just don't like what she wants to do to this country. The women who are appalled that I don't already have children at the age of 28. And shouldn't I be doing more to impress the boys?! To some women, I am already an "old spinster." The women who think their only purpose is to bear children. Come on, ladies! What gives?! You can be a wife and mother and something else, too. If you choose to be a wife and mother and dedicate your life to that, good for you! But don't tear down the women who decided they didn't want to dedicate their lives to everyone else. Maybe some of us just don't have it in us.
Anyway, what I am trying to say here is this: We have it good, yes. I agree. There are a lot of men and a lot of women who look at women and see someone who is their equal. And it could be a lot worse. But we're not out of the fire, yet. Pretending we are doesn't help. And pretending we're more self righteous than everyone else doesn't advance our culture as a whole. It stagnates it. Ladies, unite with each other. And keep fighting.
To ensure the prestige of Saudi involvement in Annapolis this week Israel (i.e. the Olmert government) had to agree that the entire West Bank, Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and the entirety of the Holy Temple Mount be on the table for consideration in the formation of a Palestine State.
Olmert might as well have hired pied pipers and lead Jews marching into the sea of oblivion.
JRH 11/25/07
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