AL catches this interesting development about Saudi women:
The kingdom's first hotel exclusively for females opened yesterday, offering plush lodgings with a full-range of health and beauty facilities for ladies to pamper themselves, away from the accusing eyes of a male-dominated society."Inside this physical structure, we are all women," said the Luthan Hotel's executive director Lorraine Coutinho. "We even have bell-women. We are women-owned, women-managed and women-run, from our IT engineer to our electrical engineer.
I see potential for a lot of subversion in something like this. Not that I ever will, but let's say I'm a moderate Western businessperson and I have need to do something in the Kingdom. I'd patronize this place just for the statement it makes. I'd like to believe some of the women who own it also encourage other women to strike it out for themselves. Kingdom women are so restricted, but I bet they are just as competitive businesspeople as men. What do you think? Can anything good come from "gender apartheid?"
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This has long been the case
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. There are banks for women (though only Holland has a bank for lesbians), restaurants for women, stores for just women.
It is separate but it is not equal. It never is separate and equal.
charles, do you see no potential for inversion?
that's my question. you're right, segregation of this type has gone on there for a long time. what, if anything, could be different about this? i guess it depends on the patrons.
it's one thing to have a women's bank, a women's gym, etc. but a hotel complex is a little world all to itself. and outsiders can mingle with insiders, freely and without scrutiny. trysts, planning session, educational seminars...you get the drift. or will this place be under great scrutiny? sounds like it, from the press coverage, at least at first.
i guess what i'm asking for is a more nuanced explanation of life for upperclass saudi women who run their own businesses. i've tried to get some english-speaking saudi women bloggers to come by here to post and comment, but with no luck. i think my nym is too much, i'm not "decent" enough for them to associate with me without worry.
You mean like a personal inversion narrative?
[rimshot. laughter]
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
I've never been
to Saudi Arabia so I really can't answer your question. I'm guessing that hotel is only open to women. Jordan is the closest I've been and that's a far cry from Saudi Wahabism. I'd guess you're spot on with "great scrutiny." Women can't even drive or be on the street unaccompanied. I will say this the life of a wealthy Saudi is a far cry from an ordinary Saudi though by any Western standard repressive.
Along those notes, the Saudis are building a world class university on the Red Sea. I don't know if it will be open to women.
But if you ever get to Holland, there's a bank with your name on it. The Triodos Bank with branches in the Benelux and the UK. It is run by lesbians, anyone can bank there, it specializes in ethical banking and social investments. Founded in 1980.
charles, which school do you mean? and that bank
is worth a post, if you're up to it. i'd love to hear more.