Saudi Arabia gets the applause. It is because King Abdullah gives women the vote. And the king has done more for them. Women will sit on the Shura Council for the first time. The king will appoint them.The Council advises the king on various issues. Many say the Islamic State is making progress as a result. Others say not fast enough. Amnesty International leads the pack.When the king decrees women to vote, Amnesty International's Deputy Middle East Director says, 'Ultimately, it is no great achievement to be one of the last countries in the world to grant women the vote." Some also say the Shura Council only advises the king, and that it has no power whatsoever. It is a matter of opinion. But if there is anyone who should applaud even for the slightest gains, it is women. And that is because big things start small. The right of women to vote in modern times has been a major issue for decades, for more than two centuries. Women struggle for this because it has effects on their representation in politics, in political leadership positions, women's involvement in decision-making process, all of which have multiplier effects on a host of other socio-cultural and economic issues as they affect women.In spite of criticisms, many Saudis believe their king is a reformer. By Saudi Arabian standard, that is. But days after His Majesty decreed the vote to women, his police arrested a woman for driving. Gender groups cried foul. It was not the first time they would. But they said it took away from the king's reforms, and that he really did not mean business. It is a long-standing practice that women should not drive cars in the Middle East's wealthiest oil-producing country. There are actually no laws forbidding this that anyone can point to in that country. Law enforcers pick up women they see behind the wheels, anyway. When they get to court, they are either sentenced, or released to their relatives with a warning, and a pledge of 'I won't do it again.' Not having women drive a vehicle is said to be part of the Islamic country's strategy to prevent them from getting into acts that are considered sinful. In that case, each family needs to have a male driver. Families that cannot afford the 400 dollar a month salary have male relatives drive their female members. Now, more Saudi Arabian women, still a few actually, sit behind the wheels and defy a long-held practice. Those found in this category tend to be women with Western education. When the latest culprit was sentenced to a prison term, the king overturned the verdict and sent the woman home to her family. Even critics say that's a plus for the king's reformer reputation. Saudi Arabia is the last country on earth to grant women the suffrage. Universal suffrage exists when the right to vote is not restricted by race, gender, belief, sexual orientation, gender identity, wealth, or social status. And it typically does not extend a right to vote to all residents of a region. Ahead of others in modern times, the short-lived Corsican Republic (1775-1769) was the first country to grant limited universal suffrage for all inhabitants over the age of 25. And under British rule in the Massachusetts Colony in 1756, Lydia Chapin Taft became the first legal woman voter in colonial America. The New England town meeting in Uxbridge, Massachusetts granted her the right to vote following the death of her husband and eldest son. She subsequently voted in at least three separate annual town meetings. There were other experiments in the Paris Commune of 1871 and the Island Republic of Franceville in 1889, and then New Zealand in 1893. Finland was the first European country to grant universal suffrage to its citizens in its 1906 elections, and it was the first country in the world to make every citizen eligible to run for parliament. The United Kingdom granted equal voting rights to women in 1928. In 1976, Nigeria allowed its women to vote throughout the country. One of the earliest countries with significant Muslim population to grant women the right to vote was Azerbaijan in 1918, while the same took place in most of the Middle East countries such as Oman, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates in the last one decade, ending with Saudi Arabia in 2011. The right given to women to vote came days before a local council election took place late September, but women did not take part in it. This local council election had about 5,000 people running for the more than 1,000 seats in 285 councils across the kingdom. The voters elected half the members of the councils, the other half will be appointed by the government. This council vote was initially scheduled for 2009 but it was postponed. The first of its kind took place in 2005. Further clarifications from government showed that future female council members would not be allowed to share the same chamber with male peers. But closed circuits would be used to allow the women to participate in discussions. This arrangement conforms with the country's firm separation of the sexes.In spite of the modifications, there is no doubt that this is a major step to move the country forward since 88-year-old King Abdullah ascended the throne in 2005 and began the reformation and modernisation of his kingdom. And it came with the background of the uprisings in the Arab world that is long accustomed to absolute monarchs, dictators, as well as leaders elected in controversial elections. Nevertheless, the king's reforms are best evidenced in the education sector. He established the kingdom's only university where men and women attend classes together ' and he had significantly liberalised the economy. In reality, the steps Abdallah has taken may reflect the mood of a substantial portion of his 18 million citizens who, mostly conservative, are cautious about Western-style reforms that infringe on the traditions and customs of a predominantly Islamic society.In the midst of this, the Saudi monarch has sent his military to neighbouring Bahrain to help stabilise the ruling family against an Arab 'styled uprising. But in protest against Syrian President Bashar Assad who had been criticised as hard on anti-government protesters, the king withdrew his ambassador from Damascus. While these steps do not give a clear sign of how far he may still go down the road of reforms in his own country, the steps he has taken since he came to power have been consistent, and are in a particular direction. He set up the Shura, or consultative council years back in the first place, and though it is an advisory body, it allows some popular voice in government. This Council will start a new term in 2013, and that is when the king will appoint the first set of women to sit on it.
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