Since 2016, the use of the female veil (hijab) is no longer mandatory in Saudi Arabia, neither for women residing in the country of Mecca and Medina nor for foreign tourists. The country’s ‘strong man’, Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, presented that year what has been called the ‘Vision 2030’ project to modernize the country, making it less dependent on oil and opening it to investment and tourism. For critics, the opening plan has also been the regime’s ‘screen’ to distract attention from the repression of political dissent.
As the complaints of “harassment and touching” of non-Saudi women who attended the match between Real Madrid and Mallorca in the city of Jeddah on Thursday have shown, the legal situation is far from being, at least not yet, the real situation. The presence of unveiled women at sporting events is, to say the least, a ‘provocation’ for a male sector that has grown up in a deeply sexist, traditional culture, and that enjoys impunity in many of its actions. Good proof of this is that the few Saudi women who attended the Spanish Super Cup matches this week came with veils, even though the rules allow them not to wear them.
Before getting off the plane steps, every foreigner traveling to Saudi Arabia should have received the same advice. The use of the veil is no longer mandatory, unless it is required if you visit religious places in the country. But you should take extra care to dress to cover as much of your body as possible in loose-fitting clothing.
In their propaganda for the dress code reform, the Saudi authorities highlight this point on the Internet. They remind foreigners that they must be “respectful of the country’s traditions”, pay attention to the clothes they will wear in public. And do not criticize the widespread use of the veil – simple or complete – by Saudi women. A practice, the note states, aimed at “defending them from the gaze of evil men” and avoiding the discomforts of the desert sand.
In its global reform of Saudi society, the ‘Vision 2030’ project has innovations that have allowed women real respite. Among others, authorization to drive vehicles and to work outside the home. However, many of the rules of Sharia, the strictest Islamic law, remain in force regarding the permission of the male guardian, marriage, child custody, complaints in court and wills.
‘Vision 2030’ also continues to maintain Saudi Arabia’s status as the most intolerant country in the world in terms of religious freedom. More than one and a half million Catholic workers, mostly from the Philippines and India, are prohibited from attending mass or meeting at home to pray.
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