Voter registration for women began in the parts of Saudi Arabia this last weekend in a milestone for women’s rights.
The first registered women voters in Saudi Arabia comes four years after King Abdullah announced that women will be granted equal voting rights.
“The participation of the Saudi women in the municipal elections as voters and candidates was a dream for us,”Jamal Al-Saadi told the Saudi Gazette after she registered to vote. “The move will enable Saudi women to have a say in the process of the decision-making.”
“It was granting women the right to vote that was seen as by far the biggest step in the direction of gender equality in one of the most conservative countries in the world,” VICE reports.
The move drew praise from a recurring critic of Saudi Arabia: Amnesty International.
“Saudi Arabia took a significant step forward this week by allowing women for the first time to both register to vote and to run for office in the municipal elections due to take place in December,” writes Adam Coogle of Amnesty International. The move “sends an important message to all sectors of Saudi society: That women, as well as men, have a stake in the country and are qualified to make decisions that affect the public interest.”
