The Saudi Public Speaks: Religion, Gender, and Politics

Abstract

The fact that fifteen of the nineteen terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001 were Saudi citizens inevitably raised serious questions about the social conditions that have produced such violent personalities capable of the mass taking of innocent lives and devastating an entire city, if not a nation. Answers were quick to come by, as the U.S. media pointed to the Saudi culture. Charges were made that the youth were brainwashed by the most extremist school in Islam, namely, Wahhabism. The Saudi educational institutions were also blamed for promoting anti-Semitism, anti-Western attitudes, and intolerance of other religions. Saudi society was also condemned for having a corrupt and backward political system. Naturally, in this land of intolerance and authoritarianism, resorting to violence by its inhabitants became a foregone conclusion. 1 Recent scholarly studies have provided a more balanced picture of the cultural forces operating in the kingdom. However, there is little knowledge of how Saudis view the significant issues facing their society. We fill this void by analyzing the value orientations of Saudi citizens toward such key issues as the form of government, religion, religious tolerance, gender relations, marriage, and Western culture, using the findings of the values survey that was carried out in the kingdom in 2003. We also use the results of similar values surveys in Egypt, Iran, Jordan, and the United States to assess the similarities and differences in value orientations between Saudi citizens and the public of these countries. Furthermore, focusing on such key organizing principles of the kingdom as religion, gender, and politics, we try to explain religiosity and attitudes toward women and democracy. What are the major factors that affect the religiosity of the Saudi public? What is the connection between religiosity and gender? To what extent does gender affect variations in daily prayer and mosque attendance? How does one explain attitudes toward polygamy and the norm of wife obedience? Does education promote religiosity? Is there a connection between religiosity and attitudes toward gender inequality? How are variations in attitudes toward democracy related to variations in other attitudes and nonattitudinal characteristics of the respondents? Finally, are the extant sociological generalizations that are based on the experiences of the West applicable to Saudi society?

The Relationship between Leader Member Exchange, Job Satisfaction and Affective Commitment, Gender-Similarity Roles in the Segregated Work Environment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

“…12, No. 5;2017 finds that both genders display transformational behaviours, and followers prefer to work with transformational leaders (Al-Ammaj, 2001, Walker, 2004, Omer, 2005, experience human relationships with their immediate leaders (Assad, 2006) and express favourable attitudes toward democracy (Moaddel, 2006). However, this study was conducted in a single-sex environment.…”

Policy Analysis beyond Personal Law: Muslim Women's Rights in India

“…Despite the undemocratic regimes found in many of them, scholars have consistently observed that most citizens, even the staunchly religious, steadfastly advocate democracy as the best form of government in Muslim nations (e.g., Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Saudi Arabia). The extent of identification among a country's populace with Islamic religion and culture does not seem to be a barrier to the democratization process (Al‐Braizat ; Moaddel ; Tessler ). A review of the history of Pakistan, for example, shows that although it is a Muslim state, it reformed its Muslim Personal Law and introduced several important changes for women, such as raising the minimum age of marriage.…”

Reality Television, Gender, and Authenticity in Saudi Arabia

“…The cradle of Islam and an energy superpower, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is ruled by the Al‐Sa‘ud royal family whose reign is religiously sanctioned by the Al‐Shaykh family of clerics (Abukhalil, 2003; Al‐Rasheed, 2002). The seat of power represented by the Al‐Sa‘ud‐Al‐Shaykh alliance remained relatively unchallenged until the 1970s when a rapid growth in oil wealth and urbanization spawned various political formations, two of which contested prevailing political arrangements (Al‐Rasheed, 2007; Moaddel, 2006), especially after the upheaval brought by the 1991 Gulf War and the stationing of American troops on Saudi soil. On the one hand, Sahwi Islamists ( sahwa means “awakening”) believed Saudi Arabia to be insufficiently Islamic and accused establishment clerics of selling out to the royal family (Al‐Rasheed, 2002; Fandy, 1999).…”

“…Partial answers reside in recent surveys that found the Saudi public to be ambivalent about social issues (Moaddel, 2006; Rheault, 2007). Although “[r]eligion, women, and democracy are among the most contested categories in the intellectual debates about the future of the kingdom” (Moaddel, 2006, p. 92), 71% of Saudis, the survey reveals, are in favor of democracy and 59% agree that a working mother can establish as warm a relationship with her children as a stay‐at‐home mother. In contrast, 23% of Saudis disagreed that men make better political leaders than women and 81% of Saudis agreed that a woman must always obey her husband.…”

“…Only 5% disagreed on that last question. Among the survey's rather unexpected findings is that overall “the Saudi public appears to be less religious than Egyptians and Jordanians” (Moaddel, 2006, emphasis added). More recently, a Gallup poll found the Saudi public to be even more liberal, with majorities supporting various freedoms for women: 55% of Saudi men and 66% of Saudi women support women's right to drive a car (which has been legally forbidden since 1991); 75% of men and 82% of women support women having jobs outside of the home, a gender gap of 7 compared to 21 points in Egypt (Rheault, 2007).…”