Dr. Lamia Baashen*

All my attempts to visualize a plan that ensures activating the cultural role of Saudi women were returning me to the existing cultural situation and inviting me to evaluate the place of Saudi women within it, as starting points must be determined, as perhaps a study of the scene will lead us to current gains and achievements that have been acquired and constitute the cornerstone for a coming stage. But before we examine the paths of the cultural arena looking for the footprints of Saudi women on it, we must agree on the al of the examination, as the effort may be misplaced.

Why are we looking for a role for women at all? And is research anything other than for something lost? Does the search itself not involve a prior belief that women have no role to mention? Rather, the worse thing is that the question also suggests that women have roles and men have other roles, and when we imagine that women have roles different from men's roles, is this difference not unfair to women because it will inevitably pull us into comparing her lost role with the witnessed male role? And before we rush to answer, we will notice that no one asks at all about the cultural role of the man, and that this question is not assigned a complete axis, and that there is not a single researcher who strives to analyze and evaluate it or to set a future plan for it.

Let us stand for a moment before this strange paradox and contemplate how it shows us that culture in the absolute is the field of the man, and that the activity of intellectuals is the basic path, extending naturally for them to walk in it consistently, and their projects move on it with fluidity and ease. Then the woman comes to join the march, and questions shower from every side about the rationale and how, so we carve a side path for her away from the existing cultural battleground and push her to the margins to be occupied with her role and its differences and try to set als and projects for herself with feminine touches that in line with her privacy and nature. From here, the processes of marginalization and cancellation begin, as the site of the greatest event is the one located in the focus of light and on the paved road, and it is unique not only in lighting but in seriousness and importance, and it alone has the official status and thus entry into historical recording.

The cultural role of the man!

The question about (the woman's cultural role) will therefore lead us to confront the relationship between the origin and the branch, between the text and the margin. The masculine cultural path is the basic, paved, and official one, it is the advanced and the pioneer, and accordingly, the new cultural role of women will of course be subsequent to the previous, and subordinate to the management and leadership of men, for in their hands is the solution and binding while the woman waits for the instructions issued to implement them literally, and suddenly her role, which was her right, becomes a favor from those who come first to those who follow, and from those who are higher to those who are lower.

There is a big gap between what this axis intended when asking about the cultural role of women and what it opens of contradiction that becomes clear when we read it in a reverse reading that reveals the implicit hidden under the cover of od intentions. The phrase (woman's role) may seem innocent, even noble in its als, but when we subject it to a deconstructive reading, the reactionary implicit position biased against women appears to us. This phrase is consistent with other phrases that are circulated in the cultural arena every day as if they are self-evident and without discussion, and when we turn to analyze them as a set of cultural signs, we find a deep-seated contradiction between what they declare and what they hide.

The man is half of society!

One of these examples is the common saying that (the woman is half of society), which is a neutral sentence. There are those who say it in support of their opinion that women should stay at home and take care of their children only, and it also agrees with those who see that she is half of society and must participate in the public life of this society. But that half of society consists of women, this does not deny it its masculine character, for the woman remains half of the masculine society as a whole and the phrase does not necessarily do her justice. We can infer, for example, that society means men, and that the half is the increase from a sentence said by an enthusiast for women's rights: ((Men carry permission from society to make women appear in a negative light)). Here, society is the man who gave his male members a license to dominate women.

But is this halving realistic and useful or is it harmful to the interest of women? The numerical truth says that women are not half of Saudi society, but rather the number of men in it far exceeds the number of women, and if the man monopolizes twice the portion of the female, then the half specific to women will be less than a third of society only! As for the metaphorical meaning, which aims to confirm the idea of dividing society by half between women and men, it reinforces before that, and unconsciously, the concept of societal division that depicts a split situation characterized by conflict and dispute.

The halving summons the image of the cup half full and half empty, and we will not think much to know that the emptiness will be the portion of the woman detained in her crisis-ridden half, suffering from the consequences of isolation and separation. Dividing society between a real part and a shadow part turns women into half-beings, that sweet half that has half presence and half giving, and instead of establishing a healthy partnership relationship between the woman and the man based on mutual benefit, the phrase half of society separates its two poles as competing adversaries fighting over the allocation of societal property. This sharp duality between men and women threatens the complete humanity of both, as it divides society into two halves, while society is in reality one block brought to life and built by a man and a woman together.

The man's issue and file!

From common parlance is the phrase (women's file or women's issue), which is a phrase revealing a misleading implicit structure. Whether we understand from it that the woman has an issue or that the woman is an issue, the insult is clear in both. The meaning that a woman has an issue is a false claim that women's interest is limited to one issue, and that her intervention in all public opinion issues and national interests is an intrusion that has no need, as if she is not concerned with the development and improvement of the society in which she lives, or that she does not care about anything outside her home and family affairs. From here comes the tendency, when women enter the public space, to reject their entry as not urgent and unnecessary, or to specify specific issues in which they give their opinion, so issues that touch women and families are assigned to her as the best consultant in the affairs of her own gender.. only!

But if the meaning derived from the phrase (women's issue) is that she is herself one of the issues of masculine society, then in that is a belittling of women and a reduction even of the half-space she occupied in the saying that she is half of society to less than a tenth. When women are the issue of society, their existence is presented as a problem that has defied solutions, and these are inevitably the residues of the traditional conceptual system that considers women as an emergent subject and not an independent self, and deals with them as a social issue and not as a human entity.

The male element!

As for the saying (the female element), it declares that the presence of women is complementary to the cultural equation, but what it hides is the miniaturization of her presence to a ratio of one to ten, meaning that the presence of the female element is always countered by the presence of male elements, which is a division that brings to mind the space allocated for women in the circumambulation courtyard in the Holy Mosque of Mecca, a black patch shrinking in the middle of the crowded white, an element among elements. This saying contributes to deepening the inferior view that reduces women to a lower value, and involves an unconscious marginalization of the value of feminization. Whether one woman or a huge crowd of women attended any cultural forum, the press coverage continues to declare that the presence of the female element was noticeable, without commenting on the presence of men, for it is the fixed given with all its multiple elements.

The effects of this equation, one to ten, appear clearly in the gradual joining of women to the arenas of cultural and societal work, as most integrated committees are formed on this basis/ one woman and nine men, so for the female element there is only a tenth, this was the situation in the formation of societies affiliated with the Culture and Arts Society, and in many cultural committees and activities into which women are introduced peripherally and as a matter of throwing dust. In fact, the presence of the female element comes in an additive form in most cases, as after completing the formation of the committees and starting work, the male elements notice the absence of the female element, so they rectify the matter and add her in a hurry to the equation whose reactions began in her absence.

The equation of one to ten in the saying of the female element is a random equation that reduces the value of the woman, and also hinders the opportunities for her contribution and for deepening her life and cultural experience and practice. The one and only element within the male formation is chosen without scrutiny or selectivity, for effectiveness is not the al as much as the hurried addition, then begins the series of marginalization, neglect and exclusion for this miniaturized element, and the woman continues to suffer from experiential and practical weakness, while she sits in a distant corridor as a heavy guest of honor, as an additional element, as Al-Ghazali says, falling under the rule of what is added to people.

Male representation!

The examination of popular sayings in the cultural arena brings us to a saying with deep levels that play with the peaceful superficial intended meaning, which is (female representation) which seems to describe the situation of the woman within the male system as a representative of other absent women, but the places of defect appear quickly in the performance assigned to the role of that representative. Instead of talking to men about women and their demands, we find that she has miraculously turned into a representative of the absent man to crowds of women, for she carries his message to places where the man cannot be present, for he is in truth in need of a spokeswoman in his name and a carrier of his message and an implementer of his orders for women.

Female representation is a reductive saying whose hidden meaning is for the woman to represent the role of the man in female sites and be his eye with which he sees and his hands with which he controls the affairs of women in their isolated sites. This representation has many names that we are optimistic about at first, then we gradually discover that we the community of women have fallen into the trap of dependency and proxy, and that we are nothing but links between the operations room and execution rooms, whether we were deputies, agents, consultants, supervisors, directors of female branches or chairwomen of female committees. The man's guardianship from afar is only done by appointing a woman for whom he chooses a formal position that does not exceed being a receptionist standing before other women to inform them of decisions she received and to carry their transactions to the man she represents, who has administrative dominance over all feminine affairs.

The nature of the man!

As for the saying (women's nature), it is the cultural sign of the nation par excellence because it is deep-rooted in the cultural heritage and its implicit is hidden in the value systems in Arab thinking. On the surface, the saying appears as if it sympathizes with the woman's condition and is embarrassed to task her with what her weak and delicate nature cannot bear, so it is as if it is out of mercy for her to be given a license to abstain from participating in general societal life. But we discover that what lies beneath the surface is prohibition and not a license to abstain, and that what was spread about women due to their weakness and delicacy is the permanence of their inadequacy and deficiency and thus the permanence of their exclusion and marginalization.

The prevailing culture blames women for their excessive emotion over men, so it reduces their status in harmony with the nature they were created with, meaning that changing this nature is out of the question as well as the possibility of the growth and development of the mind in her. This saying besieges all women with their biological attributes as an obstacle to their progress and independence from the authority of the man who exclusively possesses the mind. The saying carries the prohibitions that limit her choices which do not beyond receiving and complying. In her search for the scarce places that suit her femininity, weakness, attributes and the peculiarity of her deficiency, the woman finds herself detained in marginal roles that stifle her capabilities and talents with which the Great Creator has endowed her. Many women have been endowed by d with maturity of mind, sound opinion and efficiency just as He endowed many men, but the convictions of society restricted them by imposing the adoption of a stereotypical nature that contradicts what d created them with, a nature imagined by the man and into which he forcibly molded the woman: a body without a mind, and a heart without a soul.

The previous sayings and their analyses summarize the social and cultural situation, explicit and latent, for Saudi women, but change happens around us every day, for staying in the same state is impossible, and the coming stage will be saturated with pivotal turning points in their history. Therefore, it is expected from the cultural institution represented by the Ministry of Culture and Information to keep pace with those changes and grant female energies their actual and appropriate presence by allowing them to enter the area of responsibility at the official level. Here, the cultural situation of Saudi women within the official institution must be reviewed and we must feel the extent of their presence and effectiveness.

What has the Ministry provided to activate the role of women over the years since its establishment?

No one denies that the Ministry is keen to create a foothold for women in its various activities, as it has given its platforms to the voices of women (carried by microphones from the halls to the main event halls) as poets, storytellers, thinkers and critics, so hardly any of its events are devoid of female participations, even if the keenness was verned by the criterion of the presence of the female element and added in an additive manner according to the one-to-ten equation. It is true that women were always producers of the cultural act before the formation of the Ministry, as they were pioneers in moving the dynamics of art and literature without ministerial sponsorship, but the truth is that her entry into the official system and her standing as a peer with the intellectual in her platform presence, even if from afar, was only completed by the efforts of the Ministry of Culture.

But the evaluation will not be in favor of the Ministry when we look at its way of dealing with women at the level of administrative empowerment, decision-making, drawing plans and determining orientations. Aside from the recent decision that opened the door for women to enter the elections of the board of directors of literary clubs and join them as members, the Ministry has remained ignoring its task, being a creator of culture, in creating a different awareness of women's rights based on a purely human view of her. Along with the election of women in culture and arts societies at a ratio of one to ten which ended with marginalizing the tenth and additional female element, the Ministry has not assigned any administrative, planning or organizational role to women.

The truth is that the Ministry has not employed a single woman in any of the management positions of the Culture Agency since its establishment until today. As for literary clubs, the presence of women was limited to (auxiliary) women's committees as described by the Ministry at the time, without consideration for their feelings nor embarrassment, for they were, as the Ministry saw, followers of the male board of directors, without an official capacity or appointment by decision.

Accordingly, it follows that I present my procedural plan for a better future for Saudi women in the cultural environment with only two specific demands, which can be achieved together in the very near term:

First: Despite what has been achieved for women in terms of a remarkable cultural presence in activities and forums, the status of women within the Ministry does not reflect the rational vernment's appreciation for the complete competence of women and trust in their capabilities and maturity of mind. Accordingly, the first step the Ministry must take is to empower women in the decision-making process to escape from the suffocating circles of dependency and engage in a real partnership within the Ministry of Culture with their male counterpart, by granting equal powers to both parties without racial division and imposed guardianship.

Second: Despite the noble al that prompted the members of the advisory committee for the first and current Intellectuals Conference, which is involving women in drawing future visions for their cultural movement through this axis, I demand the cancellation of the (women's cultural role axis) from future conferences.

This question in its nature starts from and es along with those implicits that pass through sayings that consume the rights of women, and separating women's cultural affairs into a special axis es along with the cultural climate that produced those sayings. Women have one axis out of eleven, and that is the decimal equation repeated here, and the absence of allocating an axis on the cultural role of men indicates that he possesses the remaining axes. Then allocating an axis for women reinforces the idea of isolating her from the rest of the topics as if she is outside her interests. The woman in this axis is a subject of discussion as theater is in its axis, and the woman is not a subject put forward for research as is the case with book industry, fine arts, performing arts and other axes of this forum, but rather she is an independent cultural entity with her own theatrical, artistic and reading interests.

The most dangerous thing is that this planted allocation which is moved by implicit traditional purposes consolidates a traditional situation depicting the woman as an emergent intruder on the cultural situation that requires pausing at her and stopping her until we find a solution for her and chart a path for her. In her independent axis that presents her as a subject just as child culture is presented as a subject, we feel the continuity of the traditional division between the man as the owner of the deep-rooted and evolving cultural project, and the woman arriving additionally and with problems that require thinking about a role for her and a project that fits her nature.

We have had enough and more of determining female paths, downsizing options and planning directions that exclude women and deviate them from the line of involvement in national work. In light of all these emergent preparations, women appear as a burden on the cultural institution that is confused in dealing with it, so it gathers researchers conference after conference to help find practical exits from its involvement with women, while the matter is extremely simple and does not bear thinking. All there is to it is that the intellectual woman wants to participate with intellectuals in the dynamics of national cultural work, and looks for official support from the cultural institution being a Saudi citizen with competence who has full rights and full duties. The intellectual woman does not seek anything but an recognition of her citizenship and humanity that allows her to join as a human worthy of respect and trust to the same basic cultural march and on the same paved and illuminated road, to walk in it consistently, and participate smoothly and easily in the same cultural projects.

* Critic and university professor. The origin of this article is research presented to the Second Forum for Saudi Intellectuals, December 2012 AD.