[aishah]

i think it's helpful to situate this in the larger context of the issue of gender mixing among muslims.

i seriously doubt the patriarchal saudi government is going to decide this is a terrible idea (but, i don't know, 10 years down the road i might be proven wrong, lol). because it actually makes sense within the context of gender segregation as it's practiced in saudi arabia.

the fact is, most straight muslims i know don't like gender mixing. (women included.) there is a religious basis in islam for not practicing free mixing of genders unless for business or study reasons. even in the u.s., most straight muslims (and some queer and progressive muslims) i've met don't free mix outside of these contexts. and in business or study contexts, things are usually kept very platonic and focused on a specific purpose, and if a man and a woman are alone together the door is open, and usually men and women are not alone together unless there is another woman present. at least, that's been my experience being a part of two predominantly straight muslim students' associations and interacting in the larger muslim community in the u.s.

the issue i see is that gender segregation becomes problematic when it's enforced heavily in the school and workplace (because generally women get pushed out of the school/workplace, which is part of why saudi arabia has such problems with women's unemployment rates) and when it is enforced by law to the point that individuals no longer have any choice about what level they want to participate. and combined with mahram (guardianship) laws, it creates a situation where women can no longer advocate for participating to the extent they want. but it's really complicated - there are situations where gender segregation and mahram laws are actually helpful (especially to poor and rural women), so just repealing the law can actually harm some women (which has been an issue in morocco). and just because a woman is uncomfortable with guardianship laws does not mean she'll be totally comfortable with free mixing of genders. the other issue is when women choose gender segregation and women's spaces are not equally accessible - for example in mosques - women are not required but are permitted to go to the mosque whenever we choose. except women's prayer areas in mosques tend to be extremely inaccessible. another issue is that when gender segregation is combined with the idea that public space is men's space and private space is women's space, it affects women's opportunities to work, study, or otherwise participate in public life. but this is not a new idea the saudis just came up with - it's something non-muslims in the u.s. have struggled with until recently and still continue to struggle with in some ways (the issue of women participating in public life). the issue of gender segregation is also not new in u.s. contexts...the lds church practices it too.

one of the earlier articles i posted included a paragraph about saudi women who are seriously uncomfortable working with men (for religious reasons) and how this idea might give them a space where they can work and be more comfortable.

so yeah, there are a lot of issues with enshrining these things in law and taking away women's right to choose whether and how they will interact with men, and that's really problematic. there's also the issue that saudi arabia takes this to an extreme that really isn't grounded in islamic law (to the point of having women and men not interact publicly, even in business and study contexts). but since those laws are probably not going to change in saudi arabia anytime soon, this is one way to create more access for women to work and study.

but are we saying that women should be forced to interact with men in all spaces whether they want to or not? because that's really problematic, too. i think it's important to respect women's agency to decide when and how they are comfortable interacting with men.