'Tis the nature of regimes that thrive on a lack of imagination to create situations that are patently senseless.
Until very recently, just such a situation prevailed in Saudi Arabia, wherein women, otherwise institutionally partitioned from men in every respect, were forced to interact with their male compatriots in a surprisingly intimate context - when purchasing lingerie.
For this less than optimal arrangement, Saudi women could thank their society's prohibition on men and women working together, a reality that disproportionately affected employment in the retail sector. This ironic consequence was a culture of male-run stores catering to a female clientele, involving transactions that flatly undermined the codified status of women's modesty.
A royal decree by King Abdullah has put paid to this folly - the country’s cosmetics and lingerie shops now have until June to replace their male employees with women.
An informative article in The New York Times helps to keep the move in perspective: "King Abdullah generally supported an expansion of opportunities for women, but steps in this direction can’t be traced to any burst of enlightenment within the royal family. They are happening because the kingdom’s women need and want jobs and are learning how to make themselves heard — and because, in an increasingly expensive country, their husbands often want them to work."
Nonetheless, the move is a victory for women's self-determination and dignity, one that cannot be overstated.
It is worth pointing out, also, that women helped make the victory possible.
At the forefront was Reem Asaad, a financial adviser, writer, and women's rights advocate, who used social media to organize a boycott of the male-run shops, and helped women get trained for retail work.
In a June 2011 interview with PRI's The World, Asaad echoes my opening sentiments.
Quite simply, "We no longer accept things that are not logical."
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