John Burgess at Crossroads Arabia posts an article from Arab News written by a woman that counters arguments against women’s suffrage.

Last week, Raid Qusti wrote yet another article about women and elections. This was not the first time he tackled the issue, making it clear to all of us, again, that he agrees with the government????????s decision to exclude women from participating in the first municipal elections ever to be held in Saudi Arabia. Despite the many letters I had received from female (and even some male) readers countering his arguments in several articles, I have thus far declined because I truly feel the topic has been exhausted. This time, however, I must agree that something must be said.

With all due respect to all those who argue that it is fine to exclude women because Saudi Arabia is ???????different???????, they are missing a crucial point. Of course, Saudi Arabia is different; of course, we are like no other country in the world; and of course, there are many obstacles in the face of women nominating themselves for political positions. That is our main problem. That is why we need to change. That is precisely why it was crucial to give women a chance to revolutionize all that is ???????different??????? about us in a perfectly acceptable way. With one bold decision, the government could have given the chance to seven courageous women to change history forever.

As I step into Qusti????????s hypothetical situation, I can see this: First, there are no barriers that prevent women socially from voting. I think we all agree to that (him included). As for the ???????technical reasons??????? excuse, we all also agree that it can be easily overcome with a little planning. The point I would like to add here is this: Why couldn????????t the technicalities have been dealt with before any elections started? Hypothetically speaking, if the government had announced that only women would be allowed to vote this year for ???????technical reasons???????, I am sure that the nation ???????? and the whole world ???????? would have had a field day with the news; it would have been the joke of the century. People here; however, tend to forget that women have just as much right to this country as men do. And, if that means postponing the elections for a year until all facilities are ready, so be it. Half the nation is certainly worth it.

Damn right.