Saudi TV anchors begin donning hijab

It seems that women will continue to be one of the major topics of controversy in the Kingdom for the few years to come; and when I say “few years,” I am only saying it out of optimism, it could easily be “long years to come.”
Each and every issue related to women is an open arena of personal opinions and individual judgments that are mostly flavored by religious and political debates. We talk endlessly about the way women should move, wear, work, talk, or, to put it in few words, lead their lives. Actually, if you want any topic to make it to the headlines and to be the hashtag of the day in the Saudi Twitterverse, throw the word “women” in the middle of it.
The relationship between Saudi man and woman is strikingly unique and … a bit confusing. It is always swaying in the shadows of love and hate, at the intersection of care and neglect, in the grey area between protection and overprotection. While a man can talk with a passionate sense of pride and honor about his direct family like mother, wife, and sisters, he can switch gears in a second and shamelessly slander other women he does not approve of.
The subject of this article came to mind while reading the media coverage of the Saudi Shoura member who “decided not to wear the traditional black abaya” in one of the Shoura sessions.
If you started to read the coverage, and the tweets under the hashtag that ignited the fire before seeing the controversial photo of Dr. Hayat Sindi, the Shoura member, you would promptly assume that Dr. Sindi committed the unthinkable and came under the dome of the Shoura without her hair covered. Now if you know Dr. Sindi, you will not only be surprised, but shocked, because Dr. Sindi, with her multiple international appearances, in addition to being actually working abroad, has never been seen in public without her hijab. She is simply a Muslim woman who respects her religion. The same religion that promotes a decent attire and hair cover without ever giving a certain style or color the privilege of being the exclusive truth.
She showed up for her Shoura session wearing the same simple hijab she was wearing when she appeared on the stage of King’s College to receive her pharmacology degree in 1995, when she received her Ph.D. in biotechnology from the University of Cambridge in 2001, when she appeared in a documentary film sponsored by the office of the president of the United States promoting teaching science to youngsters, when she received the prize of Makkah for science accomplishment in 2010, and when she appeared on the pages of Newsweek magazine.
She has always been true to herself, to her beliefs, and it is truly shameful for someone in her position to be the target for such unjustified attacks.
By the end of the day, it is the troubled social relationship between men and women we have in our country that is promoting such attacks. It is only a part of our broader problem that is looking at everyone who is different than the way we perceive things with a skeptical eye. And the reason we perceive things is nothing but the outcome of our very narrow social and cultural circles.
The incident of Dr. Sindi is a classical example of the vicious circle of action and reaction we usually witness in our daily lives; she did something different, a group of people attacked her because of it, and then came a group to attack those who attacked her; we usually end up forgetting the main topic that ignited the fire and engage in pointless, goalless ideological struggles.
It is truly amazing that we purposely ignore a very simple, yet a universal, fact about life; it is built upon differences, not similarities.

@ smaldosari