Friends of Saudi Arabia and feminists of the world, rejoice – the same country that just decided to let women drive is also now letting them into sports stadiums!
That’s right. Sure, women may not be able to eat in restaurants, marry, divorce, travel, open a bank account, get a job, or get elective surgery without male permission but hey – they can (respectfully) root for their favorite football team at the local arena now.
With one small caveat. These lucky ladies are only allowed to sit in the family section. No girls allowed in the male-only section. And if there’s no family section, no girls allowed into the stadium. Rules are rules.
Turns out, family sections are pretty common in Saudi places of business. Think of them as an insurance policy. They’re put in place to make sure unaccompanied women don’t mess around too often in public.
According to the AP, “These ‘family’ sections are for women who are out on their own or who are accompanied by a male relative. Many restaurants and cafes, which often also have separate entrances for women, have similarly segregated seating arrangements.”
Thank goodness they have this in place. I can’t imagine being a man out and about, minding my own business, and having to suddenly walk through the same door as a woman at my favorite local coffee shop. How gross. How crude. How utterly primitive.
As it stands now, not many stadiums in Saudi Arabia actually have family sections. So don’t get too excited just yet, ladies. You’re gonna have to sit tight a little longer. But rumor has it the city of Jiddah, Dammam, and the capital’s stadium in Riyadh are just about to begin their renovations. And renovations never take long. They should be up and running in no time. I hear men in Saudi Arabia are really eager to give women more rights.
Just check out this leaked footage of Saudi men rushing to the voting booth to give women more rights and modernize their country:
And they ban the women from driving eh? #CrazyArabs #SaudiArabia pic.twitter.com/tK2SOAwhyj
— Botan (@Badmaaxe) October 25, 2017