Women in Black

I want to share a secret with you. The secret is from a world we don't know. It was revealed to me from a fellow, a friend and business man, who traveled to this world where the secret was revealed to him in shocking reality.

Saudi women

A business trip took the fellow to Saudi Arabia, where he reported "a chilling shock to actually see all the women completely covered in black." It's one thing to know it; quite another thing to actually see and experience it.

He even got to speak with a few of the Saudi women, with a proper escort, of course. Part of the secret of the Saudis is that when a woman speaks to a man who is not her husband, there must be what we would call a chaperone to monitor the exchange. I'm not sure what Saudi society thinks will happen, but it must be bad if the discussion requires an overseer.

Contrarian treatment

He went on to say that the women don't like being treated this way. "Anyone who tells you that these women prefer their condition is sadly wrong," he said. In fact, the women were surprising open about their discomfort.

He personally believes they need, want, and deserve our help. If only anybody knew just how to do that, the world would be a better place for these women.

It's not about labor

It's not that Saudi women are overworked and under-paid. To the contrary. Almost all physical work is done by people from India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and the Philippines. They do the physical labor. In effect, they are slaves, who work endlessly for a few thousand dollars per year with no rights.

Freedom zone

One place where men and women can work together is at the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. It's a lot like a sharia-free zone. But this University is defended like a military compound where you get checked three times going in.

Fundamentalists who practice the strictest sharia law despise the idea that any part of Saudi Arabia does not fully conform to their extreme views. Death threats are real. All for the practice of free speech and association, stuff the ladies at home in America take for granted.

Hushed

Contradictions are seen at every turn, exemplified in the contrarian treatment of Saudi women for starters and ending where nobody knows. Where nobody wants to know either, because no one talks about what happens to women. It's kept under wraps.

Not happy

But the secret is out. It is, perhaps, something you knew. It is, perhaps, something you wish you didn't. I don't know.

But now I do. And I'm not happy about how they treat women in Saudi Arabia.

Source: Private communications with an American businessman.