Saudi Arabia: A Champion for Women's Rights?

Iran may have been denied a spot on the UN's women's rights organization, but Saudi Arabia managed to sneak in.

This week lobbying efforts by several countries, including Canada, prevented Iran from gaining a seat on the 41-member board of a new women’s rights organization called UN Women. The Montreal Gazette and Calgary Herald applaud that development, but are livid that a spot was awarded to Saudi Arabia, which the Gazette describes as “a country where sexism knows no bounds.” A nation where women cannot drive and are not permitted to travel without male companions has no business pontificating on women’s rights, the Gazette argues. The Herald concedes that Saudi’s King Abdullah has instituted reforms over the last five years but “most of his gestures … have been symbolic, with no institutional or legal affirmation. The UN is increasingly becoming a farce.” Similarly, the Gazette declares Saudi Arabia’s participation is evidence that “the UN is frittering away still more of its dwindling stock of moral authority. This is a tragedy for the UN, and a disaster for women.” The papers’ outrage is understandable, but neither one does a very good job of explaining why Saudi Arabia’s seat on UN Women is so catastrophic, aside from obvious problem of optics. They don’t address the possibility that Saudi Arabia’s participation might actually give the country incentive to shape up, or that one member of 41-seat board may not have much influence on rights policy.

The Globe and Mail’s Irshad Manji, an avowed supporter of the UN, offers a more insightful analysis. “Now their representative can fly home and tell Saudi women’s rights advocates about the kingdom’s heightened legitimacy,” she writes, and while inviting “human-rights violators at the table might change them faster than isolation will … experience suggests they’re actually egged on.” Despite this, Manji sees reason for hope because UN Women is being run by the uncomprimisng former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet, and it’s possible “this week’s shenanigans have awakened sedate diplomats” into paying closer attention human rights. You have to applaud Manji’s optimism, but given that the first rule of diplomacy is ‘don’t rock the boat,’ it likely won’t be long before diplomats revert back to their state of hibernation.