I’m having a super hard time figuring out how to summarize my recent trip to Saudi Arabia. It’s a country in the midst of a major cultural shift, but as a short term tourist I’m just not sure what I was seeing no matter how many books, podcasts and people I consulted. Please don’t rush to judge my comments. My effort is to help shed some light on things, but I realize my observations are very limited.
So with that caveat, let’s start diving in. Figuring out the societal norms in Saudi was challenging. As recently as 2016 it was illegal for unrelated men and women to be together in public. These days that reality feels unreal. Now there are lots of “fun” activities, where all Saudis go out together and outdoor cafes with tables of men alongside tables of women. I’m sure people are constantly policing themselves and know the limits of the freedom, but to an outsider like me it felt pretty open if one could look past the idea that most women are still wearing abayas, hijabs and niqabs. (I try super hard not to make any judgement on veiling, since it has deep cultural connections.)
Since the late 1970s the mutawa, officers of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) were a heavy presence in Saudi Arabia. They patrolled public spaces to make sure people followed some very strict conservative Islamic norms. All women had to be veiled. Strict segregation of the sexes was enforced, meaning unrelated men and women could not be seen in public together. But in 2016, Mohammed Bin Salman announced a sweeping change and overnight the religious police were demoted from power and society was allowed to begin to open up.
Over the last ten years that has meant major changes in daily life. Restrictions have been eased on women's rights, easing rules around dress and veiling, allowing them to drive, attend sports events and concerts alongside men, and obtain passports without the approval of a male guardian and thus be able to travel by themselves outside of the country.
As an outsider, who had never seen before times, it was hard to be sure what existed before 2016 and what was new, but I believe basically all the fun public places we went are brand new. Throughout my photos you will see pics in many new attractions that Saudi is building to entertain its majority under 30 population. But here I’m going to focus on one location to give an example.
In Ha’il, there is a new place called Bonchai. According to Guinness Book of World Records it’s the largest coffee shop in the world. (In reality, it’s a big space that has spread chairs around, but only had a small area to be served.) but anyway it creates a big public space for people to gather. It felt like any hip cool coffee house I’ve been to all over the world. Small clusters of young people and families were spread out around the room. It felt very modern and free.
At one point, a 14 year old precocious girl came up to us and asked if she could speak to us. She told us of her educational and career ambitions and beamed that wonderful hopeful energy that the new Saudi opening allows her. She has traveled and seen Western life and now she and her mother, who also came over to meet us, and shared her story of being a working woman in Saudi, are pushing forward and creating change in Saudi.
Also, while I was there a group of giggling high school aged girls asked if I would be in a photo with them. I, of course, said yes! The photo they took on their phone was a normal selfie with me and four loosely veiled girls. After, I asked if I could take a photo with them on my phone. They said yes, but were a little cagey. As I held up my phone, I noticed that they had covered their faces and blocked them with their phones.
In general, the rules are clearly stated and repeated that people shouldn’t take pictures without permission, but this is often stated in other places, but Saudi might be the place I’ve seen it most internalized. Even the some men seemed hesitant. As anyone who follows my travels knows, I’m all about pictures of people. I think that is where you can see the real differences between places. I can’t show the changes happening in Saudi culture without including people, so I am a bit unsure what to do. Looking at the selfie with these girls it really made me think more about taking pics and also about how the cultural changes are happening, but the limits of them too. 40 years of strict religious policing has a lasting hold on people.
But back to the girls… what I’m saying is this public space now allowed girls to gather giggling with no veils, where unrelated men were at nearby tables, but society isn’t quite free enough that they feel like they can show their faces on a stranger’s camera. It’s probably their own parents who are policing their behavior because society norms change slowly even if the new legal freedoms have more ambition. But little interactions like this remind me why I travel. As the girls got ready to leave the cafe, they came over again and gave me a bouquet of balloons and said they were happy to meet me. Maybe me, with my different attitude, did a little to broaden their thoughts of who they can be.
