ABU DHABI Ñ Saudi authorities, restricted by the official clergy in
helping save women from fires and accidents, have launched a campaign to
train women in civil defense.
The campaign was approved in the aftermath of a March 11 fire in Mecca
in which 15 high school students were killed. All of them were killed in a
stampede when Saudi religious police ordered the school locked and banned
firefighters from saving the girls. The episode resulted in unprecedented
public criticism against religious authorities, regarded as the key pillar
for the legitimacy of the royal family.
Authorities plan to train thousands of women in such fields as
evacuation techniques, first aid and fire-fighting in a campaign to begin
next week. The first phase of the effort will focus on training women
teachers, Middle East Newsline reported.
The Saudi Civil Defense Council, headed by Interior Minister Prince
Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz, has cleared the way for women to vounteer for civil
defense duties. "This must be in line with their capability and not
contravene Islamic rules and traditions," the charter said.
At the same time, Saudi authorities have cracked down on a new fashion
for women's religious cloaks, mandatory in the kingdom. The Commerce
Ministry has banned the manufacture or import of cloaks, or abayas, with
glittering red, blue or silver sequins on the cuffs or a jeans pocket sewn
on the back.
Instead, authorities would only allow the sale and display of women's
cloaks that are thick, black and devoid of decorations or markings. The
crackdown was carried out by the religious police, called the Commission for
Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice. The 3,500 force was said to have
confiscated more than 82,000 abayas, the Al Jazirah daily reported.
In a related development, authorities at King Faisal University in Ahsa
have forced female students to cover their heads in class with black
veils. The measure has prompted protests in the university.
"There is something totally illogical about the arguments about rules on
public dress," columnist Abeer Mishkhas wrote in the Riyad-based Arab News.
"If we
have the main rules observed, then why busy ourselves with tiny details?
Didn't that obsession cost a lot of girls their lives in the fire in a
school in Mecca?"
