women's rights in Saudi

There's something vaguely creepy about this video.

It's funny to approve of the feminist message in it, while at the same time being slightly wary and uncomfortable with the strongly capitalist message in it too....

but the creepiness comes from not seeing their faces, I think.

I'm not at all sure that being permitted to participate in "the labour market" is going to improve the average woman's life in Saudi, though I suppose it can't hurt.

I take particular issue with the unstated assumption that everyone should work. That an unemployment rate of 24% among women is necessarily a bad thing. Of course I fully support a woman's right to choose to work, but I don't see anything wrong with her choosing not to work either. The trick is in having the choice, which I don't think most women have one way or the other. Women in Saudi have the choice taken away from them by their husbands, and by an oppressive conservative culture, but many Western women have the choice taken away by their financial situations, and an oppressive consumerist culture. They are forced to work outside the home to provide a decent family income, even if they would rather work at home. Neither of these options seem ideal to me, although I have to admit I am glad I have the freedom to show my face in public, at least.