Okaz I would like to thank Dr. Lama Al-Sulaiman and Rasha Al-Hifzi, two female members of Jeddah's Municipal Council who fought and refused to allow some male municipal members to marginalize them. I offer my many thanks and appreciation to each and every municipal member who stood by these two women and supported them when they objected to attempts to segregate them from men and make them sit in a separate meeting hall. I was shocked when I read the news. I never thought that the newly elected Municipal Council in Jeddah would start its first day with so much commotion. In fact, I thought that these incidents had disappeared from our society and that we would never see them again. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques issued a decision a long time ago permitting male and female members of the Shoura Council to sit in the same hall during meetings. Bringing up this issue again during the Municipal Council's meeting is tantamount to objecting to the King's decision. This is how I see it from my own perspective. I think that the majority of people would agree with me when I say that where women sit in a meeting hall is no longer an issue in our society. Who cares about the color of the barrier that segregates men from women? These matters are no longer a social concern. Women have become Shoura Council members and sit in the same hall with men. Why the Municipal Council raised this issue again is something I do not understand. We assumed that members of the Municipal Council would work hard to achieve their goals in their first meeting, but instead this happened. We thought they would design action plans and mechanisms and exchange views on the best ways to fulfill the council's promises and meet the expectations of voters. It is unfortunate and sad that this happened instead.
