RIYADH – Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has appointed women to a fifth of the seats in the Shoura Council, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) announced Friday. In two Royal decrees, the King reconstituted the 150-member Council for a new four-year term and ordered that women should hold at least 20 percent of the seats. The female Council members, who will have full rights as male members, must be “committed to Islamic Shariah disciplines without any violations.” The female members will enter and exit the Council hall from a separate gate, sit in seats reserved for women and pray in specially designated area. They will have offices allocated for them with female staff. The 30 chosen women include university graduates, human rights activists and two princesses. Also among them is Thuraya Obeid, a veteran UN administrator who served notably as executive director of the UN Development Program and undersecretary general of the world body. Another prominent member is Dr. Hayat Sindi, the first Saudi and Muslim woman in the Middle East Gulf to obtain a PhD in biotechnology. In 2012, she was named one of Newsweek's “150 Women Who Shake the World.” Since 2006, the Council has had 12 women advisers. In 2011, the King said that women would join the Council, which comprises mostly academics, clerics, businessmen and former civil servants. Sheikh Dr. Abdullah Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Sheikh will chair the new four-year term of the Council while Dr. Muhammad Amin Ahmad Al-Jifri will serve as his deputy.
