Sunday, February 9, 2014

Save my Life - then my Modesty

Apparently the senseless deaths of 15 Saudi schoolgirls back in 2002 weren’t enough to learn the lesson.  The teenagers perished in a school fire when the religious police would not allow them to escape the burning building because the girls were not properly veiled according to religious customs.  The results were public uproar and outrage, and we all thought the lesson had been learned, that we would never again see this type of backward ignorance and apparent disregard for human life. 

But it has happened again and this time one young Saudi woman is dead.


Graduate student Amna Bawazeer suffered a heart attack on the campus of King Saudi University in Riyadh on Feb. 6, 2014.  She had a known heart condition. 

There are conflicting reports about the length of time that elapsed from the moment Amna collapsed to the time that medical assistance was actually summoned.  Fellow students tweeted that administrators delayed calling for help for 25 minutes.  A staff member speaking confidentially was quoted as saying that the administrators basically freaked out about the situation and were unable to react effectively. 

Reports say that the male paramedic team arrived within 10 minutes of receiving the call.

What happened next is also in being disputed.  School administrators claim that once the male paramedic team arrived on the scene that they were granted access inside the facility immediately.  However other eyewitnesses assert that paramedics were prevented from entering the grounds for some time.  

Saudi Arabia adheres to very strict gender segregation laws, and men are not normally allowed on female only campuses.  It is believed that the paramedic crew was detained at the gate because of this, as well as the possibility of the victim and other females on campus not being properly veiled according to Islamic standards. 

Some students are in shock and have suffered trauma and stress due to the incident. 

Witnesses say that administrators barred the medics from entering the university despite the existence of a life and death emergency situation.  Instead they opted to ignore the welfare of a student, a decision which resulted in costing the student her life.  Amna died waiting for help two hours after her heart attack.

“We need management who can make quick decisions without thinking of what the family will say or what culture will say,” said Professor Aziza Youssef.

Despite administrators’ claims, two things seem abundantly clear.  Precious minutes elapsed before summoning help for the dying girl.  And even more time elapsed once the paramedics arrived at the university and were allowed to enter the premises to administer aid.  Precious minutes that could have possibly saved this poor girl’s life. 

How many more women must die before this lesson is learned?  What is more important – saving a life or preserving her modesty?  To most people around the world, the answer is clear.  And the world is watching. Unfortunately it is a hard lesson to learn for a culture obsessed with lesser important moral appearances and practices, especially when lives are at stake.  

There is an online petition called “Save my life - then my modesty– because every life matters and counts” in memory of Amna.  I don’t know that it will effect change, but it’s worth a try. 

27 comments:

  1. Why am I not surprised? Obviously SA could care less about public opinion or what other countries think about their ridiculous practices. Over and over and over again it has been demonstrated that little regard is held for women. It is pathetic, sad, barbaric and the list of negatives could go on and on. I would like to think that their are men over there, who do not agree with the treatment of women...yet in this culture, nothing changes. You could not pay me to even visit such a place where I would have to live in fear on a regular basis. Believe me, you have my deepest sympathies for being surrounded by such things.

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    1. Hi Lori - I am one of the lucky ones here. Except for the extreme heat, poor air quality, and not being able to drive which affects my quality of life each and every day, I have a pretty good life. I just hope that one day I don't become one of the victims due to the strict gender segregation and the values placed on covering over saving lives.

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    2. In Kuwait women still cannot get married without their father's permission even though they are legally adults. Religious traditions are cited. Am happy I was born free as an American woman no matter what some airhead females think in conservative Islamic countries or patriarchal males who feel the need to put their paw prints over women's fate.

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    3. After Gulf War I in Q8, a woman stepped on a land mine on the beach across the street from a building where the American landmine clearing team lived. Two of them rushed to give live saving treatment to the woman, a Kuwaiti. Local police had them arrested fro touching the person of a Kuwaiti woman! This led to a long standing feud between the American mine clearers and the local police. The Americans were former Navy seals and were so pissed off they told us they could disable the entire country in 6 hours by planting plastic
      explosives on all the water towers! They said they were just trying to save the woman's life with the life saving techniques they had learned in their training...

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  2. Life is a gift from God, cultural ideas of modesty are human constructs. It's clear which was valued more highly in this instance.
    How do you change a monarchy/theocracy bent on using religion to enforce segregation of the sexes, at the cost of innocent lives, simply to safeguard its own power and influence?
    My heart goes out to the people of Saudi Arabia whose leaders continually bring shame on their heads.

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    1. Hi Aisha - Thanks for your comment. It's really hard to wrap our heads around this type of thinking, valuing modesty over human life. One day hopefully things will change...

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  3. It doesn't really matter if the school wouldn't let the paramedics in immediately or if they delayed in calling them because of fears about modesty issue. Either way they need to think of saving people in an emergency and nothing else.

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    1. Hi Jerry - I absolutely agree. To even think that modesty is more important in a life and death situation is unthinkable.

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  4. They're always talking about God. What they really care about is clothing.

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  5. I can only add that as a male teacher at an all-girls school in UAE in the early 00s we were told that we could under no circumstances touch the students. Even if they were laying dying on the floor could we intervene.

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    1. Hi Anonymous - Unbelievable. There should always be exceptions to the rules in emergency situations. How can they even think that way if someone is trying to save a person's life?

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  6. Will it ultimately take men standing up and fighting for women's rights? Will it take men losing their rights?

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    1. Hi Stephanie - Good questions. Wish I had the answers...

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  7. I am so saddened and angered by this recent event. When I was living in Saudi Arabia I found it difficult to understand the segregation obsession, but respected in regardless. But what happened at the university is not something I can respect. Nothing should be more important than trying to save lives, and I'm sure any religion would agree with that.

    Thanks for the info on your blog.

    Rachel
    ramblingrock.blogspot.com

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    1. Hi Rachel - The gender segregation is one of the things I dislike the most about this country. To me, it's not normal and creates more problems than it seems they are trying to prevent with it. There is no trust shown to the citizens here and no expectation of respectable behavior - and by doing that, they are breeding and encouraging bad behavior.

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  8. This is incredibly sad, especially since American leaders are now wanting to force the implementation of Sharia Law in America, something patriotic Americans do not want here. If this is what this law entails, Americans will surely fight to prevent it from happening. My heart goes out to that poor girl's family.

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  9. Hello Stephanie:
    "Will it ultimately take men standing up and fighting for women's rights? "
    No. The eyes of women will not be opened until women open them. As long as somnolence is comfortable, that's where women wil stay.

    "Will it take men losing their rights?"
    No. Not according to my definition of what "rights" are. Still, nothing will happen until women stop acting like big babies, and stop taking refuge in saccharine pseudo-religious ideas. (And FYI, I didn't make any statement about religion.)

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  10. Unfortunately, there are many fathers who would prefer their daughters to die than for people to question or whisper about a breach of their daughters' modesty - even a life-saving breach.

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  11. Just another day in the women's gulag--oh, I mean KSA. Truly a sick country.

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  12. Oh Susie! This is just darn awful. We'll be visiting our son in Bangladesh soon which is a Muslim country. He's told me that I must keep as much skin covered as possible despite the fact that it is the hot and dry season. This should be quite interesting.

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  13. How futile and stupid that girls and women have to lose their lives over outdated laws.

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  14. Totally sad and totally preventable.

    Laws can be changed, but ignorant people remain ignorant.

    Damn them.

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  15. Surely common sense must prevail here. That is really shocking!

    I heard that a woman and man who maybe legally married must carry a marriage ID card is that at all times is that true? Dear oh dear very sad news to hear.



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    1. Hi Moniur - There is a family card that the man of the family carries with him which lists his wife and children on it.

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  16. I have also read a lot about recent sad incident ..... God knows better what exactly happened....
    but now the officials are coming to many institutions and giving training to vacate building quickly in case of fire.... I was part of such training in FEB 2014 in a private university in Riyadh.

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