Saudi Affairs
Saudi Women as Pilots
By Fatima Al-Otaibi • Al-Jazirah
Jun 2, 2003, 02:22

If a Saudi woman decides to become a pilot, she is free to do that and has every right to choose the career she considers suitable for her. In the end, it is she who will have to live with her decision, whether good or bad. We can’t force our will on others or define their futures for them. We do, however, have the right to intervene to ensure that when society rejects something, it is not interpreted to mean the whole society is ignorant or primitive. People have the right not to accept what they consider inappropriate. They should not be condemned or criticized for taking a stand about something that clashes with society’s rules.

The number of women who have chosen to become pilots is very small and this is so even in developed countries. The ratio of female pilots to male is very small.

The first Saudi woman pilot who made the news recently was born and brought up in Makkah, a diverse and cosmopolitan society where cultures from east and west meet and meld. Makkah is an open city that easily accommodates and absorbs other cultures. It is a society greatly different from other parts of the country where deep rooted traditions and customs have not been shaken by time.

The woman pilot has been quoted as saying she would not like to see children raised the way she herself was — but she did not explain what she meant. Nevertheless, she should have not subjected the entire society to criticism just because some did not welcome the idea of a woman studying and training abroad without a mahram (male guardian).

The statements given by the pilot to the media seemed to have been intended to serve one purpose — to please a media that warmly welcomed her becoming a pilot. Women everywhere have chosen to become pilots but their choices were not greeted with such enthusiasm. Why then all the local media interest? What made the woman make a number of statements that in the end only upset her family and the people of her country? I don’t object to her beoming a pilot but when it comes to questioning the ability of Saudi women to take decisions affecting their lives, one has to say no.


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