
 |
|
May 13, 2013
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
April 22, 2013
US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer
April 19, 2013
Caroline B. Glick: Why Obama's visit to Israel had no impact on public opinion or government policy
Morgan Housel: Gold collapse: The start of something big?
Pete Spotts: Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds
April 17, 2013
Shira Rubin: Too much of a good thing? 'Palestinians' realize downside of foreign aid boom
Morgan Housel: BAD NEWS: EVERYONE IS RIGHT!
April 15, 2013
Kristen Chick: Egyptian Christians respond with harsh words to attack -- rocks, Molotov cocktails, and gunfire -- against main cathedral
Marcy Darnovsky and Karuna Jaggar: High Court to decide if you should own your DNA
Howard LaFranchi: US bracing for more Russian blowback after taking action against 18 more human rights violators
April 12, 2013
Mark Clayton: New cybersecurity bill: Privacy threat or crucial band-aid?
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jackie Robinson's Friend, Hank Greenberg; CNN's Jake Tapper; Texas County in the News is named for 19thC. Jewish soldier and Congressman
The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: FRUITY QUINOA STUFFED PEPPERS: A flavorful, colorful and edible vessel of delicately fluffy, mildly nutty filling combined with chewy apricots, tangy cherries, and crunchy pistachios
April 10, 2013
Peter Grier: North Korean missiles: Could US shoot them down?
Morgan Housel: Warning: Don't waste your capital being fooled by profit prophets
Donald Hensrud, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: Take vitamin supplements with caution --- even approved, they may actually do damage
Eryn Brown: 74 DNA discoveries move cure closer for three cancers
April 8, 2013
Jonathan Tobin: What Part of No Preconditions Do American Jews Not Get?
Fred Weir: Is Putin finally trading his own party for a new power base?
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Oct. 29, 2007
/ 17 Mar-Cheshvan 5768
The Sisterhood of Laura Bush
By
Kathleen Parker
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia If Middle Eastern women could vote in American presidential elections, it's very likely that Laura Bush would be president.
Sorry, George.
Traveling throughout the region with the first lady the past several days has been eye-opening to those of us who take women's rights for granted. Although our exposure has been restricted to individuals and groups with whom Bush was meeting royalty and some regular folk in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan there's no missing the admiration women here have for their American counterparts.
They respect our democratic freedoms not to be confused with our libertine ways and seek to expand their own roles in society. Bush, in her quiet way, is central to that mission.
The first lady doesn't get much credit as a feminist in the U.S., where many who claim to speak for women would scoff at that description. But here, make no mistake, Bush is a sister. And breast cancer awareness her official reason for visiting the region has become both a vehicle for women's empowerment and a locus for political action.
As women have found their voices in discussing a disease that was heretofore unmentionable, they have also discovered a new self-confidence that allows them to see themselves differently not just as victims, but as self-determining actors.
Lama al-Sulaiman, 41, a biochemist and diabetes researcher, as well as one of the first women elected to political office in Saudi Arabia, was also among the first Saudi women to speak openly of her disease. She was one of a dozen women to meet with Bush at a "Breaking the Silence" coffee in Jiddah.
Rather than suffer silently as women traditionally have in this part of the world, Sulaiman insisted on talking about her illness, which she described to me as "an excellent experience." She said talking was healing and that she was "nurtured through people's questions."
"I was like a Hollywood star," she said. "People invited me to groups to talk ... my life took on a new purpose."
That purpose included her election in 2005 to the board of the Jiddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry one week after her last chemotherapy treatment. Being a chamber board member may not seem like much in America, where a woman is running for president, but it is significant in Saudi Arabia, where women aren't allowed to vote. Sulaiman and three others were the first women to become Jiddah Chamber board members.
The Saudi women with whom I spoke were excited, too, about Hillary Clinton's run for the White House. At a private dinner with Princess Hessa, wife of Saudi King Abdullah, several women gathered around to ask about Hillary.
Political differences of degree seem to matter far less than the fact that a woman might become the leader of the free world.
Those who were invited to the palace are, of course, sophisticated women of considerable means. Nevertheless, the frank talk in Saudi Arabia's royal parlors and in breast cancer clinics throughout the Middle East has a trickle-down effect.
Women's liberation through cancer is a hard sell, but change often evolves from pain. Bush's visit to these countries has been a boost for women hoping to gain traction amid ancient customs. Having the first lady join their circle carries a wallop in terms of moral support and influence, if not in immediate political results.
When Sulaiman asked Bush what she thought of Saudi women, the first lady answered with what even jaded reporters recognize as sincerity. Bush confessed to having had a stereotypical view of Saudi women and had assumed, given their head-to-toe coverings, that they would be difficult to communicate with. Instead, Bush said she felt "we have a sisterhood more than we would have thought between American women and Saudi women."
One of the Saudi women pointed to her black abaya and said, "These covers maybe are black, but they're transparent."
Later that day, after flying to Kuwait City, Bush met with a group of political women leaders at a salon called a diwaniya. Some of the women ran for public office in June 2006, the first election in which women were allowed to vote after parliament granted women's suffrage.
No women won, but they did make a dent and are determined to defeat tribalism in Kuwait. As with all things in the Middle East, it's just a matter of time.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Kathleen Parker can be reached by clicking here.
Kathleen Parker Archives
© 2006, WPWG
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|