# Saudi monarch grants women right to vote **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 26, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618 "2011-09-26T02:07:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/1 "2011-09-26T02:07:15Z")
\*King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Sunday granted women the right to vote and run in future municipal elections, the biggest change in a decade for women in a puritanical kingdom that practices strict gender separation, including banning women from driving. \* From [nytimes](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/world/middleeast/women-to-vote-in-saudi-arabia-king-says.html?_r=1&hp). ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/2 "2011-09-26T03:29:41Z")
Yay! Catching up to the nineteenth century! šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/3 "2011-09-26T03:40:49Z")
I wouldnā€™t sell life insurance to women who are among the first to run for office. Does anyone know how voting is conducted in Saudi Arabia? Are votes counted electronically or on paper? Do you suppose women will be intimidated into not registering to vote? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/4 "2011-09-26T03:55:36Z")
Strange choice. I figured heā€™d make it so that a woman counts as three-fifths of a person for voting purposes or something. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/5 "2011-09-26T10:55:29Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Yay! Catching up to the nineteenth century! šŸ™‚ Actually, it was only [New Zealand that gave women the vote](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_New_Zealand) in the 19th century. Australia was the second country to grant full female suffrage, in 1902, at the start of the 20th century. Canada: 1919 USA: 1920 UK: 1927 ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/6 "2011-09-26T11:07:48Z")
I donā€™t know if I would use the word ā€˜puritanical.ā€™ hh ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/7 "2011-09-26T13:03:22Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Does anyone know how voting is conducted in Saudi Arabia? Are votes counted electronically or on paper? Do you suppose women will be intimidated into not registering to vote? Even people here do not know. We have only had one election for city councils. THe Saudis are very new at this. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/8 "2011-09-26T13:10:37Z")
Would singing Hossanas count as a provocation? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/9 "2011-09-26T13:18:56Z")
Remember that it was only in 1990 that Switzerland achieved [universal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women's_suffrage)suffrage, although Iā€™ll give them that they did try to get it together in 1971. Obviously the restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia are completely absurd, but this whole ā€œWomen? Voting?!ā€ thing is embarrassingly new for most of the planet. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/10 "2011-09-26T16:03:28Z")
Native people in Canada didnā€™t get the right to vote without forfeiting their treaty rights until the 1960ā€™s; Iā€™m not entirely sure what my point is, but it seemed germane when I started this post. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/11 "2011-09-26T16:17:12Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Obviously the restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia are completely absurd, but this whole ā€œWomen? Voting?!ā€ thing is embarrassingly new for most of the planet. Of course you are right but the whole voting thing is pretty new for everybody. One hundred years ago women couldnā€™t vote. Three hundred years ago nobody got a vote except for a very few of the most powerful people in a nation. Other than a few attempts at republics in history, the notion that the people should have a say in what their betters did was absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/12 "2011-09-26T17:25:14Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Even people here do not know. We have only had one election for city councils. THe Saudis are very new at this. It is interesting that they granted suffrage so quickly then. One election to see how it went, not too badā€¦give women the right to vote. Seems down right progressive of them. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/13 "2011-09-26T18:07:41Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Remember that it was only in 1990 that Switzerland achieved [universal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_women's_suffrage)suffrage, although Iā€™ll give them that they did try to get it together in 1971. > > Obviously the restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia are completely absurd, but this whole ā€œWomen? Voting?!ā€ thing is embarrassingly new for most of the planet. The link was broken, but I am curious about this since I was living in Switzerland in 1971 when women were given voting rights for federal elections. I think most of the cantons already allowed women to vote but a few of the Neanderthal cantons (I think that included both Appenzells) did not. I assume that what happened in 1990 was the troglodyte cantons were forced to go along. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/14 "2011-09-26T18:30:33Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > It is interesting that they granted suffrage so quickly then. One election to see how it went, not too badā€¦give women the right to vote. Seems down right progressive of them. What I find more upsetting ā€“ besides the notion that a King ā€œgrantsā€ a natural right to one half of the population ā€“ is the idea that saying ā€œvoteā€ and ā€œSaudi Arabiaā€ in one sentence implies some notion of ā€œdemocraticā€ when, the fact is, it could not be further from the truth. And truth is that so called ā€œmunicipal votesā€ are totally inconsequential and irrelevant side shows to a dog taking a piss. So, just like one could go on and flatten the Kingdom and bury it in sand (volunteering for a driver of some big machinery in case this goes through) and nothing would change in the immediate region and the world (except maybe less demand for underage sex, slave labour from other MUSLIM countries and oversized yachts) so will life go on in SA all the same as it did before ā€œgrantingā€ a vote to women. That a travesty for a country such as this exists as a ā€œdignifiedā€ UN member may alleviate some of the desperation Palestinians feel these days. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/15 "2011-09-26T21:34:16Z")
Great. They can now vote, run for public office but theyā€™re going to still need [a ride to work.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/saudi-authorities-to-try-woman-for-violating-ban-on-female-drivers/2011/09/26/gIQAUFwGzK_story.html) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/16 "2011-09-26T22:20:20Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I wouldnā€™t sell life insurance to women who are among the first to run for office. > > Does anyone know how voting is conducted in Saudi Arabia? ā€¦ My WAG would be that they tell their husbands how they want to vote and the husbands vote for them. šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/17 "2011-09-26T23:16:41Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Actually, it was only [New Zealand that gave women the vote](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_New_Zealand) in the 19th century. > > Australia was the second country to grant full female suffrage, in 1902, at the start of the 20th century. Australia as a country and voting jurisdiction did not exist in the nineteeth century. However two of the colonies that went on to become Australian states did grant voting rights to woman in the nineteenth century: South Australia in 1894 and Western Australia in 1899. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/18 "2011-09-27T16:01:38Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > My WAG would be that they tell their husbands how they want to vote and the husbands vote for them. šŸ˜› Iā€™d think itā€™d be the other way around: the husbands tell their wives how they will vote. ---
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/19 "2011-09-27T19:30:30Z")
Some of the individual states of the USA like Wyoming and Colorado had womenā€™s suffrage in the late 1800s ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618/20 "2011-09-27T19:33:49Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Native people in Canada didnā€™t get the right to vote without forfeiting their treaty rights until the 1960ā€™s; Iā€™m not entirely sure what my point is, but it seemed germane when I started this post. Yes thatā€™s all very nice. You got my sammich yet? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saudi-monarch-grants-women-right-to-vote/597618.md?page=2)