Saudi Arabia’s prestigious University of Qassim played host to one of the biggest women’s rights conferences in the Arab world in 2012. Ironically, the institution managed to hold the event without the advice or attendance of a single woman.
Themed around the topic of “Women in Society” the conference, originally intended to be held annually at the University, is supposed to set a benchmark for tolerance and progress in the region. Delegates and speakers from more than fifteen countries showed up.
As is to be expected from Saudi Arabia, a country firmly under the grip of its own twisted interpretation of Sharia Law, zero women attended the event. At least not in the same building as the men. Perhaps more hypocritically, a woman is yet to lecture to men at a University of Qassim summit.
The picture below was published by an Arab newspaper, Okaz, last year and surfaced again in the French-speaking press earlier today. Only two women were cited in attendance.
Saudi Arabia is still ranked 127th out of 136 countries for gender parity.
