American Bedu

They may as yet still be a small and minority presence but on 12 November an informal meeting of the female bloggers in Riyadh was held at an undisclosed location. I was honored to be among the participants which also included “Saudi Woman” and “Ruhsa.” An international female journalist also attended and witnessed our exchanges.

Not surprisingly because we were all aware of each other through our respective blogs, there was little awkwardness on meeting one another for the first time. We discussed our respective reasons for blogging in the first place and what we hoped to achieve through our blogs. We also spoke about the challenges of blogging as females and blogging and life in Saudi Arabia in general.

“Saudi Woman” as her name implies is indeed a Saudi female who blogs in the English language. She started her blog with the intent to share other views of Saudi Arabia outside of the preconceived ideas that Saudi Arabia is only about the desert, Bedouin tents and oil. She wants people who read her blog to understand that Saudis are individuals too with feelings, views and opinions. Her goal is to help personalize the life and individuality of Saudi Arabia and its people.

Saudi Woman is a wife, mother, professional working woman and once again a student as she pursues her PhD. She is articulate in the English language and chooses her words carefully whether in the written prose or in speaking. She is happy to answer questions individuals may have of Saudi Arabia, its people and especially its women! If you are not doing so, her blog is well worth bookmarking and following.

“Ruhsa” is a female expat Riyadh blogger. Like Saudi Woman she began her blog to share views and impressions of Saudi Arabia and sometimes other issues as well. She is a professional woman and had an active career before arrival in Saudi Arabia. Soon she hopes to reestablish herself as a professional woman in the Kingdom. In the interim she is settling in to life in Riyadh and sharing perspectives and prose via her blog. She values her privacy so in respect to that I am purposely keeping more details of her vague.

As female bloggers in Riyadh we found that each of us share a similar goal in wanting to share views, experiences, observations and general daily life of Saudi Arabia with our readers. We all agreed that the local and international media do not do a balanced or always fair job of portraying realities of Saudi Arabia.

It seems that as female bloggers in Riyadh who have chosen to blog in the English language we are in the minority as compared to other bloggers in KSA who are either male or are blogging in the Arabic language. As we chatted among one another we were able to identify only a small number of other female bloggers who blog about KSA (in English) and many of them are also located outside of Riyadh. We agreed that the majority of female bloggers within KSA and blogging about KSA in the English language are composed more of expats than Saudi women.

This is in no way to imply that Saudi women do not have a voice on the internet. They may still be a minority in blogging but they are indeed active in internet forums, chats and on Facebook. And of course those Saudi women who are internet savvy enjoy participating on interactive Arabic web sites. But just because the Saudi women may be active on the internet in certain venues as identified, they do respect their privacy and their culture and therefore tend to keep their online interactions closed between known friends and family.

I hope more Saudi women will feel comfortable about coming out and creating blogs. It is evidenced from my own blog and followers that there is a keen interest in Saudi Arabia and perhaps even keener interest in wanting to know more about the Saudi women. There is a demand for their voices to be heard.

Filed under: culture, friendship, gender, Saudi Arabia, Saudi blogs, Saudi culture, Saudi customs, travel, Uncategorized, Women Issues