*RIYADH: *Rima settles in a chair at an upscale Riyadh cafe, looks aroundcarefully, and seeing no one she recognises, drags on her electroniccigarette and exhales a cloud of smoke.
“I feel that smoking in public is a part of exercising my newly wonfreedoms. I am happy that now that I can choose,” the 27-year-old Saudi whoworks for a private company in the capital told AFP.
Like Western feminists of the early 20th century, in an era of socialchange in Saudi Arabia some women are embracing cigarettes, shisha pipes orvaping as a symbol of emancipation.
The sight of women smoking in public has become much more common in recentmonths, an unthinkable prospect before the introduction of sweeping reformsin the ultra-conservative kingdom.
The kingdom’s ambitious de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,has rolled out an array of economic and social innovations to project amoderate, business-friendly image.
Women are now allowed to drive, attend public sporting events and concerts,and obtain passports without the approval of a male guardian.
Rima, who started smoking two years ago, dismisses concerns about theharmful effects of tobacco, but is worried her family will find out.
She says she is prepared for a showdown.
“I won’t tell them that this is about my personality liberty, because theywon’t understand that women are free to smoke like men,” said Rima, dressedin a traditional black abaya with gold embroidery matching the hijab thatcovered her hair.
Najla, 26, who like Rima asked to use a pseudonym, said that despite therapid social changes, double standards still existed, and that it was stillconsidered a “scandal and disgrace” if women smoked.
The only woman lighting up amid several tables of male smokers, she saidshe intended to “challenge society” and ignore the occasional dirty looks.
“My rights will be fully respected when my family accepts me as a smoker,”she said, recalling that a friend was sent to an addiction clinic when herparents found out about her smoking.
Najla started smoking while still a school student, and like her, up to 65per cent of female Saudi high schoolers light up secretly, according to a2015 study by the medical faculty at King Abdulaziz University cited byArab News.
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Despite the limitations, in a country where until just a few years agoreligious police would chase and hit women for infractions like wearingnail polish or allowing a strand of hair to escape from their hijab, thechanges have been head-spinning.
“Most of our women clients order shisha. It’s something that was totallyunimaginable just three months ago,” a Lebanese waiter told AFP at anupscale cafe in north Riyadh.
Heba, a 36-year-old longtime smoker who sat at a table nearby, describedgrowing up in a closed country where “everything was forbidden to women”.
“I never imagined I would be able to smoke shisha in public next to men,”she told AFP.
“Now, everything is allowed. Women venture out without hijab, without abayaand they even smoke publicly.”
But even as the kingdom has introduced reforms, it has attractedcondemnation for a heavy-handed crackdown on dissidents includingintellectuals, clerics and female activists.
In 2018, authorities arrested at least a dozen women activists just beforethe historic lifting of the decades-long ban on female motorists.
Many of the detained have accused interrogators of sexual harassment andtorture. Saudi authorities reject the accusations.
“There is no doubt that at the persona level there is more freedom,” saidWalid al-Hathloul, whose sister Loujain is on trial over allegations ofhaving contacts with foreign media and diplomats.
“But the reforms in favour of women are part of a public relations campaignto improve the kingdom’s human rights record,” he told AFP.
“The arrest and demonisation of women activists is proof of this – it’sdesigned so that the reforms will not be credited to the activists,” hetold AFP. -APP/AFP
