WUNRN
SAUDI ARABIA - KING APPOINTS
WOMEN AS l/5 OF SHURA ADVISORY COUNCIL
RIYADH
(Reuters)
- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has appointed women to a fifth of the seats in
the Shura Council, which advises the government on new legislation, state media
said on Friday.
The king said in 2011 that women would join the
unelected 150-member body, which functions like a parliament but without formal
powers. He did not then specify how many would serve.
The council has had 12 women "advisers"
since 2006, but women still have little role in public life in the religiously
conservative kingdom, the birthplace of Islam.
In two royal decrees on Friday, King Abdullah
reconstituted the council for a new four-year term and ordered that women
should always hold at least 20 percent of the seats.
The ruling al-Saud family controls most top government
posts the world's top oil exporter. The king appoints the cabinet. The only
elections are for municipal councils that wield little power.
The Shura Council, composed mostly of academics,
clerics, businessmen and former civil servants, vets legislation, recommending
changes or additions to the government.
In his 2011 decree, King Abdullah also said women
would be able to vote and stand for office in the municipal polls.
Women in the kingdom cannot travel, work or open a
bank account without the permission of a male relative, known as their
"guardian", and are barred from driving. Their testimony counts for
less than that of a man in a court of law.
Liberals in the Gulf Arab state say Abdullah, who
became king in 2005 after effectively ruling as crown prince for a decade
before that, has pushed for modest social change, calling for women to have
more opportunities to work.
Powerful conservative Sunni Muslim clerics have
sometimes argued against allowing women a role in politics.
To comply with the kingdom's rigorous policy of
gender segregation, the Shura council building must now be altered to include a
separate entrance for women, the decree said.