Dominique Mineur has become the first woman appointed as an ambassador to Saudi Arabia, from Belgium. So the Belgium has become the pioneer in the world to send a woman ambassador to a country notorious in the western world for its abuses of women’s rights.
The female ambassador is currently posted in the United Arab Emirates, later she will move to the Saudi capital Riyadh to head up the embassy there from the coming summer, as per the reports of Belgian public broadcaster VRT.
According to a public broadcaster that cites Belgian government sources, Ms Mineur’s appointment sends a clear signal to Saudi Arabia (a country that has been slow to reform as compared to its neighbouring countries).
In the restricted circumstances where women in Saudi Arabia are allowed to work, they are not allowed to freely get mixed with members of the opposite sex, and they need signed permission from their male guardians to travel alone.
Women in Saudi Arabia were also banned from driving and from attending sports stadiums until a change of policy announced in October this year.
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Women in Saudi Arabia are still forbidden from appearing in public without a long black full-length head covering (Abaya or gown). They also require male permission to marry or conduct certain business. Restaurants are also often segregated and a testimony from a woman in court is held in lower esteem than that of a man.
Though all the rules in Saudi Arabia are according to the religion the Saudis belong, the move by Belgium has become an international first to bring changes in the country.
Yekaterina Majering Mikadze, a Georgian diplomat who was appointed in 2010, previously had been responsible for Saudi Arabia, but was based in Kuwait and was covering a number of neighbouring countries. Later, when Georgia opened an embassy specifically for Saudi Arabia in the year 2015, it preferred to appoint a male ambassador there.
Belgium will also appoint Véronique Petit as its ambassador to Iran ( another country where women have fewer rights than men ). Also Women in Iran cover their hair and face according to their religious obligations but the western countries say that it is an unequal treatment in the country’s justice system. But in Iran women participate in the labour market and have a higher representation than men in several academic fields, including engineering & the sciences.
Britain always sent male ambassadors to Saudi Arabia and the incumbent, Simon Collis converted to religion Islam and last year became the first UK ambassador to perform the Hajj pilgrimage.
