This made me laugh. Good for her! Still, far, far from what it should be, but a small step in the right direction. And the thought of a bunch of guys going through the effort of hauling out screens every morning, while 41 floors of hotel windows stare down from above, is pretty rich. [quote=“BBC: Rachel Reid”]When I moved to the Middle East six months ago, I knew I would have to bid farewell to my arms and legs.
But I was happy to be working in the region, so I did not resent having to put my skirts and dresses into storage.
But as I prepared for my first trip to Saudi Arabia, I was bristling at the thought of having to wear an abaya - the all-enveloping black cloak that turns the women of the Gulf into mournful ghosts.
Perhaps that is why I called the hotel before I arrived, to ask a question I already knew the answer to - will I be able to use the swimming pool?
The response was a small silence, and then an embarrassed laugh. “Er, No madam. The pool is, of course, for men only. I am so sorry.”
The women of Saudi Arabia are not just folded away behind swathes of hot black cloth, they live segregated lives, ushered out of the all-male public spaces into so called “family” areas, escorted everywhere by husbands or male relatives, and expected to ask for male permission to travel.
So the idea of women swimming in public was laughable.
Undeterred, I wrote a slightly uppity e-mail to the manager of the hotel, protesting that whatever discrimination I expected in the country, I didn’t expect it in an international hotel, and asking how he could justify charging me the same price for a lesser service.
I suggested that he could arrange a single sex time for women to swim. I even offered to swim in my abaya.
To my surprise, he agreed to my request. The pool would be mine between six and seven in the morning.
So, wishing I had someone to witness me swimming in cloak and goggles, I arrived for my swim, at dawn.
Big revolution
The night manager of the leisure centre, Walid, was waiting for me, in a state of nervous excitement.
“Good morning madam,” he said. “We have everything ready for you. We have cordoned off the pool, placed screens all around.”
“So if you have everything you need I shall lock you out here so that you won’t be disturbed.”
He paused for a moment with his keys, and fixed me with a conspiratorial look.
“I have to congratulate you, Madam, I think you are the first woman to swim in public in all Saudi Arabia!”
A woman wearing the veil
I grinned. “A small revolution?” I asked.
“No a big revolution. I don’t think you realise how big,” he said, shaking his head in amazement.
“So since you’ve screened it all off, does that mean I don’t have to wear an abaya?” I asked.
“You can wear what you want,” he said, smiling, “No-one can see you.”
I didn’t feel this was the moment to point out that I was swimming in the open air, at the foot of the tallest building in the country. There was a 41-storey skyscraper looking down upon this scandal. I couldn’t help but gaze up at it between lengths, and giggle.[/quote]