The cities of Saudi Arabia are among the most gender segregated in the world. In recent years the Saudi government has felt increasing international pressure to offer greater roles for women in society. Implicit in these calls for reform, however, is an assumption that the only "real" society is male society. Little consideration has been given to the rapidly evolving activities within women's spaces. This book joins young urban women in their daily lives—in the workplace, on the female university campus, at the mall—to show how these women are transforming Saudi cities from within and creating their own urban, professional, consumerist lifestyles. As young Saudi women are emerging as an increasingly visible social group, they are shaping new social norms. Their shared urban spaces offer women the opportunity to shed certain constraints and imagine themselves in new roles. But to feel included in this peer group, women must adhere to new constraints: to be sophisticated, fashionable, feminine, and modern. The position of "other" women—poor, rural, or non-Saudi women—is increasingly marginalized. While young urban women may embody the image of a "reformed" Saudi nation, the reform project ultimately remains incomplete, drawing new hierarchies and lines of exclusion among women.
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This book joins young Saudi women in their daily lives-in the workplace, on the female university campus, at the mall-to show how these women are transforming the country from within and creating their own urban, professional, consumerist lifestyles.
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"By incorporating interviews with young Saudi women, this book takes its readers to places that visitors to Saudi Arabia usually cannot go and provides perspective on Saudi life that is not generally available. I recommend the book highly. Undergraduates as well as graduate students would find the book useful. It may also attract educated readers with an interest in Saudi Arabia and the status of women there."—Mary Ann Fay, American Historical Review
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780804785440
Publisert
2014-06-25
Utgiver
Vendor
Stanford University Press
Vekt
299 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet

Forfatter

Biographical note

Amélie (Saba) Le Renard is a sociologist at the National Center for Scientific Research, Paris.