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Abstract
This qualitative feminist study sheds light on women’s shifting identities, struggles, and resistances in the most conservative Gulf state, Saudi Arabia, unpacking the shifting socio-political and mediated environments in this country and their impact on gendered activism. Through conducting in-depth interviews with ten Saudi women activists, journalists, and writers, this study investigates Saudi women’s multiple feminisms and activisms, as they are expressed and enacted by different women using the phenomenon of “cyberactivism”, and its sister phenomenon of “cyberfeminism”, to participate in the waves of socio-political transformation in the volatile Gulf region. In discussing how Saudi women are leveraging social media to advance their agendas, amplify their voices, highlight their demands, and enact new forms of leadership, agency, and empowerment, the double-edged sword effect of social media is unpacked. Adopting a postcolonial feminist approach, this study examines the potentials, challenges, and paradoxes of using social media to advance Saudi women’s rights in a rapidly shifting state.
Notes
1 Niblock, Saudi Arabia: Power, Legitimacy and Survival (2006).
2 Howard, The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam (2011).
3 Daniels, “Rethinking Cyberfeminism(s): Race, Gender and Embodiment”, Women’s Studies Quarterly 37.1–2 (2009), pp. 101–124.
4 Heidemann and Youssef (eds), “Reflections on Women in the Arab Spring: Women’s Voices from Around the World”, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2012), p. 14.
5 Al Fassi, “Despite Worthy Reform, Saudi Women Are Still Second-Class Citizens”, Gulf Affairs: Oxford Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies Forum (2018), pp. 23–24; Al Fassi, “Saudi Women: Modernity and Change”, in Seznec and Kirk (eds), Industrialization in the Gulf: A Socioeconomic Revolution (2011), pp. 157–170.
6 Radsch and Khamis, “In Their Own Voice: Technologically Mediated Empowerment and Transformation Among Young Arab Women” (2013), Feminist Media Studies 13.5 (2013), pp. 881–890.
7 Abu-Lughod, Do Muslim Women Need Saving? (2013); Abu-Lughod, “Writing against Culture”, in Lewin (ed.), Feminist Anthropology: A Reader (2006); Abu-Lughod, “Introduction: Feminist Longings and Postcolonial Conditions”, in Abu-Lughod (ed.), Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the Middle East (1998).
8 Heideman and Youssef (eds), “Reflections on Women in the Arab Spring: Women’s Voices from Around the World”, p. 14.
9 Al-Malki et al., Arab Women in Arab News: Old Stereotypes and New Media (2012).
10 Kandiyoti, “The Politics of Gender and the Conundrums of Citizenship”, in Joseph and Slyomovics (eds), Women and Power in the Middle East (2001), p. xiv.
11 Khamis and Mili, “Introductory Themes”, in Khamis and Mili (eds), Arab Women’s Activism and Socio-Political Transformation: Unfinished Gendered Revolutions (2018), pp. 1–24.
12 Doumato, “Gender, Monarchy, and National Identity in Saudi Arabia”, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 19.1 (1992), pp. 31–47.
13 Al-Rasheed, A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics, and Religion in Saudi Arabia (2013); Al-Rasheed, Contesting the Saudi State: Islamic Voices from A New Generation (2007); AlMunajjed, Saudi Women Speak: 24 Remarkable Women Tell Their Success Stories (2006); AlMunajjed, Women in Saudi Arabia Today (1997); Altorki, Women in Saudi Arabia: Ideology and Behavior Among the Elite (1986); Mordechai, Saudi Arabia in the Oil Era: Regime and Elites; Conflict and Collaboration (1988).
14 AlMunajjed, Saudi Women Speak: 24 Remarkable Women Tell Their Success Stories; AlMunajjed, Women in Saudi Arabia Today (1997).
15 Tomayo, Koettl, and Rivera, “The Spectacular Surge of the Saudi Female Labor Force”, Brookings Institution, 21 April 2021.
16 Akeel, “Saudi Women on the Rise but Gender Gap Remains”, Arab News, 18 August 2021.
17 Puri-Mirza, “Share of Female Graduates in Saudi Arabia 2010–2019”, Statista, 16 March 2021.
18 TheGlobalEconomy.com, “Saudi Arabia: Female Literacy Rate, Ages 15–24” (2021).
19 Nereim, “Women Are Getting More Jobs than Ever in Changing Saudi Arabia”, Bloomberg Markets Magazine, 27 May 2021; Khamis and Fowler, “Arab Resistance in the Diaspora: Comparing the Saudi Dissident and the Egyptian Whistleblower”, Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research 13.1 (2020), pp. 31–49.
20 It is important to note that these categories are not mutually exclusive, since some of the respondents identified as both activists and journalists, or writers and activists, simultaneously.
21 Taylor, “Feminist Methodology in Social Movements Research”, Qualitative Sociology 21.4 (1998), pp. 357–379.
22 Radsch and Khamis, “In Their Own Voice”, pp. 881–890.
23 Najjar, “Reviving Pan-Arabism in Feminist Activism in the Middle East”, Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research 6.1 (2020), p. 130.
24 Radsch and Khamis, “In Their Own Voice”, pp. 881–890.
25 Howard, The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy.
26 Daniels, “Rethinking Cyberfeminism(s): Race, Gender and Embodiment”, Women’s Studies Quarterly 37.1–2 (2009), pp. 101–124; Khamis, “Gendering the Arab Spring: Arab Women Journalists/Activists, ‘Cyberfeminism’, and The Sociopolitical Revolution”, in Carter, Steiner, and McLaughlin (eds), The Routledge Companion To Media and Gender (2013); Khamis, “Mediated, Gendered Activism in the ‘Post-Arab Spring’ Era: Lessons From Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine Revolution’”, in Carter, Steiner, and Allan (eds), Journalism, Gender and Power (2019).
27 Abu-Lughod, Do Muslim Women Need Saving? (2013); Abu-Lughod, “Writing against Culture”; Abu-Lughod, “Introduction: Feminist Longings and Postcolonial Conditions”; Al-Ali, “Gendering the Arab Spring”, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 5.1 (2012), pp. 26–31; Al-Ali, Secularism, Gender, and the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian Women’s Movement (2000); Joseph, Gender and Citizenship in the Middle East (2000); Moghadam, Gender and Social Change in the Middle East (2003); Moghadam, “Gender, National Identity and Citizenship: Reflections on the Middle East and North Africa”, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 19.1(1999), pp. 137–157; Moghadam, Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East (1994).
28 Radsch and Khamis, “In Their Own Voice”, pp. 881–890.
29 AlKhaled, “Women’s Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia: Feminist Solidarity and Political Activism in Disguise?” (2021).
30 Ibid.
31 Ozkazanc-Pan, “On Agency and Empowerment in a #MeToo World”, Gender, Work and Organization 26.8 (2019), pp. 1212–1220; Sinha, “How History Matters: Complicating the Categories of ‘Western’ and ‘Non-Western’ Feminisms”, in Social Justice Group (ed.), Is Academic Feminism Dead? Theory in Practice (2000), pp. 167–186; Walby, The Future of Feminism (2013).
32 Sinsha, “How History Matters: Complicating the Categories of ‘Western’ and ‘Non-Western’ Feminisms”; Walby, The Future of Feminism (2013).
33 Abu-Lughod, “Introduction: Feminist Longings and Postcolonial Conditions” (1998); Joseph, Gender and Citizenship in the Middle East (2000); Kandiyoti, “The Politics of Gender and the Conundrums of Citizenship”; Moghadam, “Gender, National Identity and Citizenship”.
34 Khamis, “Islamic Feminism in New Arab Media: Platforms for Self-Expression and Sites for Multiple Resistances”, Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research 3.3 (2010), pp. 237–55; Mahmood, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject (2005); Hafez, An Islam of Her Own: Reconsidering Religion and Secularism in Women’s Islamic Movements (2011).
35 Tzoreff, “The Hybrid Women of the Arab Spring Revolutions: Islamization of Feminism, Feminization of Islam”, Journal of Levantine Studies 4.2 (2014), pp. 69–111.
36 Cooke, “Women and the Arab Spring: A Transnational Feminist Revolution”, in Sadiqi (ed.), Women’s Movements in Post-“Arab Spring” North Africa (2016); Cooke, Women Claim Islam: Creating Islamic Feminism Through Literature (2001); González, Islamic Feminism in Kuwait: The Politics and Paradoxes (2013); Hashim, “Reconciling Islam and Feminism”, Gender and Development 7.1 (1999), pp. 7–14; Pandya, Muslim Women and Islamic Resurgence: Religion, Education and Identity Politics in Bahrain (2013); Kandiyoti (ed.), Women, Islam and the State (1996).
37 Abu-Lughod, Do Muslim Women Need Saving? (2013).
38 Tschirh, “The Saudi Blogosphere: Implications of New Media Technology and the Emergence of Saudi Islamic Feminism”, CyberOrient 8.1 (2014); Khamis, “Islamic Feminism in New Arab Media: Platforms for Self-Expression and Sites for Multiple Resistances”.
39 Shome, “Post-Colonial Reflections on the ‘Internationalization’ of Cultural Studies”, Cultural Studies 23.5–6 (2009), pp. 694–719.
40 Ghabra and AlShammari, “Microagressions in Flux: Whiteness, Disability and Masculinity in Academia”, in Eguchi, Calafell, Abdi (eds), De-Whitening Intersectionality: Race, Intercultural Communication and Politics (2020), pp. 159–180.
41 Alaoui, “Morocco from a Colonial to a Post-Colonial Era: The Socio-Political Environment through a Grandmother’s Autoethnography” (2020), pp. 276–299; Alaoui and Abdi, “Resisting Orientalist/Islamophobic Feminisms: (Re)Framing the Politics of Difference”, in Goins, McAlister, and Alexander (eds), Routledge International Handbook of Communication and Gender (2020), pp. 313–329.
42 Al-Ali, “Gendering the Arab Spring” (2012); Khamis and Mili, “Introductory Themes”, in Khamis and Mili (eds), Arab Women’s Activism and Socio-Political Transformation: Unfinished Gendered Revolutions (2018), pp. 1–24.
43 Khamis and Mili, “Introductory Themes”, pp. 1–24.
44 Diwan, Gulf Societies in Transition: National Identity and National Projects in Gulf States (2016); Mattar and Seikaly (eds), The Silent Revolution: The Arab Spring and The Gulf States (2014).
45 See for example: www.mideastmedia.org/industry/2016/digital/.
46 Economist Intelligence Unit, “The GCC in 2020: The Gulf and Its People”, September 2009.
47 Norris, Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the World (2003); Norris, Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide (2001).
48 De Vuyst and Raeymaeckers, “Is Journalism Gender E-Qual? A Study of the Gendered Accumulation and Evaluation of Digital Capital in Journalism”, Digital Journalism 7.5 (2019), pp. 554–570.
49 Khamis, “The Online Public Sphere in the Gulf: Contestation, Creativity, and Change”, Review of Middle East Studies 53.2 (2019), pp. 190–99.
50 Sonbol, “Gender (Im)Balance in Gulf Societies: Overview”, Gulf Affairs (2018), p. v.
51 Ibid.
52 Al Fassi, “Despite Worthy Reforms, Saudi Women Are Still Second-Class Citizens”, p. 23.
53 Ibid.
54 Aldosari, “The Personal Is Political: Gender Identity in the Personal Status Laws of the Gulf Arab States”, The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington (2016).
55 Al Fassi, “Despite Worthy Reforms, Saudi Women Are Still Second-Class Citizens”, p. 24.
56 Al-Rasheed, A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics, and Religion in Saudi Arabia (2013); Al-Rasheed, Contesting the Saudi State: Islamic Voices from A New Generation.
57 Al Fassi, “Saudi Women: Modernity and Change”, p. 159.
58 Al Fassi, “Despite Worthy Reform, Saudi Women Are Still Second-Class Citizens”.
59 Interview with Zainab (pseudonym) via Skype, 17 October 2020.
60 Saudiwoman’s Weblog, “Manal Al-Sherif”, 21 May 2011; Shmuluvitz, “The Saudi Women2Drive Campaign: Just Another Protest in the Arab Spring?”, Tel Aviv Notes 5 (2011), p. 14.
61 The Guardian, “Saudi Arabia Tortured Female Right-to-Drive Activists, Says Amnesty”, 21 November 2018.
62 Interview with Laila (pseudonym) via Zoom, 18 February 2021.
63 Ibid.
64 Radsch and Khamis, “In Their Own Voice”, pp. 881–890.
65 Khamis and Mili, “Introductory Themes”, pp. 1–24.
66 Wagner, “Saudi-Islamic Feminist Movement: A Struggle for Male Allies and the Right Female Voice”, Peace and Conflict Monitor Special Report, 29 March 2011.
67 Global Media Insight (GMI), “Saudi Arabia Social Media Statistics 2023” [includes 2021], 6 March 2023.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid.
70 Statista Research Department, “Countries with the Most Twitter Users 2021” (2021).
71 Khalife, “The World’s Most Dedicated YouTube Viewers are in Saudi Arabia”, Stepfeed, 21 August 2019.
72 Ibid.
73 Interview with Nawal (pseudonym) via Skype, 11 December 2020.
74 Khamis, “Gendering the Arab Spring: Arab Women Journalists/Activists, ‘Cyberfeminism’, and the Sociopolitical Revolution”; Khamis, “Mediated, Gendered Activism in the ‘Post-Arab Spring’ Era: Lessons from Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine Revolution’”.
75 Interview with Iman (pseudonym) via Skype, 23 December 2020.
76 Khamis and Mili, “Introductory Themes”, pp. 1–24.
77 Khamis, “Gendering the Arab Spring: Arab Women Journalists/Activists, ‘Cyberfeminism’, and the Sociopolitical Revolution”; Khamis, “Mediated, Gendered Activism in the ‘Post-Arab Spring’ Era: Lessons from Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine Revolution’”.
78 Radsch and Khamis, “In Their Own Voice”, pp. 881–880.
79 Daniels, “Rethinking Cyberfeminism(s): Race, Gender and Embodiment”.
80 Interview with Taghrid (pseudonym) via Zoom, 23 September 2020.
81 Parvez, “Are Changes to Saudi Arabia’s Guardianship Laws Really about Women?”, Middle East Monitor, 6 August 2019.
82 Interview with Taghrid (pseudonym) via Zoom, 23 September 2020.
83 Interview with Samah (pseudonym) via Zoom, 5 February 2021.
84 Saudiwoman’s Weblog, “Manal Al-Sherif”, 21 May 2011.
85 Interview with Amal (pseudonym) via Skype, 10 January 2021.
86 Tschirhart, “The Saudi Blogosphere: Implications of New Media Technology and the Emergence of Saudi Islamic Feminism”.
87 Ibid.
88 Wagner, “Saudi-Islamic Feminist Movement: A Struggle for Male Allies and the Right Female Voice”.
89 Daniels, “Rethinking Cyberfeminism(s): Race, Gender and Embodiment”.
90 Khamis and Mili, “Introductory Themes”, pp. 1–24.
91 “Saudi Women to Drive”, Facebook page, 23 August 2014.
92 Al-Ali, Secularism, Gender, and the State in the Middle East: The Egyptian Women’s Movement (2000).
93 Khamis and Mili, “Introductory Themes”, pp. 1–24.
94 Interview with Dr Hala Aldosari via Zoom, 15 August 2020.
95 Interview with Samira (pseudonym) via Zoom, 30 August 2020.
96 Interview with Dr Hala Aldosari via Zoom, 15 August 2020.
97 Ibid.
98 Interview with Amal (pseudonym) via Skype, 10 January 2021.
99 Interview with Samira (pseudonym) via Zoom, 30 August 2020.
100 Interview with Taghrid (pseudonym) via Zoom, 23 September 2020.
101 Interview with Zainab (pseudonym) via Skype, 17 October 2020.
102 Samin, “Dynamics of Internet Use: Saudi Youth, Religious Minorities and Tribal Communities”, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication 1.2 (2008), pp. 197–215.
103 Howard, The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy.
104 Khamis, “Islamic Feminism in New Arab Media: Platforms for Self-Expression and Sites for Multiple Resistances”; Monteiro, “Blogs and Female Expression in the Middle East” (2008).
105 Tschirhart, “The Saudi Blogosphere: Implications of New Media Technology and the Emergence of Saudi Islamic Feminism”.
106 Le Renard, A Society of Young Women: Opportunities of Place, Power, and Reform in Saudi Arabia (2014).
107 De Vuyst and Raeymaeckers, “Is Journalism Gender E-Qual? A Study of the Gendered Accumulation and Evaluation of Digital Capital in Journalism”.
108 Interview with Heba (pseudonym) via Skype, 3 November 2020.
109 Samin, “Dynamics of Internet Use: Saudi Youth, Religious Minorities and Tribal Communities”, p. 199.
110 Interview with Samira (pseudonym) via Zoom, 30 August 2020.
111 Khamis, “The Online Public Sphere in the Gulf: Contestation, Creativity, and Change”.
112 Interview with Laila (pseudonym) via Zoom, 18 February 2021.
113 Morozov, The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom (2011).
114 Shirky, “The Political Power of Social Media: Technology, the Public Sphere, and Political Change”, Foreign Affairs 90.1 (2011).
115 Khamis, “The Online Public Sphere in the Gulf: Contestation, Creativity, and Change”.
116 Howard, The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy.
117 Interview with Dr Hala Aldosari via Zoom, 15 August 2020.
118 Interview with Taghrid (pseudonym) via Zoom, 23 September 2020.
119 Khamis, “Gendering the Arab Spring: Arab Women Journalists/Activists, ‘Cyberfeminism’, and the Sociopolitical Revolution”; Khamis, “Mediated, Gendered Activism in the ‘Post-Arab Spring’ Era: Lessons from Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine Revolution’”.
120 Interview with Samah (pseudonym) via Zoom, 5 February 2021.
121 Khamis, “The Online Public Sphere in the Gulf: Contestation, Creativity, and Change”.
122 Interview with Zainab (pseudonym) via Skype, 17 October 2020.
123 Radsch and Khamis, “In Their Own Voice”, pp. 881–890.
124 Interview with Nawal (pseudonym) via Skype, 11 December 2020.
125 Radsch and Khamis, “In Their Own Voice”, pp. 881–890.
126 Interview with Samira (pseudonym) via Zoom, 30 August 2020.
127 Khamis, “Gendering the Arab Spring: Arab Women Journalists/Activists, ‘Cyberfeminism’, and the Sociopolitical Revolution”; Khamis, “Mediated, Gendered Activism in the ‘Post-Arab Spring’ Era: Lessons from Tunisia’s ‘Jasmine Revolution’”.
128 Radsch, “Arabic Twitter Stars Come Face-to-Face in Cairo”, Women’s E-News, 26 January 2012.
129 Khamis, “The Online Public Sphere in the Gulf: Contestation, Creativity, and Change”.
130 Bayat, Life as Politics: How Ordinary People Change the Middle East (2013).
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Sahar Khamis
Sahar Khamis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland, College Park, 2104 Skinner Building, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA, [email protected].