Saudi embassy in US employs first female spokesperson скачать в хорошем качестве

Saudi embassy in US employs first female spokesperson

(18 Oct 2017) LEADIN: As Saudi Arabia works feverishly to portray itself as ready to join the ranks of modern, tolerant societies, the kingdom has turned to a once-unlikely face - a woman - to make its case to the West. Fatimah Baeshen has been appointed the first female spokesperson at the Saudi embassy in Washington DC. STORYLINE: The Embassy in Washington is considered by many Saudi officials to be the country's most important overseas post. Now, the ultra-conservative nation has employed a woman to be the face of the operation. "I'm a by-product of the longstanding Saudi-US relationship," says Fatimah Baeshen, who spent years living, working and studying in the US. "For years, Saudi students have been coming to the United States to study. There are several Saudis that are like me, that are very comfortable and are able to fluidly go back and forth between cultures." On Baeshen's first day as the Saudi Embassy's official Washington spokeswoman, the rulers issued a decree to lift its ban on women driving next summer. It was an early step in erasing what much of the world sees as a stain on its women's rights record. Baeshen admits it was a "was a societal kind of element that needed to be reconciled." "The leadership announcing that women will be able to obtain a driver's license is a direct indication of the reconciliation process that is taking place on the ground." But, she says, the driving question shouldn't obscure the fact that Saudi women have been productive members of society for decades. "The myopic focus of this element I think deters the larger perception of what Saudi women have really been able to contribute." For Saudi Arabia, Baeshen's appointment reflects an opportunity to try to revise a narrative that is sharply at odds with the kingdom's ambitious plan to transform itself for the future. In addition to sweeping economic changes, "Vision 2030" calls for easing social restrictions as a younger generation prepares to take the helm. As its Gulf Arab neighbours sprinted toward modernity, building flashy skyscrapers and attracting tourists from abroad, Saudi Arabia's economic development lagged. Though the US has prized their close security alliance, the kingdom's restrictive freedoms, its ultra-conservative religious clergy and sullied human rights record made it difficult for two countries to claim they had much culturally in common. Now Saudi Arabia is under de facto control of young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, as he's known in foreign capitals. The 32-year-old is in line to inherit the throne from his father, King Salman, and is behind ambitious goals to create more jobs for young Saudis, beef up tourism revenues to the kingdom and ease the country's historic over-reliance on oil exports after a drop in prices plunged the country into a budget deficit. A key element of the economic overhaul is bringing more Saudi women into the workforce in order to create more two-income households and wean Saudis off reliance on government perks. The official plan calls for increasing female participation from 22 percent to 30 percent. Saudi women's rights advocates are hoping the next barrier to fall will be the guardianship system that requires a male relative's approval for a woman to travel abroad, marry, obtain a passport, and undergo certain medical procedures. Baeshen said King Salman has issued a degree to review how the guardianship system is applied, though it's unclear if the rules will be eased. "Empowerment is about access, choice and control. Saudi Arabia has made tangible strides in the spheres of access and choice," Baeshen says. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...