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artsywinter13 · 10 months
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Here’s the concept for Deshret
He’s the Deity of Truth and makes sure that those spreading misinformation are punished and that said misinformation is stopped. He’s basically a very extreme reviewer and fact-checker that doesn’t let anything slide. If you are caught spreading falsehoods, get ready to get snatched and judged indiscriminately. Both the scales on his outfit and his ears act like scales and a way to verify your verdict. He will judge your heart to get to the bottom of it all. If your “heart” is heavy, get ready to be punished
Instagram - Patreon - Ko-fi
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jordanianroyals · 22 days
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Official Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan to commemorate her 54th birthday on 31 August 2024
The occasion comes during a landmark year for Jordan, as the nation celebrates the Silver Jubilee of King Abdullah II, marking the 25th anniversary of his accession to the Throne.
Earlier this year, King Abdullah bestowed upon Queen Rania the Order of the Bejewelled Grand Cordon of Al Nahda, in appreciation of her 25 years of distinguished public service. His Majesty presented the honor to the Queen in recognition of her leading role in the advancement of Jordanian society, and her efforts to support Jordanians in all fields.
“Every time I enter a Jordanian village or home, its people ask me to convey to you their greetings and their appreciation for your efforts to develop our country and create a brighter, more hopeful future for our children,” His Majesty wrote, in a public letter addressed to the Queen marking the occasion. “I see, in their eyes, love for the wife of their King and the mother of their Crown Prince.”
Over the past 25 years, Her Majesty’s unwavering commitment to serve Jordan alongside His Majesty has led her to establish various initiatives that complement and support the work of local institutions in the areas of education and community empowerment.
In 2013, she established the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development (QRF), which works to identify and address educational gaps in Jordan and the region. The Queen also heads a number of educational initiatives, including Edraak, the first non-profit Arabic massive open online course platform; the Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA), which promotes teacher training to meet students’ learning needs; and Madrasati, which has overseen the renovation of hundreds of public schools in Jordan and occupied East Jerusalem.
Among Her Majesty’s other noteworthy contributions to local education are the establishment of Al-Aman Fund for the Future of Orphans, which supports the education and training of orphans over the age of 18, and the Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education, which honors the efforts of exemplary educators across the kingdom.
In recognition of the critical role families play in Jordanian society, Her Majesty established the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA) to empower and support local families through various social development programs. Additionally, as chair of the Jordan River Foundation (JRF), a non-profit committed to community empowerment and child safety, Her Majesty has actively contributed to the expansion of the foundation’s programs, inaugurating the Jordan River Designs showroom to promote handmade creations by local women. 
Throughout 2024, Her Majesty joined His Majesty on several visits across Jordan, including Madaba, Irbid, Aqaba, and the Central Badia. Held in celebration of the Silver Jubilee, the visits aimed to recognize the contributions and successes of Jordanians over the past 25 years, as well as Jordan’s progress over the past quarter of a century.
On the international stage, this year, Queen Rania added her voice to those of countless others around the world calling for an immediate end to the Israeli war on Gaza, and urging a just and peaceful resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in October, 2023, Her Majesty decried the world’s double standard in the face of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.
“I just want to remind the world that Palestinian mothers love their children just as much as any other mother in the world. And for them to have to go through this, it's just unbelievable,” Her Majesty said, and noted that speaking out against the war “is about speaking up for humanity,” and “about choosing the people, the everyday people on both sides.”
In another interview, Her Majesty condemned the massive causalities in Gaza, especially among children: “These are not just numbers. Each one of these children was somebody's everything,” she said.
Her Majesty also continuously reiterated calls for a lasting ceasefire. Speaking at the Web Summit in Qatar earlier this year, the Queen urged an end to the obstruction of desperately-needed aid and prompted those standing in solidarity with Palestinians to continue their show of support and not give up. 
“We need a ceasefire. A cease to the destruction… A cease to the displacement… A cease to the deprivation by design. This war must end, now… the inhumane obstruction of aid delivery must end…and the hostages and detainees on both sides must go home,” she said.
In other televised appearances, Her Majesty asked the international community to pressure Israel to end its war on Gaza and warned of the “very dangerous precedent” that Israeli atrocities are setting for the rest of the world.
“As cruel and ugly as the war in Gaza is, the state of our rules-based world order is looking exponentially worse,” Queen Rania explained. “These legal frameworks are there to ensure that all countries adhere to a standard of conduct. They're either applicable to everyone, or they’re not. Either everyone is accountable, or no one is.”
Throughout the year, Her Majesty also met with representatives of various international organizations operating in the Gaza Strip, including UNICEF, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and Save the Children, to discuss their efforts on the ground and the near-impossible task of providing basic assistance to Gaza’s population.
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saharaedulive · 10 months
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How to score 8+ Band in IELTS with the Best IELTS Institute in Dubai
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For many different reasons, people all across the globe use English as their primary means of communication. It follows that learning English is a must for anyone looking to propel themselves and seize possibilities.
Businesses and governments around the world that offer these possibilities place a premium on candidates' skills in English. Now, we get to the IELTS classes in Dubai.
What are the IELTS classes in Dubai?
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) evaluates candidates' command of the English language in four domains: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. A high score on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam is sometimes required for entrance to many public and private institutions, including schools, colleges, and governments. Further, the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is a benchmark for immigration. To that end, studying for and passing the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam can be a huge boon for anyone seeking to learn or immigrate to many nations across the world, especially for students who are looking for IELTS in Al Nahda, Dubai. 
Tailored Learning Paths:
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) offers a variety of courses to meet the needs of students with varying degrees of English skills.
Individualized lesson plans let students hone in on specific language arts competencies. Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are all a part of it.
Extensive Coursework:
Official IELTS practice exams, sample questions, and other helpful study materials are available through courses.
Students may master the ins and outs of each IELTS component with the help of a well-organized curriculum and set of lessons.
IELTS Test Details
To begin, the IELTS exam comes in two varieties. The academic and general IELTS tests are these. If you want to achieve your goals, you need to know which exam to take. Those seeking professional registration in a country with a dominant English language market must take the IELTS Academic test. If you are planning to study or move to the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, or New Zealand, you will need to take the IELTS General test. Learning the format of the IELTS test is the next step after deciding which version of the test to take. 
Every individual taking the IELTS is required to complete all four sections of the examination. These sections make up the test's reading, writing, listening, and speaking portions. An exam structure that is specific to each segment is used to assess the skills that are relevant to that section. Scores range from 0 to 9 for each of these assessments. Even though the IELTS exam does not have a pass/fail grade, applicants must meet the least requirements set by several organizations to be considered for various opportunities.
Achieving an IELTS score of 8 or above
Achieving an IELTS band score of 8 or above is no little task. To be considered, candidates must complete a band score of 8 or above across all four IELTS components. The 8+ band is given to individuals who have exceptional command of the English language with a very low error rate. We have outlined the various components below to help candidates get an 8+ on the IELTS exam.
IELTS Reading
Candidates for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) reading test should make it a habit to read a wide variety of texts regularly. The goal here is to grasp the content, as well as learn the various viewpoints presented in the text. Once this is completed, candidates will have the necessary information to answer questions or complete sentences using them.
Further, applicants need to know how to skim and read publications to get the most out of these techniques so they can answer questions on tests. Practicing for the IELTS is the only way to do this. A candidate needs to get 36 out of 40 questions right in one hour to get an eight or higher. 
IELTS Writing
The time allotted for the IELTS writing part of the test is one hour. Respondents must choose either an essay format or a quick answer format. They will need to practice these types of questions if they want to get an 8+ band. Candidates can grasp the structure and organization of sentences, as well as how to construct coherent ones, by reading from a variety of sources. 
Furthermore, they need to express themselves in a way that is easy to grasp by using advanced words. Candidates should also aim to reduce the amount of spelling and grammar errors in their answers to achieve their target band score.
 IELTS Speaking
Examining how well test takers express themselves is the primary goal of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Speaking exam. What this means is that you should not be shy or hesitant when communicating. It is anticipated that candidates will use a few more advanced terms. Think of using well-known sayings or statements; the examiners might be impressed. 
Furthermore, achieving a high band on the IELTS Speaking test relies on perfecting the pronunciation. If they want to earn an eight or higher, candidates should work on the tactics above.
IELTS Listening
As part of the application process, candidates will be required to listen to a variety of audio files, such as news stories, films, and other sounds. If you want to do well on the IELTS Writing and Speaking exams, expanding your vocabulary and learning how to understand diverse accents are two things you can do. Since the tape will only play once during the exam, you need to pay close attention while practicing. A candidate needs to get 36 out of 40 questions correct to get an 8+, much like on the IELTS Reading test.
Why Sahara Education for IELTS Training Center in Dubai
If you are looking to study abroad or immigrate, Sahara Education IELTS training center in Dubai is the Best IELTS institute in Dubai and can help you get an 8+ band.
Skilled Teachers:
Professionals with extensive expertise in IELTS preparation make up our team of instructors. To help you perform at your best, they offer insightful commentary and practical advice.
Structure of the Course:
All four sections of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) are covered in our course. Careful consideration was given to the needs of each module. It is to create a curriculum that can accommodate students with varying degrees of competence.
Customized Learning:
We provide individualized lesson plans since we know that each learner is an individual. For a personalized learning experience, zero in on what you need help with and expand upon what you already know.
Engaging Educational Space:
Our courses incorporate interactive features and modern teaching approaches. Video lessons, interactive quizzes, and exciting material make for tech-enhanced education.
Assessments and Mocks:
Practice exams regularly to get a feel for the exam environment and see how you're doing in real-time. Find out where you may make improvements and how to enhance your test-taking techniques by receiving constructive criticism.
Flexible, convenient:
You have a lot on your plate, and we get it. Learning has never been more convenient than with our adaptable course schedules and formats. Which lets you juggle IELTS prep with other obligations.
Tailor-Made Service:
You will receive personalized attention because class sizes are kept small. To help you reach your full potential, our instructors adapt their lessons to your requirements.
Friendly Learning Environment:
Developing a positive and encouraging classroom setting is one of our top priorities here at Sahara Education. Embrace the adventure of preparing for the IELTS with a sense of worth and support, knowing that you can achieve success.
For an experience that goes beyond studying for the IELTS, enroll in classes at Sahara Education Institute in Dubai. With our help, you may reach your full potential, improve your language abilities, and take bold steps toward achieving your goals.
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gwendolynlerman · 4 years
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Languages of the world
Arabic (اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ)
Basic facts
Number of native speakers: 310 million
Official language: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, (Palestine), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, (Western Sahara); Zanzibar (Tanzania),
Recognized minority language: Brunei, Cyprus, Eritrea, Indonesia, Israel, Mali, Niger, Pakistan, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan; Ceuta, Melilla (Spain)
Language of diaspora: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Honduras, Iran, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela
Script: Arabic, 28 letters
Grammatical cases: 3
Linguistic typology: fusional, SVO/VSO
Language family: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, West Semitic, Central Semitic, North Arabian
Number of dialects: 9 main groups
History
1st millennium BCE-7th century CE - Old Arabic
512 - earliest document in Arabic
7th-9th centuries - Classical Arabic
11th century - creation of the present form (Naskh) of the script
19th-20th centuries - Nahda (Arab Renaissance)
Writing system and pronunciation
These are the letters that make up the script: ي و ه ن م ل ك ق ف غ ع ظ ط ض ص ش س ز ر ذ د خ ح ج ث ت ب ا.
Both printed and written Arabic are cursive, as most letters within a word are connected to the adjacent ones. Therefore, each letter can have four different forms depending on its position in a word.
Diacritics are used only in the Qur’an, religious texts, classical poetry, children’s books, and textbooks for learners.
Words cannot begin with a vowel, so initial vowels are always preceded by a glottal stop.
Grammar
Nouns have two genders (masculine and feminine), three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), and three cases (nominative, genitive, and accusative). They are also marked for definiteness and indefiniteness.
Arabic has a root-and-pattern morphology: a root consists of a set of consonants (usually three), which are fitted into a discontinuous pattern to form words.
Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and jussive), person, number, and gender. There are two major paradigms (past and non-past), which represent a combination of tense and aspect.
Dialects
Standard Arabic can be divided into Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). The first one is the language found in the Qur’an, while MSA is used in academia, print and mass media, and legislation. The grammar described in this post is that of MSA.
Spoken Arabic can be divided into nine main dialect groups: North African Arabic, spoken in Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia; Hassaniya Arabic in Mauritania; Egyptian Arabic; Levantine Arabic, spoken in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria; Iraqi Arabic; Gulf Arabic, spoken in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the UAE; Hejazi Arabic in western Saudi Arabia; Najdi Arabic in central Saudi Arabia, and Yemeni Arabic in Yemen and southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Differences between the dialects of the Middle East are small enough to enable speakers to understand each other. However, North African Arabic varies considerably from the rest of the dialects. Dialects mainly differ in phonology, grammar, and vocabulary.
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logarithmicpanda · 6 years
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Books I want to read before the end of 2018:
I’ve seen a couple people do these lists and I thought I’d do my own ^^
Books I bought this year and need to read:
Deathless
Nevernight
Too like lightning
The grace of kings
The city of brass
Pre-orders:
A conspiracy of truth
The muse of nightmares
Rereads:
Republic of thieves
Brisingr
Le sang des nahdas
Rhapsody
From my physical tbr:
Kingdom of gods
House of many ways
Anansi boys
The summer tree
Dune messiah
Winter be my shield
The silmarilion
Gates of thread and stone
To buy:
Physik
Queste
Forest of a thousand lanterns
Records of a spaceborn few
The dinosaur princess
That’s 24 books in three months... So 8 per months. Mph. Doable if I read nothing else, I guess
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qudratjordan · 2 years
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dd-jo.org/.../localizing-research-on-domestic...Given the importance of nurturing the role and capabilities of local civil society institutions, especially those run by women leaders, in monitoring and analyzing the reality of their communities and the environment regulating their work, all of which qualify them to engage in sensitive issues such as social and domestic violence, this report, in which 11 organizations participated, seeks Civil society members of the Jordan National NGOs Forum (JONAF) to research domestic violence from a societal perspective.This report explores the local community’s perceptions and attitudes towards violence against women and girls, focusing on the levels of awareness, attitudes, and societal responses to these cases through the work of ARDD with local organizations to enhance their capabilities to enable them to conduct their own research; Including identifying the different types of domestic violence, and raising awareness of the signs and effects of domestic violence against women and girls, in addition to providing an opportunity for organizations to develop community-based prevention and response mechanisms in order to improve the support provided to survivors of violence.The report, which comes as part of the action research conducted by ARDD's Al Nahda Center within the framework of the project “Strengthening the Capacities of Women-led CSOs in Evidence-Based Advocacy and Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda” implemented in partnership with UN Women Jordan with the generous funding of the governments of Canada, Finland, Norway, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Cyprus, presented several specific recommendations that are incorporated through three policy briefs to mitigate these cases.1- Enhancing access to Services for Survivors of Domestic Violence: Building Trust in National and Local Service Providers 2- Economic empowerment and mitigating domestic violence risks3- Building a Women´s Network for Empowerment and Solidarity In addition to advocating for legislative and judiciary reforms for more https://ardd-jo.org/.../localizing-research-on-domestic...#JONAPاللجنة الوطنية الأردنية لشؤون المرأة
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peergrowth · 2 years
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Which are the best headhunters for Dubai?
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A headhunter is an organization that works on behalf of an employer to recruit employees. Companies engage headhunters to uncover Talent and find people who fit specific job needs. Headhunters are also known as executive recruiters, and the service they provide is often referred to as executive search.
What is an executive headhunter? 
Executive headhunters get their name from the fact that they are genuinely headhunters. Executive search businesses hire specialized headhunters to find the top candidates and approach them directly. They work for the customer, the employing company, not the candidate. If you receive a call from an executive headhunter, they are considering you for a position with a particular client.
All of the recruiting agencies listed below provide recruitment, staffing, HR outsourcing, and recruiters for hire to clients worldwide. They offer clients a range of services, from the initial recruiting candidate search to promptly appointing the best candidate for the job. You can also use the services of these recruitment/placement consultants if you don't get a job through campus placements.
Industries served 
The following are some of the industries they serve for;
Accounting & Finance jobs, Advertising & PR jobs, Aviation, Banking & Insurance Jobs, Construction Jobs, Customer Service jobs, Education/Teaching jobs, Electronics, IT & Telecom jobs, Engineering & Technical jobs, Fabrication and Erection, Healthcare & Medical Jobs, Hospitality jobs, HR & Training jobs, Legal Department jobs, Oil and Gas, Oil Fields and Refineries, Operations Department jobs. Property and Real Estate Jobs. Sales & Marketing jobs. Secretarial & Administration jobs. Senior Management jobs, Supply Chain jobs
Top Recruitment Firms in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The recruitment agencies listed below have a thorough awareness of the job markets in the UAE and the Middle East. It boasts an extensive network of organizations. It has contracts and dedicated and experienced recruiters for many professional disciplines, excellent customer service, and a high rate of successful placements.
1. Adecco Middle East is a recruitment firm based in the Middle East.
The Adecco Group, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is a Fortune Global 500 company and the world's most significant human resources and temporary staffing supplier.
2. Agile Consultants
The top recruitment agency in the Middle East, with a high retention rate of employees. Apply now for the most delicate jobs in the UAE and the GCC! Offer tailored services to clients and prospects, armed with exceptional local knowledge, expertise, and networks.
3. Alliance Recruiting Services
Alliance Recruitment Agency is an international recruiting, staffing, HR services, and placement organization serving enterprises, start-ups, and firms in the United States, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and India.
4. ANOC
ANOC is a Dubai-based Recruiting and Manpower Consultancy that has been in operation for over 20 years. The company is part of the AL NAHDA GROUP, which partners in business services, travel, tourism, contracting, trading, and e-commerce.
5. BAC Middle East
BAC Middle East is the UAE's longest-running professional recruitment consultancy. It was the first recruitment agency to receive ISO9001 accreditation, reflecting our continual emphasis on quality and customer satisfaction. It was founded in 1979 and has been at the forefront of its recruitment market for 39 years.
6. Peergrowth group
They are a reputable management consulting firm specializing in Search and Advisory services.
They are one of the leading recruitment firms in Dubai, and our goal is to work with leading organizations to meet their human capital needs. They understand our clients' difficulties while filling a vacancy and our undecided candidates about the next best opportunity. They exist solely to personalize the entire process and make it into a long-term relationship.
7. Budge Talent
Budge is one of the leading recruitment and HR consultancies in the UAE and GCC, focusing on the construction, real estate, and asset management industries. They have nearly 15 years of local knowledge working with experienced consultants and an unparalleled network of clients and applicants worldwide, bringing you a refreshing approach to recruitment. Established in 2003 with offices in the UK and Dubai, they have nearly 15 years of local knowledge working with experienced consultants and an unparalleled network of clients and applicants worldwide, bringing you a refreshing approach to recruitment.
Online recruiting has become more prevalent in Dubai due to different online job portals and recruitment agencies, and professionals may now apply for relevant positions online.
You can apply through reputed recruitment organizations in Dubai to ensure that you apply for a real job. Most of these firms offer online recruitment platforms where businesses can post job openings, which you can easily register for and use.
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jobdxb · 6 years
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WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS TO UNITED KINGDOM
Business analyst with 2 years experiences Salary £ 24,300 to £ 48,000 per year to UK : BBA/MBA
INTERESTED PEOPLE CAN COME TO OUR OFFICE : 1211,MAI TOWER,AL NAHDA 1,DUBAI
WATS APP ME : 0588931947
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theinvinciblenoob · 6 years
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Uber has about 95,000 monthly active drivers in Saudi Arabia. And right now, only one is a woman.
But that’s about to change. Uber (as well as Middle East ride-hailing rival Careem) is launching programs aimed at leveraging the sweeping cultural and economic changes afoot in the country.
On Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman lifted the country’s ban on women driving. It’s one of many changes spearheaded by the kingdom’s heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has encouraged reforms in Saudi Arabia in an effort to diversify the country’s economy.
Uber has spent months preparing for this moment, conducting research on the country’s demographics and developing an approach that will add to its driver ranks without veering too far from cultural norms there.
Uber says it will pilot a new feature this fall that will let women drivers in Saudi Arabia select a preference to be connected to female riders.
The pilot feature won’t guarantee that the female driver will get a female rider. But a look at Uber’s ridership numbers in the country and it’s clear the demographics favor a female driver to female rider matchup. Uber has about 1.33 million quarterly active riders in Saudi Arabia, and 80 percent of those riders are women.
Uber says market research conducted in collaboration with Ipsos helped it understand (and ultimately take advantage of) the opportunity.
The research found 31 percent of Saudi women surveyed were interested in driving as a way to earn money. The company has also discovered that 74 percent of prospective women drivers interviewed would only be interested in driving women riders.
Uber has made other changes to its operations in Saudi Arabia in an effort to attract and retrain this new batch of drivers. In March, Uber announced Masaruky — which means “your path” in Arabic — a two-year initiative that aims to increase women’s participation in the workforce through access to affordable transportation.
Uber kicked off the campaign with a pledge of SAR 1 million ($266,620) and a partnership with the Al Nahda Society to financially support women interested in obtaining a driver license. Earlier this month, Uber rolled out a registration portal called Masaruky for Saudi women interested in driving on Uber. A company spokeswoman for Uber’s Middle East operations said more than 100 Saudi women have signed up so far, expressing interest in becoming drivers.
The company also recently finished a support center for female drivers in Riyadh.
Meanwhile, Careem has received more than 2,000 applications since announcing it would recruit female drivers in Saudi Arabia. The company has a goal of hiring 20,000 Captinahs (its term for female drivers) across the Middle East by 2020.
via TechCrunch
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newestbalance · 6 years
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Free to Drive, Saudi Women Still Must Take a Back Seat to Men
AL KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia — With her bubble-gum pink hair and stylishly ripped jeans, Doaa Bassem goes a long way to redefining what it means to be a Saudi woman these days.
At age 14, she learned how to change the oil of her father’s car and dreamed of owning a classic Trans Am. Although she assumed she would be barred from driving the sleek, loud muscle car, she wanted the fun of taking the engine apart and rebuilding it.
By 17, she had entered into an arranged marriage. Within a year, she had given birth to a child, divorced, then remarried and divorced again.
Now, at 29, she is a single mother who works, lives on her own and plans to be among the first women who take to the streets on Sunday, the first day they will be legally permitted to drive in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that is the last country in the world to bar women from driving. Ms. Bassem won’t be behind the wheel of a sports car, though. She will be riding a Harley.
“I’ve always been a tomboy and a rebel,” she said. “Now, others are thinking more like me. Parents have started to understand that marriage isn’t everything, that girls might want a different life. And society is starting to accept this too.”
According to the Saudi ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and their many supporters, the monarchy is verging on a great feminist leap forward. The change reflects the tectonic shifts in a society that have helped women reach the pinnacles of academic and professional success, combined with the effects of globalization, which have brought more openness to the kingdom than at anytime in its recent history.
The new law allowing women to drive removes a lightning rod for critics and allies who have long derided the Saudis, a bastion of conservative Islamic orthodoxy, for following a repressive practice embraced by groups like the Taliban and the Islamic State. The new law also dovetails with the monarchy’s ambitious economic changes that aim to wean Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s top producer, from dependence on oil and to diversify the economy — shifts that require women to be workers and consumers.
However, while the joy shared by tens of thousands of Saudi women over the right to take the wheel is undeniable, a bright red line keeps them from equality — the restrictive guardianship system. It is a mix of law and custom under which women remain dependents of male relatives — a father, husband, brother, uncle or son — their whole lives.
Guardianship ensures that the gender balance of power at home, work and perhaps even on the roads favors men by allowing them to consent — or not — to letting their women work, travel or receive medical care.
Beneath her free-spirited life, Ms. Bassem is legally tied to the consent powers of her brother, her current guardian, who has respected her choices. He helped find a progressively minded landlord to rent an apartment to her and acts as her guarantor. “People get nervous when ladies live alone,” she said.
The rulers have announced that Saudi women will not need a guardian to apply for driver’s education or receive a driver’s license. But that is one of the rare exceptions where men have no role over women’s lives.
Saudi citizens still need to contend with the top-down system of governing in which they all are vulnerable to royal commands, whims and punishments.
Eight leading women’s rights activists remain behind bars, according to Amnesty International. They are facing serious charges, including spying and sedition.
“There is no doubt that there is a deep transformation happening in Saudi now,” said Kristin Smith Diwan, the senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “But we are also witnessing a horrible crackdown on some of the people that made these changes possible. What’s not changing is the nature of authority.”
The crown prince has sent mixed messages about the guardianship system. In interviews with American media, he has declared Saudi men and women absolutely equal. Last year, a royal decree commanded government agencies to allow women access to many services without their guardians — and to list those services to thwart bureaucratic abuses. The lists, however, have not yet been made public.
The structure of the guardianship system, which in many ways mimics the ruler’s power over his subjects, means that individual freedom for women is precarious. Last year, a chilling case came to light when a 29-year-old woman, Maryam al-Otaibi, ran away from home, where she claimed male relatives had abused her. She fled to Riyadh, the capital, but her father — her legal guardian — filed a criminal complaint, saying she had been “disobedient” after he commanded her to return home. She was jailed for more than 100 days before she won the right to break free from him.
Many women in the fields of social work, women’s empowerment and family law prefer to focus on the gains women have achieved, not the limitations that remain.
Since the crown prince took power last year, judges who once would have automatically given fathers custody of children in divorce cases have started allowing some mothers custody instead. Women no longer need a guardian to register a business. More private companies are hiring women for technical and manual labor jobs, helping pull poor families or single mothers up the socio-economic ladder.
Salma al-Rashid, the chief programs officer at Al Nahda Philanthropic Organization for Women in Riyadh, which for more than 50 years has been working with disadvantaged women and families, pointed to recent legal changes that have improved financial and emotional security for a majority of Saudi women, whose lives bear no resemblance to the stereotypical wealthy Saudi resident.
A catalyst of social change, Ms. Rashid said, is the growing number of Saudi women who are graduating from college, traveling abroad on scholarships and entering the work force.
“Saudi Arabia is not black and white,” she said. “We are incredibly diverse. The biggest engine that has driven these changes is economical. History shows this is the case everywhere in the world.”
In the eastern province city of Al Khobar, Seham al-Amri, 39, is one of a significant number of Saudi women who have capitalized on the changes to make a better life.
From the time she was young, she was the clever one in her family. She attended a public university and studied Arabic literature, married at 19, raised five children and taught at a girls’ school.
Three years ago, however, when the kingdom was pushing businesses to hire more Saudi citizens, she sought work in the private sector, where pay was much higher and opportunities for women were growing. A leading telecom company offered her a sales position, but Ms. Amri’s husband — her guardian — refused to consent.
Ms. Amri went behind his back. She took her brother to the company to act as her guardian, and she got the job. Her stellar sales record made her a standout candidate this spring when car companies were seeking Saudi women to help sell vehicles to the rush of new drivers they were expecting.
Her husband still disliked the idea, she said, but her new company, the Saudi owner of the Range Rover franchise, did not ask her for a guardian’s approval.
She sold seven cars in her first three weeks. Her husband, she said, likes the larger paycheck she brings home. He also has grudgingly accepted her work because relatives and neighbors have not gossiped about it. “He didn’t want any shame on the family,” she said. “As for my family, they are all as proud as can be.”
A Saudi public opinion poll, commissioned in February by Uber, showed that more than 90 percent of respondents felt positively about lifting the driving ban.
That has not diminished the sexism. A popular preacher last year strongly opposed letting women drive, saying their brains were half the size of men’s. Several men said this week that they would stay home on Sunday, convinced that car accidents — already a problem in the country — would surge.
The planned rollout for women drivers, despite months of buildup, has hit several bumps, partly because of insufficient driver’s education programs and the overlapping bureaucracies needed to fulfill the royal decree.
The government has said that women with valid licenses from abroad may obtain a Saudi license with minimal fuss. Several hundred will be ready to drive on Sunday.
Yet for tens of thousands of others, the path to driving has been full of obstacles. Only a limited number of training courses have opened for women — and given the strict gender segregation in effect in schools and government agencies, it is challenging to staff them.
Earlier this year, pilot driver’s education programs were scrambling to find qualified women to instruct their Saudi sisters. That is how Sheikha al-Kadeeb, 29, who had been looking for work in finance, was recruited to teach driving.
Ms. Kadeeb learned in Los Angeles, where she earned an M.B.A. She loved cruising California freeways in her Jeep Wrangler and jumped at the opportunity to impart her enthusiasm at home. “I feel like I’m on a mission,” she said. “I get a chance to help my country.”
Parents and family members, meanwhile, have worried about what would happen to women if their cars broke down or the police pulled them over. Casual encounters with strange men are discomfiting to many Saudi women. Nor are some willing to risk the physical threats of being stuck alone.
Another problem is the cost of driver’s education for women, which is four to five times as expensive when compared with what men pay.
Mohammed al-Ghanami, a diving instructor for the Saudi Marines, has been giving his wife lessons in remote areas where the police or other motorists will not disturb them. He moonlights as an Uber driver and wants his wife to be able to drive their child to the doctor or anywhere else in an emergency, given his extended absences.
“She can do it,” he said. “She’s a careful person and a good driver.”
Groups of girlfriends, meanwhile, are making celebratory plans for their first drive. Rezan Ben Hassan, 29, learned when she was 16 on desert camping trips with her family. She intends to take the keys to the family vehicle on Sunday and cruise to a cafe.
In Al Khobar, Ms. Bassem, the motorcycle lover, plans to hit the road with friends from the local Harley Davidson club. Of their roughly 700 members in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, a handful of women love Hogs.
In what appears to be an attempt to dissuade unqualified drivers on Sunday, the Ministry of Interior announced that the police would be fining drivers caught without a license 900 riyals, or approximately $240.
The lack of an official license, however, is not discouraging Ms. Bassem. “This is going to be one of the most exciting days of my life,” she said.
The post Free to Drive, Saudi Women Still Must Take a Back Seat to Men appeared first on World The News.
from World The News https://ift.tt/2tvysav via Everyday News
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artsywinter13 · 10 months
Text
The God of Soil and Wisdom is the youngest of the 3 Elder or Eco gods, comprising of: Mamá Mayna, Goddess of Flowers and Art, and Alagbede, God of Rock and Craftmanship. The name of this god is Nabu Maat, but their people have given them the title of Ozymandias Misr. They have 3 children, being the 3 Deital Pharaohs that rule over the Nahda Kingdom. They are:
Kemet, Deity of Knowledge Hedjet, Deity of Writing Deshret, Deity of Truth
Each rule over a portion of the Nahda Kingdom’s land. The lush and fertile land of Kememphi to Kemet, where lush forests and black soil flourish. The slick and muddy land of Hedjebai belongs to Hedjet, where the river deposits sediments. The dusty and arid land of Deshara belongs to Deshret, where the hot desert is your home.
In the image of his children, Nabu Maat created different races. In the image of Kemet, they created the Sphinx and the bastaens or felems. In the image of Hedjet, they created the Knu and the baens. In the image of Deshret, they created the Anubi and nyuwi or canems.
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jordanianroyals · 5 years
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8 March 2020: King Abdullah II Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who delivered a letter from Egypt President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
His Majesty reiterated Jordan's support for efforts to reach an agreement, in accordance with international law, that safeguards the rights of all stakeholders in connection to Al Nahda Dam, emphasising the Kingdom’s support for Egypt’s national security and water security rights.
Discussions covered the importance of maintaining coordination and consultation on issues of mutual concern, in line with shared interests and in service of Arab causes. (Source: Petra)
The meeting also addressed regional developments, foremost of which is the Palestinian cause and the need to support the Palestinians as they seek their just and legitimate rights, and the establishment of their independent, viable state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the two-state solution, and international law and relevant UN resolutions. Moreover, discussions covered efforts to reach political solutions to regional crises that would restore security and stability to the region and its peoples.
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saharaedulive · 1 year
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HOW TO PREPARE FOR IELTS EXAM : USEFUL TIPS
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What makes a good IELTS study guide?
Making or sticking to a study timetable may seem like much extra work. But doing so will help speed up your IELTS preparation. Making a study program can help you stay on track for the IELTS and prevent you from forcing yourself to study at the last minute. Besides, a well-thought-out study strategy can help you identify your academic strengths and shortcomings.
How should I prepare for a new IELTS timetable?
Before creating the schedule or study plan, you need to do some preliminary investigation. The first step in preparing for the IELTS is familiarizing yourself with the test's structure, process, and tasks. If you want an accurate estimate of your IELTS score, you should familiarize yourself with the test's scoring system. Read our articles for more information about the IELTS exam and how your score is determined. The next step is to get an excellent IELTS study aid,. We at Sahara Edulive, one of the best IELTS Training institutes in Al Nahda, Dubai might be able to assist you there.
Tips for Creating an IELTS Prep Course:
Make a plan:
Creating a target for yourself is the initial step. Use the entry requirements at your top choice universities as a starting point for your aim.
Find your weak spots:
Before finalizing the plan, you can assess your level with a full-length practice exam. Then you'll learn where you excel and where you need improvement. Some pupils, for instance, have superior listening and speaking skills. Even within the same section, you'll do better on some question categories. Learn where you stand on the IELTS with our full-length practice exams.
Make a schedule for regular sessions:
The hardest part of creating an IELTS study plan is tailoring it to your needs. Some advice you can utilize is below.
The first step is to locate some downtime. It is possible to prepare for the IELTS in as little as one or two hours daily, even if you have a full course load or a demanding job. The best time to study for the exam is during the weekend.
Next, think about how much time you have until your test (yet another incentive to sign up for the IELTS and begin studying immediately!). A three-month study plan will seem different from a one-month strategy. If you don't have much time to study for the IELTS, you should prioritize working on your weaker areas. Suppose you already have a strong foundation in listening and reading. In that case, you may focus on improving your speaking and writing skills during the week.,and taking full-length practice examinations on the weekends. We at Sahara Edulive, the best IELTS institute in Dubai, have experienced teachers who design a plan for your IELTS preparation. Our plan consists from the start of your course till you give your final exam.
Academic vs General Training IELTS: Differences?
The Academic IELTS:
The target audience for the Academic IELTS is college students. they are those who wish to enroll in schools or programs where English is used as the language of instruction. Also, many people in the working world and those seeking employment may find that they must submit test scores from this version.
The field of medicine is one example. You must take the Academic IELTS to practice medicine in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, or Canada. This test version is necessary for many careers in the medical field, such as doctors, nurses, chemists, and even hospital lab technicians.
The IELTS for General Training:
If you want to enter Canada, the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, etc., for general immigration purposes, you should utilize the general training version. 
The criteria are not restricted to the immigration context, though. Multinational organizations use General Training IELTS scores to measure a candidate's English skill. So, test takers can sometimes use their score reports to help them land a job.
A Two-Version, Four-Skill Set Format:
The general structure of the test is the same in both editions. Whatever format you choose, you will be evaluated on your ability to read, write, listen, and talk in English. The listening and speaking parts are identical. Both the academic and general training versions of the IELTS have the same structure and types of questions.
Both of the remaining parts follow the same basic structure. The reading and writing sections consist of 40 questions based on prescribed texts, and both have two writing tasks. 
Comparison of IELTS Academic and General Training Content:
English reading abilities must be at a level that allows the reader to comprehend articles, textbooks, and industry-specific periodicals to succeed in higher education and the workforce. The Academic IELTS tests students' ability to understand and test information presented in this format using authentic texts from these sources.  The version-specific writing assignments provide sample subjects for various educational and professional contexts. College-level essay writing in English requires a certain level of skill. Thus, that will be tested.
Members of the General Training Examinees of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) will be exposed to real-world contexts and real workplace languages. Such as that found in advertising, guides, magazines, notices, and employee manuals. Candidates will be evaluated on their ability to write simple essays and letters in English. If you are looking for an IELTS training center in Dubai, then Sahara Edulive is the right place to be. We offer classes for IELTS courses in Dubai for all those who like to get placed in international schools abroad.
IELTS training center in Dubai:
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is the benchmark for education, job, and immigration opportunities in English-speaking countries. The exam rates your English proficiency on a scale from 1 to 9. Our IELTS training in Dubai includes all four areas of the exam, including actual practice tests, test-taking strategies, and advice. Now is the time to start preparing for the IELTS exam in Dubai.
Sahara Edulive is one of the Best IELTS Training Institute in Al Nahda, with highly qualified instructors that can help you do your best on the standardized test you've chosen for admission. Our school offers IELTS Preparation Dubai, where students can prepare for the IELTS Academic or IELTS General Training exams. Reading, writing, listening, and communicating are all examined. Students applying to schools in English-speaking countries typically take either the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic or IELTS General Training exam. You can take an IELTS coaching in Dubai.
The International English Language Testing System is used by people who want to study abroad or immigrate to a country where English is spoken. The IELTS General Training course is best for newcomers to the United States, while the Academic Training course is best for professionals and academics.
It's like a language exam. Therefore, it tests your linguistic proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
Both academic institutions and public schools provide instruction in listening and speaking skills. The exam lasts 2 hours and 45 minutes total, with 40 minutes devoted to listening, 1 hour to reading/writing, and 15 minutes speaking. This test has two sections, a reading section and an audio section, each consisting of 40 questions. The speaking segment has three tasks, while the writing section has two. The Sahara Edulive IELTS course in Dubai is the greatest option for anyone in the Al Nahda area trying to improve their English language skills.
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cleopatrarps · 6 years
Text
Free to Drive, Saudi Women Still Must Take a Back Seat to Men
AL KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia — With her bubble-gum pink hair and stylishly ripped jeans, Doaa Bassem goes a long way to redefining what it means to be a Saudi woman these days.
At age 14, she learned how to change the oil of her father’s car and dreamed of owning a classic Trans Am. Although she assumed she would be barred from driving the sleek, loud muscle car, she wanted the fun of taking the engine apart and rebuilding it.
By 17, she had entered into an arranged marriage. Within a year, she had given birth to a child, divorced, then remarried and divorced again.
Now, at 29, she is a single mother who works, lives on her own and plans to be among the first women who take to the streets on Sunday, the first day they will be legally permitted to drive in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that is the last country in the world to bar women from driving. Ms. Bassem won’t be behind the wheel of a sports car, though. She will be riding a Harley.
“I’ve always been a tomboy and a rebel,” she said. “Now, others are thinking more like me. Parents have started to understand that marriage isn’t everything, that girls might want a different life. And society is starting to accept this too.”
According to the Saudi ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and their many supporters, the monarchy is verging on a great feminist leap forward. The change reflects the tectonic shifts in a society that have helped women reach the pinnacles of academic and professional success, combined with the effects of globalization, which have brought more openness to the kingdom than at anytime in its recent history.
The new law allowing women to drive removes a lightning rod for critics and allies who have long derided the Saudis, a bastion of conservative Islamic orthodoxy, for following a repressive practice embraced by groups like the Taliban and the Islamic State. The new law also dovetails with the monarchy’s ambitious economic changes that aim to wean Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s top producer, from dependence on oil and to diversify the economy — shifts that require women to be workers and consumers.
However, while the joy shared by tens of thousands of Saudi women over the right to take the wheel is undeniable, a bright red line keeps them from equality — the restrictive guardianship system. It is a mix of law and custom under which women remain dependents of male relatives — a father, husband, brother, uncle or son — their whole lives.
Guardianship ensures that the gender balance of power at home, work and perhaps even on the roads favors men by allowing them to consent — or not — to letting their women work, travel or receive medical care.
Beneath her free-spirited life, Ms. Bassem is legally tied to the consent powers of her brother, her current guardian, who has respected her choices. He helped find a progressively minded landlord to rent an apartment to her and acts as her guarantor. “People get nervous when ladies live alone,” she said.
The rulers have announced that Saudi women will not need a guardian to apply for driver’s education or receive a driver’s license. But that is one of the rare exceptions where men have no role over women’s lives.
Saudi citizens still need to contend with the top-down system of governing in which they all are vulnerable to royal commands, whims and punishments.
Eight leading women’s rights activists remain behind bars, according to Amnesty International. They are facing serious charges, including spying and sedition.
“There is no doubt that there is a deep transformation happening in Saudi now,” said Kristin Smith Diwan, the senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “But we are also witnessing a horrible crackdown on some of the people that made these changes possible. What’s not changing is the nature of authority.”
The crown prince has sent mixed messages about the guardianship system. In interviews with American media, he has declared Saudi men and women absolutely equal. Last year, a royal decree commanded government agencies to allow women access to many services without their guardians — and to list those services to thwart bureaucratic abuses. The lists, however, have not yet been made public.
The structure of the guardianship system, which in many ways mimics the ruler’s power over his subjects, means that individual freedom for women is precarious. Last year, a chilling case came to light when a 29-year-old woman, Maryam al-Otaibi, ran away from home, where she claimed male relatives had abused her. She fled to Riyadh, the capital, but her father — her legal guardian — filed a criminal complaint, saying she had been “disobedient” after he commanded her to return home. She was jailed for more than 100 days before she won the right to break free from him.
Many women in the fields of social work, women’s empowerment and family law prefer to focus on the gains women have achieved, not the limitations that remain.
Since the crown prince took power last year, judges who once would have automatically given fathers custody of children in divorce cases have started allowing some mothers custody instead. Women no longer need a guardian to register a business. More private companies are hiring women for technical and manual labor jobs, helping pull poor families or single mothers up the socio-economic ladder.
Salma al-Rashid, the chief programs officer at Al Nahda Philanthropic Organization for Women in Riyadh, which for more than 50 years has been working with disadvantaged women and families, pointed to recent legal changes that have improved financial and emotional security for a majority of Saudi women, whose lives bear no resemblance to the stereotypical wealthy Saudi resident.
A catalyst of social change, Ms. Rashid said, is the growing number of Saudi women who are graduating from college, traveling abroad on scholarships and entering the work force.
“Saudi Arabia is not black and white,” she said. “We are incredibly diverse. The biggest engine that has driven these changes is economical. History shows this is the case everywhere in the world.”
In the eastern province city of Al Khobar, Seham al-Amri, 39, is one of a significant number of Saudi women who have capitalized on the changes to make a better life.
From the time she was young, she was the clever one in her family. She attended a public university and studied Arabic literature, married at 19, raised five children and taught at a girls’ school.
Three years ago, however, when the kingdom was pushing businesses to hire more Saudi citizens, she sought work in the private sector, where pay was much higher and opportunities for women were growing. A leading telecom company offered her a sales position, but Ms. Amri’s husband — her guardian — refused to consent.
Ms. Amri went behind his back. She took her brother to the company to act as her guardian, and she got the job. Her stellar sales record made her a standout candidate this spring when car companies were seeking Saudi women to help sell vehicles to the rush of new drivers they were expecting.
Her husband still disliked the idea, she said, but her new company, the Saudi owner of the Range Rover franchise, did not ask her for a guardian’s approval.
She sold seven cars in her first three weeks. Her husband, she said, likes the larger paycheck she brings home. He also has grudgingly accepted her work because relatives and neighbors have not gossiped about it. “He didn’t want any shame on the family,” she said. “As for my family, they are all as proud as can be.”
A Saudi public opinion poll, commissioned in February by Uber, showed that more than 90 percent of respondents felt positively about lifting the driving ban.
That has not diminished the sexism. A popular preacher last year strongly opposed letting women drive, saying their brains were half the size of men’s. Several men said this week that they would stay home on Sunday, convinced that car accidents — already a problem in the country — would surge.
The planned rollout for women drivers, despite months of buildup, has hit several bumps, partly because of insufficient driver’s education programs and the overlapping bureaucracies needed to fulfill the royal decree.
The government has said that women with valid licenses from abroad may obtain a Saudi license with minimal fuss. Several hundred will be ready to drive on Sunday.
Yet for tens of thousands of others, the path to driving has been full of obstacles. Only a limited number of training courses have opened for women — and given the strict gender segregation in effect in schools and government agencies, it is challenging to staff them.
Earlier this year, pilot driver’s education programs were scrambling to find qualified women to instruct their Saudi sisters. That is how Sheikha al-Kadeeb, 29, who had been looking for work in finance, was recruited to teach driving.
Ms. Kadeeb learned in Los Angeles, where she earned an M.B.A. She loved cruising California freeways in her Jeep Wrangler and jumped at the opportunity to impart her enthusiasm at home. “I feel like I’m on a mission,” she said. “I get a chance to help my country.”
Parents and family members, meanwhile, have worried about what would happen to women if their cars broke down or the police pulled them over. Casual encounters with strange men are discomfiting to many Saudi women. Nor are some willing to risk the physical threats of being stuck alone.
Another problem is the cost of driver’s education for women, which is four to five times as expensive when compared with what men pay.
Mohammed al-Ghanami, a diving instructor for the Saudi Marines, has been giving his wife lessons in remote areas where the police or other motorists will not disturb them. He moonlights as an Uber driver and wants his wife to be able to drive their child to the doctor or anywhere else in an emergency, given his extended absences.
“She can do it,” he said. “She’s a careful person and a good driver.”
Groups of girlfriends, meanwhile, are making celebratory plans for their first drive. Rezan Ben Hassan, 29, learned when she was 16 on desert camping trips with her family. She intends to take the keys to the family vehicle on Sunday and cruise to a cafe.
In Al Khobar, Ms. Bassem, the motorcycle lover, plans to hit the road with friends from the local Harley Davidson club. Of their roughly 700 members in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, a handful of women love Hogs.
In what appears to be an attempt to dissuade unqualified drivers on Sunday, the Ministry of Interior announced that the police would be fining drivers caught without a license 900 riyals, or approximately $240.
The lack of an official license, however, is not discouraging Ms. Bassem. “This is going to be one of the most exciting days of my life,” she said.
The post Free to Drive, Saudi Women Still Must Take a Back Seat to Men appeared first on World The News.
from World The News https://ift.tt/2tvysav via News of World
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logarithmicpanda · 6 years
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So, at the beginning of the year I made a list of books to read the first half of 2018:
The Amber Spyglass
Lyra’s Oxford
Timeless
Heartless
Men at arms
Cruel Prince
Beneath the Sugar Sky
It Devours
La belle sauvage
The Invasion of the Tearling
Red seas under Red Skies
The Bone Witch
The Night Masquerade
The Invisible library
Falling Kingdoms
The Fate of the Tearling
Brisingr
The Heart Forger
Uprooted
Shadowsong
Physik
The Dragonbone chair
Watership Down
Obsidio
Queste
The woman who rides like a man
Starfish
Forest of a thousand lanterns
Soul Music
Republic of Thieves
Now I rise
The Demon King
The Exiled Queen
Interesting Times
The star-touched queen
The Silmarilion
The Broken Kingdoms
The Kingdoms of gods
Le Sang des Nahdas
The Gray wolf throne
The Crimson Crown
the Dinosaur Princess
This Shattered world
His majesty’s dragons
The girl who fell beneath fairyland
I read 28 out of 45 books, which is, uh, not great I guess? I had made my list for the full year and of these, I read 34 out of 85 so if you consider I read them out of order, I’m still almost ten books late... Whoopsie? I’m gonna rework my expectations a bit for the resolutions of the second half of 2018!
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dragnews · 6 years
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Free to Drive, Saudi Women Still Must Take a Back Seat to Men
AL KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia — With her bubble-gum pink hair and stylishly ripped jeans, Doaa Bassem goes a long way to redefining what it means to be a Saudi woman these days.
At age 14, she learned how to change the oil of her father’s car and dreamed of owning a classic Trans Am. Although she assumed she would be barred from driving the sleek, loud muscle car, she wanted the fun of taking the engine apart and rebuilding it.
By 17, she had entered into an arranged marriage. Within a year, she had given birth to a child, divorced, then remarried and divorced again.
Now, at 29, she is a single mother who works, lives on her own and plans to be among the first women who take to the streets on Sunday, the first day they will be legally permitted to drive in Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that is the last country in the world to bar women from driving. Ms. Bassem won’t be behind the wheel of a sports car, though. She will be riding a Harley.
“I’ve always been a tomboy and a rebel,” she said. “Now, others are thinking more like me. Parents have started to understand that marriage isn’t everything, that girls might want a different life. And society is starting to accept this too.”
According to the Saudi ruler, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and their many supporters, the monarchy is verging on a great feminist leap forward. The change reflects the tectonic shifts in a society that have helped women reach the pinnacles of academic and professional success, combined with the effects of globalization, which have brought more openness to the kingdom than at anytime in its recent history.
The new law allowing women to drive removes a lightning rod for critics and allies who have long derided the Saudis, a bastion of conservative Islamic orthodoxy, for following a repressive practice embraced by groups like the Taliban and the Islamic State. The new law also dovetails with the monarchy’s ambitious economic changes that aim to wean Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s top producer, from dependence on oil and to diversify the economy — shifts that require women to be workers and consumers.
However, while the joy shared by tens of thousands of Saudi women over the right to take the wheel is undeniable, a bright red line keeps them from equality — the restrictive guardianship system. It is a mix of law and custom under which women remain dependents of male relatives — a father, husband, brother, uncle or son — their whole lives.
Guardianship ensures that the gender balance of power at home, work and perhaps even on the roads favors men by allowing them to consent — or not — to letting their women work, travel or receive medical care.
Beneath her free-spirited life, Ms. Bassem is legally tied to the consent powers of her brother, her current guardian, who has respected her choices. He helped find a progressively minded landlord to rent an apartment to her and acts as her guarantor. “People get nervous when ladies live alone,” she said.
The rulers have announced that Saudi women will not need a guardian to apply for driver’s education or receive a driver’s license. But that is one of the rare exceptions where men have no role over women’s lives.
Saudi citizens still need to contend with the top-down system of governing in which they all are vulnerable to royal commands, whims and punishments.
Eight leading women’s rights activists remain behind bars, according to Amnesty International. They are facing serious charges, including spying and sedition.
“There is no doubt that there is a deep transformation happening in Saudi now,” said Kristin Smith Diwan, the senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “But we are also witnessing a horrible crackdown on some of the people that made these changes possible. What’s not changing is the nature of authority.”
The crown prince has sent mixed messages about the guardianship system. In interviews with American media, he has declared Saudi men and women absolutely equal. Last year, a royal decree commanded government agencies to allow women access to many services without their guardians — and to list those services to thwart bureaucratic abuses. The lists, however, have not yet been made public.
The structure of the guardianship system, which in many ways mimics the ruler’s power over his subjects, means that individual freedom for women is precarious. Last year, a chilling case came to light when a 29-year-old woman, Maryam al-Otaibi, ran away from home, where she claimed male relatives had abused her. She fled to Riyadh, the capital, but her father — her legal guardian — filed a criminal complaint, saying she had been “disobedient” after he commanded her to return home. She was jailed for more than 100 days before she won the right to break free from him.
Many women in the fields of social work, women’s empowerment and family law prefer to focus on the gains women have achieved, not the limitations that remain.
Since the crown prince took power last year, judges who once would have automatically given fathers custody of children in divorce cases have started allowing some mothers custody instead. Women no longer need a guardian to register a business. More private companies are hiring women for technical and manual labor jobs, helping pull poor families or single mothers up the socio-economic ladder.
Salma al-Rashid, the chief programs officer at Al Nahda Philanthropic Organization for Women in Riyadh, which for more than 50 years has been working with disadvantaged women and families, pointed to recent legal changes that have improved financial and emotional security for a majority of Saudi women, whose lives bear no resemblance to the stereotypical wealthy Saudi resident.
A catalyst of social change, Ms. Rashid said, is the growing number of Saudi women who are graduating from college, traveling abroad on scholarships and entering the work force.
“Saudi Arabia is not black and white,” she said. “We are incredibly diverse. The biggest engine that has driven these changes is economical. History shows this is the case everywhere in the world.”
In the eastern province city of Al Khobar, Seham al-Amri, 39, is one of a significant number of Saudi women who have capitalized on the changes to make a better life.
From the time she was young, she was the clever one in her family. She attended a public university and studied Arabic literature, married at 19, raised five children and taught at a girls’ school.
Three years ago, however, when the kingdom was pushing businesses to hire more Saudi citizens, she sought work in the private sector, where pay was much higher and opportunities for women were growing. A leading telecom company offered her a sales position, but Ms. Amri’s husband — her guardian — refused to consent.
Ms. Amri went behind his back. She took her brother to the company to act as her guardian, and she got the job. Her stellar sales record made her a standout candidate this spring when car companies were seeking Saudi women to help sell vehicles to the rush of new drivers they were expecting.
Her husband still disliked the idea, she said, but her new company, the Saudi owner of the Range Rover franchise, did not ask her for a guardian’s approval.
She sold seven cars in her first three weeks. Her husband, she said, likes the larger paycheck she brings home. He also has grudgingly accepted her work because relatives and neighbors have not gossiped about it. “He didn’t want any shame on the family,” she said. “As for my family, they are all as proud as can be.”
A Saudi public opinion poll, commissioned in February by Uber, showed that more than 90 percent of respondents felt positively about lifting the driving ban.
That has not diminished the sexism. A popular preacher last year strongly opposed letting women drive, saying their brains were half the size of men’s. Several men said this week that they would stay home on Sunday, convinced that car accidents — already a problem in the country — would surge.
The planned rollout for women drivers, despite months of buildup, has hit several bumps, partly because of insufficient driver’s education programs and the overlapping bureaucracies needed to fulfill the royal decree.
The government has said that women with valid licenses from abroad may obtain a Saudi license with minimal fuss. Several hundred will be ready to drive on Sunday.
Yet for tens of thousands of others, the path to driving has been full of obstacles. Only a limited number of training courses have opened for women — and given the strict gender segregation in effect in schools and government agencies, it is challenging to staff them.
Earlier this year, pilot driver’s education programs were scrambling to find qualified women to instruct their Saudi sisters. That is how Sheikha al-Kadeeb, 29, who had been looking for work in finance, was recruited to teach driving.
Ms. Kadeeb learned in Los Angeles, where she earned an M.B.A. She loved cruising California freeways in her Jeep Wrangler and jumped at the opportunity to impart her enthusiasm at home. “I feel like I’m on a mission,” she said. “I get a chance to help my country.”
Parents and family members, meanwhile, have worried about what would happen to women if their cars broke down or the police pulled them over. Casual encounters with strange men are discomfiting to many Saudi women. Nor are some willing to risk the physical threats of being stuck alone.
Another problem is the cost of driver’s education for women, which is four to five times as expensive when compared with what men pay.
Mohammed al-Ghanami, a diving instructor for the Saudi Marines, has been giving his wife lessons in remote areas where the police or other motorists will not disturb them. He moonlights as an Uber driver and wants his wife to be able to drive their child to the doctor or anywhere else in an emergency, given his extended absences.
“She can do it,” he said. “She’s a careful person and a good driver.”
Groups of girlfriends, meanwhile, are making celebratory plans for their first drive. Rezan Ben Hassan, 29, learned when she was 16 on desert camping trips with her family. She intends to take the keys to the family vehicle on Sunday and cruise to a cafe.
In Al Khobar, Ms. Bassem, the motorcycle lover, plans to hit the road with friends from the local Harley Davidson club. Of their roughly 700 members in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, a handful of women love Hogs.
In what appears to be an attempt to dissuade unqualified drivers on Sunday, the Ministry of Interior announced that the police would be fining drivers caught without a license 900 riyals, or approximately $240.
The lack of an official license, however, is not discouraging Ms. Bassem. “This is going to be one of the most exciting days of my life,” she said.
The post Free to Drive, Saudi Women Still Must Take a Back Seat to Men appeared first on World The News.
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