The Cultural Revolution of KSA

During the past few years, we are seeing a clear change in the social and cultural structure of Saudi Arabia. Several laws have been changed and implemented to support this cultural revolution.

What are the changes that have taken place on the ground in the last few years?

Women in KSA

When speaking about the cultural revolution in KSA, we cannot ignore all the changes that happened for women in the region.

Women were only allowed to work in certain sectors and were never seen working in retail sectors. In 2011 and 2012, new laws mandated that lingerie and beauty product retailers only employ women in their shops. Men were not allowed to enter these shops run by female employees unless they were with their wives or families. Women now work in all types of retail and male customers are now allowed to enter the retail stores where females work.

In 2017, the ban for women in The Kingdom was lifted, and about a year after, women began getting their licenses and driving on their own. This was a major shift in Saudi Arabia as Saudi female activists had previously been jailed for filming themselves driving in their attempt to break the driving ban.

Before 2019, Saudi women had to obtain permission from a male guardian each time they wanted to travel abroad. The irony of this previous law was that a child if he was male, could be the male guardian for his mother if she was divorced or widowed.

The hijab and abaya were mandatory by Saudi law for all females, whether foreign or local, now the country has given women the freedom to choose. It is interesting to note that most women still wear the hijab and abaya even after this law was changed, as many wear them to abide by Islamic laws.

Cinema and Entertainment

Cinema was banned entirely in Saudi Arabia for 35 years until 2018 when new cinemas began to be built and opened. Previously, those who wanted to watch movies at a cinema would go to neighboring Gulf countries in to do so.

The same country that had banned cinema, launched the Red Sea Film Festival in 2019; only one year after it had reopened cinemas. What is more interesting, that no scenes including nudity and intimacy were cut out even though these type of scenes are usually cut out in cinemas and movie festivals in some Arab and Muslim countries. Even politically provocative movies that were banned by other Arab film festivals were welcomed to participate in the festival and were well received by the audience.

The majority of the films participating in the film festival were directed by women or had major female characters. 50% of the Saudi participating films were by female directors.

Apart, from the cinema and movie industry, several events and even music festivals were held in the country. International rap, rnb, and pop singers were invited to these events. The Kingdom is investing heavily in the entertainment sector so that instead of its citizens and residents travelling abroad and spending their leisure money internationally, they will be spending it locally.

Gender Segregation

Gender segregation was an integral part of the previous laws and culture. Businesses and offices were segregated based on gender; you would find a bank branch for females and another one for males. Male university professors teaching at female public universities taught the females through a partition where he could not see them. Even food courts had separate cashiers on either side for each gender. Restaurants were divided into two parts one for families and females and the other for men only. Within the the family restaurants there were further partitions or rooms so that even families sitting in the restaurant could not see each other.

Some aspects of life are still gender segregated for the most part such as public schools and universities, but not to the extent it was before the cultural revolution.

The Future

The Kingdom is a young society with 70% of its population under the age of 30. This generation has had access to the internet from an early age and several have also studied or travelled abroad. This young generation and its wishes will reflect the future of the country in the years to come.

What does this mean for the future of the region? Will Saudi Arabia lose its cultural identity in the process or will it maintain its culture throughout the changes?