Super Cup of Spain: A walk through Jeddah, the city of the Super Cup: “Oh no! It's only for girls”

Up to date

Tuesday,
7
January
2020

19:00

The second largest city in Saudi Arabia maintains separate entrances by intercourse in banks, places of work or eating places

Saudi girls attend a Pageant in Jeddah.
Reem Baeshen REUTERS

As a lot as one checked out that display in search of the areo hyperlink that ought to take the journalist from Cairo to Jeddah, no hint. There was no solution to discover the flight to the second largest city in Saudi Arabia.

As-salamu alaykum. Who exhibits up is Unhappy, an industrial technical engineer born in Nador however based mostly in Frankfurt. About to show 73, he embarks on his fourth pilgrimage to Mecca. Flights to Jeddah, which is the door to Mecca, and Medina, the different nice holy city of Islam, don’t seem as a result of we’ve got to go to a particular room. An airport worker then signifies the path to a van, which is the one which strikes vacationers to an acceptable terminal. With two rooms to hope. One for males, one for girls. Faith encodes all actuality from this level of the journey. Mecca and Medina, by the means, are locations the place entry to non-Muslims is prohibited. It’s not allowed to method lower than 10 kilometers.

Unhappy, who opens the backpack to supply sweets to the journalist, is one of the tv units, the place pilgrims are seen going round the Kaaba, the home of God, seven occasions. Earlier than saying goodbye, being questioned about the position of girls in Saudi Arabia, he states: Issues are altering.

It refers to the reforms launched by Mohamed bin Salman, prince inheritor of Saudi Arabia. One of the most vital, that girls can lead in the kingdom. Till June 2017, he was the only nation in the world to ban it. One sharpens the view on the means from the shore of the Crimson Sea to the coronary heart of Jeddah. However, a minimum of on this primary day, the journalist can't see a single lady behind the wheel.

Stress-free the chilly system of guardianship, whereby girls depend upon the permissions of males for numerous every day actions, is one other of the nation's challenges.

Strolling through the historic heart of Jeddah, a World Heritage Web site, nonetheless, additionally helps to disclaim a sure mythology. Retailers promote faces with out issues. Taxi drivers obtain the buyer with industrial music. And through the salat, the 5 hours of prayer every day, and though a superb half of the shops shut, no presence of the non secular police is guessed to regulate the whole detention of the exercise. In some locations of the Al Mahmal procuring heart, an individual in cost is positioned at the entrance to filter who enters and who doesn’t till the conclusion of the prayer.

Banks, places of work and a few espresso makers or eating places keep differentiated entrances for women and men. That is what occurs in Albaik, devoted to quick meals. Don’t move! It's only for girls, warns a walker. That is additionally indicated by a poster. A display separates girls, all of them piled up in a single queue, from the ranks of males, who can order their meals at the remaining 4 counters.

The motels of Jeddah don’t provide an excessive amount of truce. For instance, Citadines Al Salamah units Particular schedules for girls to entry their small fitness center. Two hours in the morning, one other two in the afternoon. The boys have the room the relaxation of the time, 14 hours.

There are hardly any girls who attend outlets. Not even in girls's clothes shops, attended by males. It’s not typical to seek out testers for them. It can be problematic for a lady to strive on a bracelet or bracelet. The service provider can not contact his palms.

In line with the standards of

The Belief Undertaking

Know extra