Saudi Arabia's Got Talent: contestants welcome - excluding women

There were a few potential things to write about Saudi Arabia in recent news headlines including oil production hikes and more developments with the Saudi Olympic team's participation in London 2012.

Instead, I couldn't resist using the following headline as the source for today's blog:

Saudi Arabia launches no music, no women, 'Arab's got talent'

 

This show is definitely going to be interesting! Instead of the more common acts that we are used to seeing in a "[insert county here]'s got talent" contestants will be encouraged to recite prayer, poems or engage in sport in an attempt to win. Given how generic a lot of these national talent programmes have become, I do not think it is a bad thing that Saudi Arabia's incarnation of the competition will be somewhat unique. However, their decision to ban women from taking part in the show, whilst not at all surprising, is quite abhorrent.  

However, this decision may actually have a positive impact on the quiet but persistent calls for improved women's rights in the Kingdom. Headlines like the one above have appeared on news sites and publications throughout the world, again putting the spotlight on the way women are treated in the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula.

So we will not be seeing women on the stage as the programme airs later this year, but the optimist in me hopes that the global coverage of this story will play some part in progressing improved rights for women in Saudi Arabia.