CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 35

ARAKS PASHAYAN
to various political posts has increased in recent times. A number of key
appointments have been made on political levels, such as Princess Reema
Bint Bandar as President of the Saudi Federation for Community Sports,
making her the first woman to lead a sports federation in the Kingdom, and
Fatimah Baeshen, spokesperson for the Saudi embassy in Washington DC,
USA, the Kingdom’s first female spokeswoman abroad. Women have finally
been allowed to enter public stadiums, and the country’s longstanding
prohibition on women motorists that had been in place since 1990 was also
lifted. Women’s involvement in sports has grown. There is a trend
toward not wearing the abaya and niqab and only wearing the hijab. It
should be noted that there are small changes related to women’s rights. It is a
fact that women have the right to drive not only cars, but also motorcycles
and even airplanes. The crown prince has encouraged more public
entertainment in the Kingdom and relaxed rules on gender segregation in
public places. He has also limited the power of the “religious police,” who
enforced those strict rules of gender segregation and “proper” behavior in the
public sphere. The religious police was previously focused on imposing
modest dress on women and preventing interactions between unrelated
women and men. 2
Information on the construction of the “sci-fi” city, Neom, was also no
less interesting. Saudi Arabia said it will start building the first residential
area in a proposed $500 billion futuristic city that has become a symbol of
Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ambitions for life after oil. The
planned megacity, unveiled in 2018, is part of the prince’s grand plan to
bolster non-oil revenue and attract foreign investment with eye-popping
proposals to transform the economy, including two other tourism
developments. Neom is to be financed by the Saudi government, its
sovereign wealth fund, and local and international investors. The first phase
of residential development will be completed by 2020. 3
It was with this backdrop that the crown prince, in November 2017,
ordered the arrest of over 300 of the country’s economic and political elite,
including a number of members of the ruling family. The anti-corruption
scandal caused a huge international shock. The prisoners were rounded up
and detained at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh. Among them was one of the
world’s billionaires, Prince Waleed bin Talal, who was released a few
months later after signing a confidential “confirmed understanding” with the
2
“Crown prince Mohamamed bin Salman champions women’s right,” About her,
https://www.abouther.com/node/9306/people/features/crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-
champions-women%E2%80%99s-rights-saudi-arabia (accessed March 5, 2019).
3
Sarah Algethamy, “Saudi Arabia to Begin Building Homes in $500 Billion Futuristic City
Neom,” Bloomberg, January 16, 2019, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-
16/saudi-arabia-to-begin-building-homes-in-futuristic-city-neom (accessed February 20,
2019).
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