Family Organization and Women's Power in Urban Saudi Arabian Society

Author(s): Soraya Altorki

Source: Journal of Anthropological Research, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Autumn, 1977), pp. 277-287
Published by: University of New Mexico
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3630009
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 Powerin
and Women's
FamilyOrganization
UrbanSaudiArabianSociety
SORAYA ALTORKI

Severalrecentethnographic studieshavecorrected the traditionalwesternview of sex-role

relationshipsin Middle Easternsocietieswhich had ascribedto womena powerlessand
subjugatedpositionvis-i-vis theirmalerelatives.Thispaperbrieflydiscussesthereasonsfor
the emergence and the tenacityof this view and thendescribesthepowerrelationsbetween
menand womenof elitefamilies within the organization of domesticgroupsin the Saudi
ArabiancityofJiddah. Thedatashowthatwomenhavealwaysexercised significantcontrol
overthe decisionsof theirmaleagnatesrelatingto the arrangement of marriages.Giventhe
particularsocial,political,andeconomic roleof marriagein Arabiansociety,this control,in
turn, has had consequences beyond realmof domesticrelations.Amongthefamilies
the
studied,theirfrequentandprolongedresidence abroadandtheeducation of theirdaughtersin
foreign schoolshave strengthened the informalpower of the womenand initiatedtheir
emancipationfromthejural tutelageof theiragnatesandhusbands.

RECENT ANTHROPOLOGICAL WRITINGS have challenged the

traditional theory, entrenched in western social science, of the disadvan-
taged, subservient, powerless position of women in Middle Eastern
societies (see especially Altorki 1973; Nelson 1974). The sources of this
theory, now viewed as wholly inadequate, if not completely false, are
threefold. First, literary interpretations of Koranic verses and Islamic
philosophical and theological literature have sometimes misread or read
out-of-context statements relating to the personal status of women in
Islam and, more often, naively accepted ideological imagery as cultural
reality. Second, many generalizations about men-women relationships
that might have been true for the public, political-economic sector of
Arab societies were uncritically extended to the private, domestic sector
as well. Third, most empirical work that has informed the traditional
view was restricted to the more accessible formal socio-political organi-
zations, where abstract sociological categories served to cast observed
phenomena into a theoretical mold developed through ethnographic
research in other regions of the world. The solidification of the
traditional theory has been compounded by a lack of research done by
women who, precisely because of the pervasive segregation of the sexes
in many Arab societies, alone are able to study the domestic culture of
men-women relationships. Almost uniformly, the studies that did report
on these relationships in different parts of the Middle East have
portrayed the status of women in such a way as to modify radically the
traditional theory (see, for example, Altorki 1973; Aswad 1967; Cunni-
son 1966; Farrag 1971; Mohsen 1967; and Nelson 1973).
The implications of these recent studies for our understanding of
277
Vol. 33, 1977
278 JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICALRESEARCH

Arabsocietiesin general,and of men-womenrelationshipsin particular,

remainto be ascertained.(Nelson 1974,has alreadymade a reasonable
attempt in this direction.)In this paper,I shall not discussthis problem
in a comparativeperspective,or even analyze my data beyond the
limited context of my observations.I intend to record ethnographic
data that bearupon the questionof women'spoweramongelite families
in the Saudi Arabiancity of Jiddah, whereI did field researchbetween
October 1970 and December 1971. I do not claim that my resultsare
representativefor urban society throughoutthe Kingdom. Nor do I
imply any validity of my results beyond the particularsegment of
Jiddah society that I studied.I believe, however,that it is throughthe
study of the elite that the directionof socialchangein that countrycan
best be detected.Thus, I understandmy researchto be a case studyof a
particularstratum in a society that happens to be one of the most
traditionalin the Arabworld.
My aim is to describethe ways in which womenexercisepowerand
influencedecisionsthat affectthe basicorganizationalstructureof their
society.I will explain (a) how women, by controllingdecisiveinforma-
tion relatingto marriagearrangements,have traditionallymanagedto
determine the nature of these arrangements,and (b) how recent
interculturalcontactsand foreigninfluenceshave modifiedtheir power
base and their personal status. My perspectivebeing limited to the
domestic sector necessarilymeans that the impact of the observed
change on the public sector of Saudi Arabiansociety remainsunexa-
mined.
Contraryto the casual resemblanceof Jiddah as a modern city,
socialrelationswithin and acrossall classesare still primarilystructured
by kinshipand, secondarily,by friendshipties which extend a person's
networkof social interactionbeyondkin connections.For women these
networkshave traditionallydelimited the total realm of their universe
of interaction.Today, in spite of an increasedmobility outside their
homes, women's social and psychologicalwelfare still depends on a
satisfactorymaintenanceand managementof their networks,although
the natureof thesenetworksitselfhas changed.
Marriage creates a bond between two extended families. An
extendedfamily is an unboundedsocial group whosecore membersin
any given generationinclude the agnates and their spouses of both
husband and wife of the nuclear family of reference.If a marriage
occursbetweenmembersof the same extendedfamily,as, for example,
in the case of cousin marriage,this affinallink strengthensthe already
existing consanguinealbonds. On the other hand, if the marriageis
with a person from outside this group, it then establishes a new alliance
between two extended families without prior consanguineal ties. Figures
 WOMEN'S POWER IN SAUDI ARABIA 279

1 and 2 illustrate these distinct situations (only core ranges of relatives

are drawn).
In the first situation the marriage defines specific affinal relations
among the members of the extended family. In the second situation the
marriage defines similar role relations between members of hitherto
unrelated extended families. Principally, then, marriage within the
extended family reinforces existing lines of reciprocal support and
common interests. A person's marriage to a member of another family
extends such lines beyond the network provided by his/her own
consanguineal family.
The family constitutes a person's reservoir of economic security,
political influence, social support, and psychological succor. In Saudi
Arabian society, for women exclusively, for men to a great extent,
kinship and friendship links combine the functions that in western
countries are divided between distinct reference groups outside a
person's family, such as neighbors, colleagues, business partners, profes-

OF REFERENCE \

OR MARRIAGE
LINKING
POTENTIA COUSIN MARRIAGE

4l LINKING
IARRIAGE

A \9 OR4 8 POTENTIAL COUSIN

/ARRIAGE

Fig. 1. Marriageswithin Extended Family.

 A B
/ \/

II /
I I
I

/
\ /\ I \
N / \ "
N N - t
-4

OR I POTENTIAL MARRIAGE ESTABLISHING ALLIANCE BETWEEN EXTENDED

SOR, POTENTIAL MARRIAGE ESTABLISHING ALLIANCE BETWrEEN EXTENDED

Fig. 2. Marriages between Extended Families.

 WOMEN'S POWER IN SAUDI ARABIA 281

sional associations, and clubs. These links entail an elaborate system of

reciprocal right-duty relationships. Many of these relationships are
activated in casual contexts and informal visiting and in sporadic
exchanges of favors. They are ritually expressed and reinforced on
special occasions where the participation of network members is
mandatory. A person's failure to participate in these occasions without
an acceptable excuse implies a rejection of his/her role in the network.
It may severely disturb a kinship link and possibly terminate a
friendship if a subsequent attempt at reconciliation through a formal
apology fails (see Koch et al. 1977).
Life crisis events such as the naming ceremony, marriage, grave
illness, and death represent these special occasions for the ritual
affirmation of a person's role as defined by his/her position vis-a-vis the
member(s) of the network who are immediately affected by the event.
At naming ceremonies, held on the seventh day after birth, relatives
and friends are expected to visit the home of the newborn and deliver
gifts. In the past these presents were usually jewelry pieces made of gold
and gold coins. The gifts were kept by the baby's mother who might
give some to her mother and/or mother-in-law since part of the received
valuables requite debts deriving from previous gifts and favors given to
the donors by the baby's grandparents. This traditional system of strict
reciprocity is gradually breaking down as the younger people no longer
feel compelled to perpetuate exchange obligations incurred by their
parents.
Donations within the context of an existing exchange system are also
expected from relatives and close friends at the marriage of a son or
daughter. In addition, the donating parties assist in the preparations for
the wedding by providing services or funds. Elder kinsmen and male
affines of the groom may also accompany his father or grandfather when
he extends the formal proposal to the bride's father. They must be
present at the ceremony in which the marriage contract is drawn up
and participate in the wedding ceremony itself. Donations made by
men at marriage may range from food stuff, or pieces of jewelry, to
substantial gifts of furniture. Contributions from women are even more
elaborate. Female relatives and friends of the parents of the groom and
of his bride not only present gifts but also support the couple's natal
households by sharing in the numerous practical tasks of arranging
and/or providing for the various festivities surrounding a marriage
celebration including the entertainment by a troupe of singers.
Sickness, especially any grave prolonged illness, is another occasion
that demands a show of sympathy and support in the form of a visit by
relatives and friends. Depending on the severity of the case, women
visitors may even assist the household of the sick person in chores
282 JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH

ranging from serving and attending to other guests to nursing and

otherwisetakingcareof the patient.
Death requires the demonstrationof support from relatives and
friendsin an even more intensive mannerthan illness. In fact, during
the ritual of the condolenceceremonyand the observationof the 'dda
(here: the ritual observancesduring the four months and ten days
period of formal mourning)the householdof the deceaseddependson
the help offered by the relatives and friends of his/her survivors.
Whether they are among the genealogicallyor socially close relatives
receiving formal condolencesor among those extending condolences,
relatives and friends assume indispensible tasks in managing the
performanceof the mourningritual.(See the detaileddescriptionof this
ritualin Altorki1973,ch. 5).
In addition to these life crisisevents,mutualvisitsprovideoccasions
in which relativesand friendscan develop, maintain,and demonstrate
their solidarity.For men, apart from casual meetings,such occasions
arise in the courseof the Islamiccalendar(especially,the Ramadan and
For
Hajfeasts). women,visitingrepresents the most importantprocessof
social interactionwith people not belonging to their own household.
Formal visits or wu'ud (common to women only) epitomize the
significanceof these interactions.Not only does an invitationto suchan
occasion signify the closenessof the relationshipinvolved, it is also
ritualizedby standardizedexchangesof greetingsand markedby the
wearingof formalattire.
It is on these occasionsand during the casual visits that the role of
women as brokersof vital informationaffecting the continuationof
establishedfamily relationsand the creationof new networksentersthe
realmof exercisingpoweroverthe decisionsof men. If, as I have argued
above, marriageis the crucial processthat perpetuatesthese networks
over time, that technicallyreproducesthe system, the powerexercised
by women becomesapparentin this process.Women ratherthan men
controlthe creationof new linksof affinitywithin and betweenfamilies.
Powerin this contextsimply meansthe ability to deliberatelyinfluence
the behaviorof others;concretely,for the womento maneuvermarriage
negotiationsaccordingto theirpreferences.
The situation is paradoxical:the very segregationof the sexes that
preventswomen from gaining access to informationand authorityin
the widersocietycreatesthe conditionfor theirfar-reachingcontrolover
a man's destiny to the extent that it is linked to his marriage.This
control is greatestover a marriagebetweendifferentextendedfamilies.
It is less, but by no means negligible, with an intrafamilymarriage,
which often followsfrom mutual expectationslong held by the fathers
of the prospective couple. Even in this case, norms of social distance
 WOMEN'S POWER IN SAUDI ARABIA 283

between potential marriage partners limit the men's knowledge about a

prospective bride, but in planning marriage to a girl from another
family they are completely dependent on the information that women
choose to divulge.
Occasionally, a man's father and, very rarely, his mother (using the
girl's female relatives as intermediaries) may negotiate his marriage
without previous deliberations within the family. However, customarily,
a man's parents, perhaps together with their parents and their elder
married children, discuss the range of suitable families from which he
may take a wife. Once they have established this range, the task of
gathering the desired information about potential brides is delegated to
and assumed by the women in the family.
This task involves the women in numerous visits during which they
must exercise considerable diplomatic finesse to accomplish their
mission. They must gather intelligence on the domestic scene of the
girl's family, hint at their own plan and subtly ascertain the other side's
thoughts on the envisioned match. Moreover, since marriageable girls
until recently did not meet women visitors other than relatives and close
friends of their family, the emissaries have had to contrive a way to see
the prospective bride so that they could observe her appearance and
bearing and assess her character.
But the visiting women have more in mind than to gather
information useful to the men. They want to know whether a
prospective bride would make an obedient daughter-in-law willing to
adjust her demands on her husband's time to his continuing obligations
toward the women in his father's household. In addition, they seek to
discover whether she would cooperate with these women or disturb the
domestic peace by undue claims to independence, and whether she
appears reasonable in her expectations and capable of accommodating
her demands for goods and services to given financial resources. With
equal interest the women scrutinize and inquire about the ways and
values of the girl's female relatives, because the conduct of a young wife
is generally believed to reflect the behavior and attitudes of the women
in her own family. Knowing these attitudes helps women to solicit the
support of their affines in quarrels with a stubborn daughter-in-law.
On the whole, then, the women's fact-finding mission allows them to
select from potential brides the one who, together with her family, best
meets their own expectations of the new segment of their network to be
formed by that marriage.
This exclusive access to information upon which a final decision
rests allows women to impose their own choice upon the men. If the
women think that a particular girl would be an amicable, fastidious
daughter-in-law and her female relatives good affines, they extol the
284 JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH

virtuesof the girl in subsequentdiscussionswith the men. On the other

hand, no matter how attractiveanother girl might be, if the women
nonethelessdislike her or find her relativesdisagreeable,they prevent
the marriageby unfavorabletalk.
In spite of the subtletyand informalitycharacterizingthe women's
politics in arranging marriages, their exclusive control of relevant
informationhas indeed enabled them to determinethe decisionsthat
are nominallythe prerogativeof men.
My description of women's power within the domestic sphere
portrays a situation that is both traditional and still considered
customaryby the oldergeneration.However,within the past decadeor
two new opportunitiesand experienceshave modified the status and
powerbase of women. As yet no definite patternhas emerged,but it is
possibleto see certaintrendsthat describea moregeneralprocessof the
gradual emancipation of women from the constraintsof traditional
order.
Education and travel have undoubtedly contributed most to the
change in women's position within the families studied in Jiddah. Men
began to travel abroad enfamille by the mid 1930's. At the same time
they began to acquire houses or apartments in other Arab countries,
especially in Egypt, which then enabled their families to live abroad for
several months of the year. Such prolonged residence outside Saudi
Arabia necessarily exposed the women to a style of life much unlike that
to which they are accustomed at home. Some of the changes that these
women gradually introduced when living in Saudia Arabia may appear
superficialbut they signify,nonetheless,a new awarenessof alternative
roles.
For example, while at first women who traveled abroad continued to
adhere to the traditional dress code even in foreign countries (and
especially in the presence of Saudi Arabian men), over time they
replaced the traditional 'baya(a black cloak) with a coat and substituted
a scarf hiding their hair only for the tarha (a black chiffon kerchief
covering the face as well). Today only older women wear the veil
abroad and only in its modified version. Many of the younger women
who abroad wear European, though modest, fashion have reduced the
veil worn at home even further. They frequently cover their hair only
and wear a short 'bayareaching to or shortly below the waist over an
ankle-length dress.
A greater tolerance for women's mobility outside the house devel-
oped with the acceptance of the modified veil. Today, women can go to
the suq (market) to shop, and thus they participate, to a degree, in
public life. Furthermore, young married women have begun to attend
mixed gatherings, although strict norms of decorous distance control
 WOMEN'S POWER IN SAUDI ARABIA 285

their interaction with men on these occasions. Unmarried girls, even

when they have been to schools abroad, are still shielded from potential
marriage partners in their own homes.
Women's residence abroad also had an impact on their role in
household economics. Their life in a foreign city such as Cairo exposed
them not only to a new life-style, but also entailed new responsibilities.
Shopping on their own, arranging dinner parties, obtaining medical
services for their family, and finding schools for their children gained
them experience that changed their role at home. By and by, their
newly acquired economic expertise on the domestic level gave them
actual control over the family budget and increased their influence on
decisions involving household expenditures.
Education has certainly had the most profound impact on the
changing role of women in the elite families of Jiddah. Since Saudi
Arabia established the first public schools for girls not before the early
1960's, families who earlier wanted their daughters to be educated had
to send them abroad-mainly to Egypt and Lebanon. The families'
prolonged residence in these countries favored this trend and their
decision to keep their daughters in boarding schools was a likely
consequence, which, during the last two decades, enabled some girls to
continue their education through college and even at universities.
When these women returned to Saudi Arabia, they did not step
back into a position that defined the status of their mothers. Instead,
they used their skills and knowledge in ways that altered their role
within their own conjugal family. Not only did they participate in
decisions on their children's education, they also could assume the role
of a tutor, which gave them a kind of authority Ocvertheir sons their
mothers never had. Moreover, their expectations as wives underwent
certain changes. They demanded more of their husbands' time for joint
activities, including social gatherings, and asserted their independence
from their mothers-in-law-a development that favored the establish-
ment of nuclear family households.
This greater engagement in the affairs of their own conjugal family
has necessarily reduced their involvement in the traditional networks of
kinship and friendship that circumscribed their mothers' world of social
interaction. While the younger women still participate in the exchanges
prescribed by their position within these networks, they have sought to
reduce their inherited commitments and have established new friend-
ships according to ideas of social compatability rather than merely of
traditional propriety.
Education and experience gained abroad also changed women's
attitudes toward their personal property. Traditionally, in adherence to
shari'a law, women inherited property in half the measure of men. But
286 JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICALRESEARCH
their ignoranceas well as cultural norms curtailed actual control of
their shares.A woman usually delegated the authorityto manage her
propertyto a close kinsman-for example,to her father,brother,son or,
if she had neither,to a paternalor maternaluncle-or to her husbandif
she had no survivingmale kinsmento take care of her property.It was
consideredshameful(Qb)even to discussthe extent of her holdingsand
the income derived from them with these men, because the mere
mention of her interestscould be taken to reflect her doubts in their
judgmentor, worse,theirintegrity.
The youngerwomen, however,have begun not only to asserttheir
rightsto be informedof their assetsand income, but also to assumede
facto controlof their property.Traditionalvalues have changedalong
with the women'sattitude toward personalproperty,so that it is no
longer considered"shameful"to discuss their financial resourcesand
investmentplans with their relatives.The recent trend to transferthe
managementof a woman'spropertyfromher kinsmento her husbandis
anotheraspect of change in the traditionalfamily organizationtoward
nuclearfamily households.But even these modificationsin the statusof
women and of their roles as daughter, sister, and wife have not
weakened the ties, involving cherished traditionalrights and duties,
with theirown natal families.
In summary,the sourceof women'spowerin elite familiesin Jiddah
has changed from a collective base toward individual status. Tradi-
tional networks of kinship and friendship provided women with
exclusive access to information on which men depended in their
deliberations and negotiations of marriage arrangements.Since a
marriage in the kinship-structuredorganization of Saudi Arabian
society has important political and economic consequencesfor the
familiesinvolvedin the arrangement,the women could indeed exercise
considerablepowerover the decisionsnominallymade by men. Largely
as a consequenceof educationin foreignschoolsand experiencesgained
throughprolongedresidenceabroad, the youngerwomen were able to
asserttheir legal rights,assumenew responsibilities,and demand new
privileges,that by and large have enhanced their personalindividual
status within their families.The incipient emancipationof women has
also begun to allow girls themselves some control over their own
marriage.While a girl is not altogetherfree to select her husband-still
impossibleif only by virtue of the continuingsegregationof the sexes
even in the schools-she can rejecta proposedarrangement.A girl'sveto
power means that in many cases her own consentis necessarybeforea
marriagecontractcan be made between the familiesinvolved.Recent
employmentopportunitiesfor educated women in the fields of social
services and education will undoubtedly extend this trend toward social
 WOMEN'S POWER IN SAUDI ARABIA 287

and legal emancipation of women into the public sector of Saudi

Arabian society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ALTORKI, SORAYA
1973 Religion and Social Organization of Elite Families in Urban Saudi
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ASWAD,BARBARA
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CUNNISON,
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FARRAG, AMINA
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LETITIAHICKSON
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DEPARTMENTOF ANTHROPOLOGY
NORTHWESTERNUNIVERSITY
ILLINOIS60201
EVANSTON,

SOCIOLOGY-ANTHROPOLOGY-PSYCHOLOGYDEPARTMENT
THE AMERICANUNIVERSITYIN CAIRO
113, SHARIAKASREL AINI, CAIRO,EGYPTA.R.E.