Blog #6

The issue over women’s rights is not as prevalent in our society as it has been in the past. Today women hold some political power, have the right to vote and have the right to a fair education. That is not the case in some countries around the world. For example in Saudi Arabia, women are required to have a male guardian with them at all times, they do not have the right to vote or hold any kind of political position. The basic rights in which women in America take for granted are being denied to women all over the world. Some of these women have driven for change in their country. The Saudi Women Revolution was formed in 2010 to fight for equal treatment and fair representation in the country of Saudi Arabia. It has been an uphill battle for women to gain fair representation if all aspects of life. We have fought to go to school, receive a university education, and fight to hold jobs with authority. Yet we are setback and don’t get a fair chance when things like this happen:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ikea-busted-deleting-women-saudi-version-catalog-article-1.1171972

Ikea is a large furniture chain with followers all around the world. Ikea prides itself on giving to charities such as UNICEF and UNDP and holds this statement close “Our focus is helping countries build and share solutions to the challenges of democratic governance, poverty reduction, crisis prevention and recovery, environment and energy and HIV/AIDS. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women.” 

Comparing the Swedish and Saudi versions of the catalogue, free newspaper Metro on Monday showed that women had been airbrushed out of otherwise identical pictures showcasing the company's home furnishings. Women did not appear in any pages of the October edition of the magazine.  As a company basing their entire mission statement on Ikea’s commitment to gender equality, the absence of women in the catalog stirred up quite a debate. Ikea responded to the statement by saying, "We should have reacted and realized that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalogue is in conflict with the IKEA Group values.” Women, especially in Saudi Arabia do not have a fair chance at equal representation if they are not represented at all. Ikea’s decision to go ahead and remove the images, instead of facing the situation head on reveals a lot about what is happening in that society right now. This affects me, as well as all the women around me simply because we have been there. Women have fought for their equality. Even though it still is not where we want it to be today, women in America are represented. The unrepresented women in Saudi Arabia is not right and makes me upset with the state of government. The first step concerning the portrayal of women in the media starts with inclusion. Are these Saudi Arabian women being represented in the media at all? No. Women’s rights is going to continue to be a problem around the world if they are not being represented within the media.