Saudi women smoke in public to 'complete' their freedom

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NSTworld: Like Western feminists of the early 20th century, in an era of social change in Saudi Arabia, some women are embracing cigarettes, shisha pipes or vaping as a symbol of emancipation.

“I feel that smoking in public is a part of exercising my newly won freedoms. I am happy that now that I can choose,” the 27-year-old Saudi who works for a private company in the capital told AFP.

The kingdom’s ambitious de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has rolled out an array of economic and social innovations to project a moderate, business-friendly image. Najla, 26, who like Rima asked to use a pseudonym, said that despite the rapid social changes, double standards still existed, and that it was still considered a “scandal and disgrace” if women smoked.

Najla, a 26-year-old Saudi woman, smokes publicly at a coffee shop in downtown Riyadh on February 5, 2020. - Like Western feminists of the early 20th century, in an era of social change in Saudi Arabia some women are embracing cigarettes, shisha pipes or vaping as a symbol of emancipation. The sight of women lighting up in public has become much more common in recent months, an unthinkable prospect before the introduction of sweeping reforms in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

“Most of our women clients order shisha. It’s something that was totally unimaginable just three months ago,” a Lebanese waiter told AFP at an upscale cafe in north Riyadh. In 2018, authorities arrested at least a dozen women activists just before the historic lifting of the decades-long ban on female motorists.

 

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